Grapefruit Pale Ale

[wendyb1063]

I'm thinking of making a grapefruit pale ale, and am looking for some advice! I have some ideas from searching these forums, and I plan on using grapefruit zest (just the yellow part from 5 grapefruits, freshly grated, in 5 gallons). I also plan on using Simcoe, Amarillo, and/or Cascade hops.

1. Should I add the zest during the boil, or should I soak the zest in Everclear or vodka for a few hours and add this later (when I add the yeast? Or at the time of secondary or priming?)? I'm even considering doing both to try to maximize the "grapefruitness".

2. It sounds like people have had some bad experiences with adding grapefruit juice, possibly due to the acidity- anyone experience success with using the juice? It seems like the flavor of the juice would get lost anyway...what pH is optimal for the yeast if I do attempt to titrate in the juice?

3. Should I plan on dry hopping with one or more of the hops? Any other recommendations on how I do the hopping?

4. Any recommendations on a specific ale yeast to use? I'm thinking a basic North American pale ale yeast.

Any other words of wisdom would be very welcome! Thanks!

 

[robtotten]

Use Amarillo as your main late addition & dry hop. Simcoe is great but has a lot of pine flavor which may detract from the pure grapefruit flavor.

 

[markg388]

I have this recipe in the primary

12# golden promise
.5# crystal 60
.25# victory

1oz centennial - 60 min

.5oz each simcoe & amarillo - 10 min
.5oz each simcoe & amarillo - 5 min
1oz citra + the zest of 6 grapefruits (they were some big ones too) - 2 min

fermenting w/ s-05

I'm planning on dry hopping with some combination of simcoe/amarillo/citra in the near future here. If it comes out half as good as it smells life will be great. I'm not planning on maximizing grapefruityness though, more like trying to sneak some grapefruit into an already great IPA. I'm sure someone else has done some grapefruit brewing.

 

[robtotten]

Sounds good, let us know how it turns out.

ps what did you do with all those peeled grapefruit?

 

[markg388]

actually i made a pitcher if grapefruit-ade and used it to make a similar version of that german beer/lemonade mix originally for cyclers int he summer time (I don't care to look up the name). It was alright, nothing to write home about.

 

[Chello]

I have added grapefruit zest to a IPA before. I believe it was 4 grapefruits worth, added at flame out.

It smelled absolutely amazing during the primary, however once kegged and drinking it really wasn't noticeable unfortunately.

 

[markg388]

hopefully the extra 2 grapefruits & 2 minutes of boiling time gets me there, either way it'll be a good IPA.

 

[markg388]

transferred & dry hopped it today, it is very very good. Much like Chello's experience, it is not as strong as it smelled at the end of boil or during primary, if I didn't know it was in there I'd probably think it was a regular IPA that had an incredible grapefruit-like hop flavor and aroma. I'm excited to see how it turns out after dry hopping, I just used my usual 3oz: 1oz of simcoe, amarillo and citra.

 

[two_hearted]

I have added grapefruit zest to a IPA before. I believe it was 4 grapefruits worth, added at flame out.

It smelled absolutely amazing during the primary, however once kegged and drinking it really wasn't noticeable unfortunately.

I've done the same with zest in secondary. Same results.

 

[logdrum]

like this?



-d

 

[BonnieJ]

Has anyone gotten a noticeable grapefruit flavor in their beer? I was thinking that maybe grapefruit could be used for bittering but it sounds like it's not so easily done.

Anyone want to weigh in on this again? I know this thread is only a few months old but I figure it can't hurt to check.

 

[two_hearted]

maybe a lot more zest at flame out? You have to compete with the hops a lot more in a pale ale or IPA versus something like a Wit. I used the zest of 4 oranges in my wit and they come through pretty well. Maybe the zest of say...8-10 grapefruits?

Possibly some in secondary too? Man, that would be a ton of zest!

 

[HappyHax0r]

I've found dry hopping with cascade gives a nice slight citrus/grapefruit flavor

 

[Hang Glider]

Why not more hops?
I love the grapefruit taste, but never add grapefruit. It's all about the Cascade/Amarillo for me. 10 min, flameout, then dry hop with 2 ounces for a week....

mmmm....

 

[beergolf]

I do a brew using Amarillo and Citra hops. Nice grapefruit flavor...

 

[badhabit]

If I wanted strong grapefruit flavor I would stick with hop flavor....Lots of grapefruit flavor there I would focus on Cascade, Centennial and Columbus. I love Summit and think it gives a very clear grapefruit flavor but that is my taster.

 

[markg388]

the grapefruit was very noticible in my beer, but i woulndn't say it came from the 6 fruits worth of zest i added. it would've been a grapefruity beer without the zest too, the zest just gave it one more dimension