Grapefruit juice in bottles

[HazyJane]

Hey, so I've had this Grapefruit IPA fermenting for almost two weeks now, will be bottling in a few weeks. I was thinking of adding either freshly squeezed (although I've heard its not the best idea) or pasteurized grapefruit juice to my bottles and fill it up with my beer. Has anyone tried this before?
Also, since I'll be adding the grapefruit juice, I assume I would need alot less priming sugar?
Thank you!

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

The only time I've seen grapefruit juice added to beer was during the boil. There's a Basic Brewing video on this:



Let's think this backwards. You would need to move the beer from the fermenter to a bottling bucket. Then add the juice to the bottling bucket.

You would need to figure out how much sugar is in the juice. Then compare that to how much priming sugar you would use. I'm betting there would be more sugar in a quart or half gallon of juice than you would need.

I would probably add the juice to the fermenter a week before bottling and then proceed as normal.

I'm interested to hear what happens if you give that a try.

 

[JimRausch]

A few years ago I did a 'grapefruit Shandy'. The base was my American wheat that I usually secondary with various fruits. For 2 gallons of the base beer, I added 1/2 gallon of bottled grapefruit juice. It refermented of course, and the result was quite bitter. When I bottled it, along with priming sugar, I added 1/2 cup of xylitol which definitely helped. Still, all-in-all, not the best version of my 'fruit moon' series. I have not repeated it, and probably will not.

 

[MikeCo]

Don’t add juice to the bottling bucket; you won’t be able to accurately calculate the amount of priming sugar needed. Add the juice in the primary fermenter or rack the beer onto it in a secondary and allow enough time for It to fully ferment before bottling.

 

[HazyJane]

Thanks alot for the feedback guys I appreciate it!

The "Dieu du Ciel" microbrewery here in Montreal (well known for its Péché Mortel) have this Grapefruit IPA that is out of this world delicious and I've always wondered how they do it. Perfectly bitter, fruit and beer blend is just perfect and the beer actually has pulp in it. I'm so curious as to when the grapefruit is added!

Thanks again for the help! Will be experimenting with a few techniques and I'll make sure to let you know how it went

 

[MikeCo]

Do you know whether it's bottle conditioned or force-carbonated? If not bottle conditioned, they may be adding juice at packaging.

 

[HazyJane]

Interesting, I'll check that out I'm not quite sure, thanks!!

 

[MikeCo]

The "Dieu du Ciel" microbrewery here in Montreal (well known for its Péché Mortel) have this Grapefruit IPA that is out of this world delicious and I've always wondered how they do it. Perfectly bitter, fruit and beer blend is just perfect and the beer actually has pulp in it. I'm so curious as to when the grapefruit is added!

Other common ways to add grapefruit flavor to beer are to use zest, peels or whole fruit. They my be using one or a combination of these methods.