Grapefruit in DIPA

[SteakGrisel]

Hey guys, Steak here currently working on a recipe for a DIPA. I am wanting to add grapfruit or grapefruit juice to this recipe, but i am unsure as to how much and at what time during the brew this should be done. Any suggestions would be great!

 

[AnOldUR]

You do know that the grapefruit flavor / aroma in American IPA's comes from the hops used?

 

[Scooby_Brew]

Do NOT add grapefruit in DIPA or in any other beer for that matter. Not a good idea. You can get the grapefruit taste and aroma from American hops like Cascade, Amarillo, Citra and clean American Ale yeast such as WLP001.

 

[storunner13]

If you want citrus/grapefruit up the wazoo, use LOTS of hops between 15 and 5 minutes and dryhop like a mother.

Use Amarillo/Centennial/Cascade/Simcoe/Columbus/Zeus/Tomahawk All of these will give a lot of citrus, Amarillo/Simcoe being a classic combination.

The key is using lots of hops to maximize the flavor and aroma.

But if you're keen on putting real grapefruit in, don't put juice or even the fruit itself. Just zest some washed (to get rid of the wax..or organic instead) with a Microplane and throw it in a flame out, or in a french press, or in the secondary. Fruit and juice will be too bitter, not flavorful. The oils in the zest is what you want.

 

[SteakGrisel]

Thank you all for your posts. Yes I am aware that hops can be used to achive grapefruit aroma. These are the hops additions that I have as of right now.

1.5 oz Nugget 60 min
1.5 oz Centennial 60 min
1 oz Perle 30 min
2 oz Cascade 10 min

Coming in at 120 IBU.

This was already in the recipe befor the hop suggestions. Should I rearange them or change time or amounts to achive more of the grapefruit aroma im looking for?

 

[AnOldUR]

If it were me and I only had those hops, off the top of my head:

1 oz Nugget @ 60 min
.5 oz Perle @ 60 min
.5 oz Nugget @ 20 min
.5 oz Perle @ 20 min
.5 oz Centennial @ 10 min
.5 oz Cascade @ 10 min
.5 oz Centennial @ flame-out
.5 oz Cascade @ flame-out
.5 oz Centennial dry-hop
1 oz Cascade dry-hop

Comes in at 80-85 IBU depending on %AA



edit:
second thought . . . moved .5 of the centennial to dry-hop

 

[Brewerforlife]

I use grapefruit zest in one of our DIPA at our pub, and the people luv it. Make sure to buy organic fruit though, supermarket stuff has anti-fungal in the wax coating. Check out Randy Mosher's "Radical Brewing", if you have a copy. Pages 178-181 are all about brewing with citrus fruit. I used the zest of 24 ruby-red grapefruit and 36 "seviile' oranges in a 5BBL(155gal.) batch. Added at 15 min before end of boil in straining bag with weight, and let steep in kettle as I knocked wort out thru H/X. Hope that help's!! Cheers!!!

 

[SteakGrisel]

Thanks for the suggestions!! I think I will adjust the amounts and times of my additions and if this does not get me where I want to be I will try the zest. I will have several goes at this one. Will report back with results! One last thing, how long of a dry hop should i allow?

 

[ZBrewski]

I made the HUGE mistake of using Calypso(+a little Chinook) hops during an IPA and it turned out awful. Please do NOT consider using this hops. Thanks.

 

[SteakGrisel]

Right on man, thanks for the heads up!

 

[rexbanner]

Do NOT add grapefruit in DIPA or in any other beer for that matter. Not a good idea. You can get the grapefruit taste and aroma from American hops like Cascade, Amarillo, Citra and clean American Ale yeast such as WLP001.

For why? Citrus is a common ingredient in many beers. On a beer like a DIPA, I think it would never have a chance to overpower the rest of the tastes you're getting. Cherry juice is used for Belgian quads, so why not grapefruit for a DIPA?

 

[SteakGrisel]

Well the reason i asked in the first place is becasue a local brew pub uses grapefruit in there IPA.

 

[BrewKnurd]

just amarillo it up if you want grapefruit. I have a pale ale that tastes like grapefuit juice (too much so for my tastes) due to large amounts of amarillo.

 

[AnOldUR]

One last thing, how long of a dry hop should i allow?

I find 4 - 7 days to be about right. There's a chance of vegetal flavor / aroma beyond that, but I’ve gone longer dry hopping in the secondary with no problems. The only time I had an issue like that was dry hopping in a keg that didn’t get finished quickly enough.

 

[SteakGrisel]

Thats sounds good. Also I looked into amarillo some, and it turns out that i really that hope. Its used the F5 IPA and simcoe.

 

[acuenca]

+1 to the amarillo, also I did a smash with cascade and OMG jesus is the grapefruit nice.