Grapefruit Pils - late hop additions

[snarf7]

The wife has tasked me with brewing a grapefruit-inspired summer sipper. something crisp, clean and refreshing.

I was planning to use one of my standard pils recipes as the base (mostly Pilsner malt, a little Vienna and Carapils with Saaz or Hallertau for my early bittering addition). For the hops I was thinking of either Mosaic or Citra (or both) added late. I don't want this hopped to the point of a juicy NEIPA, that will overwhelm the Pilsner character too much but a mild-to-medium punch of grapefruit. Anyone made something similar? What were your hops choices/amounts/timing?

much obliged!

 

[Jag75]

I'd use Saaz as your bittering since it's not an over powering bittering hop . It's a nice subtle mellow hop. I'd definitely go citra late addition and even citra wp.

 

[snarf7]

I'd use Saaz as your bittering since it's not an over powering bittering hop . It's a nice subtle mellow hop. I'd definitely go citra late addition and even citra wp.

any idea on quantities for those late additions? I've not done this with a Pils before so I don't wanna overdo it...i guess I could always dry hop if its not where I want it but I'm hoping to get it close

 

[Jag75]

I'd probably lean to an oz of citra at flame out . Then whirlpool 2 oz at 160-165 for 20 minutes or so . Like you said you could even dry hop if you wanted . You could try it after it's done fermenting and decide from there . Sounds like a pretty good beer to me . Report back with the process .

I'm assuming this is a 5 gallon batch .

 

[ListerH]

My first instinct was to think hops to add the grapefruit character.... simcoe, Amarillo, cascade all came to mind.
I love Mosaic but I tend to get a more tropical mango flavor from it.

But then I got to thinking what I would do if I were brewing for my wife (who might be wanting something a bit less "beery")... and I think I'd go with fruit additions rather than hops. Might also help with the "crispy bite" mouthfeel.
I haven't experimented with grapefruit peels yet but it's something I have thought about for an IPA... this was the post I had found about prepping and adding the grapefruit... https://blog.kegoutlet.com/how-to-prepare-and-add-grapefruit-to-an-ipa/

Just a thought.

 

[Jag75]

My wife just got a peach IPA the other day. Shes not an IPA fan but she liked it . I tried it with low expectations but was surprised.

 

[snarf7]

I'll let you know how this works out but tasting the wort pre-fermentation I think it's going to be close to what I want...here's what I did

1 oz Saaz @ 60 mins
15 g Mosaic @ 5 mins
10 g Citra @flameout
45 g Citra @ 150F

trying to maximize the grapefruit without adding too much bitterness

 

[ListerH]

I'll let you know how this works out but tasting the wort pre-fermentation I think it's going to be close to what I want...here's what I did

1 oz Saaz @ 60 mins
15 g Mosaic @ 5 mins
10 g Citra @flameout
45 g Citra @ 150F

trying to maximize the grapefruit without adding too much bitterness

Sounds v good to me... earthiness from the saaz and a nice citrus hit from the late additions

 

[snarf7]

Sounds v good to me... earthiness from the saaz and a nice citrus hit from the late additions

Yeah I'm still playing around with whirpool additions a lot, it's so hard to calculate what they are going to contribute in the flameout to 170F range, different hops behave differently and impart more/less bitterness so that's why I cooled it down to 150 to drop the biggest chunk, we'll see how this pans out, this is what makes brewing fun tho right!?

 

[Dland]

What I do is put leaf hops in a spider, (just a fine mesh SS basket) in my mash tun w false bottom(after spent grist cleaned out.) After boil turned off and protein break trub slows swirling around, I whirlpool and then gravity feed in to MT vessel (which is now a hop back I guess), when wort temp is around 180F or a little lower.

Wort is drained into the hop spider with leaf hops. This helps as a filter for any trub. Also, much less trub ends up in fermentor, because the gravity feed from the BK to the HB vessel pulls in less trub through screen than if it were pumped.

My understanding is that the precursors to the chemicals that make for off flavors from slow cooling happen when wort is cooled too slow in the 150F and downward range. Someone will hopefully chime in with name of the precursor and off flavor chemical, 'cause I don't want to look up how to spell it now. (had a few delicious HB lagers)

Back to the topic, when I use an 1/2 to an ounce of Cascade or Amarillo leaf in the hop spider for hop step it lends a subtle but noticeable citrus note to lagers. Have even used Mosaic in this step, but only in heavier lagers.

 

[snarf7]

I did a very similar process actually. The cool was with an IC so I could drop it down fast to 160-ish, kill the water then drop hops shortly thereafter...temp was 155 in 2 mins, 150 in 5-6 mins and then hung out between 150-140 for the remainder of the hopstand (total 30 mins).

 

[Jag75]

I'll let you know how this works out but tasting the wort pre-fermentation I think it's going to be close to what I want...here's what I did

1 oz Saaz @ 60 mins
15 g Mosaic @ 5 mins
10 g Citra @flameout
45 g Citra @ 150F

trying to maximize the grapefruit without adding too much bitterness

Heck yeah. Looks good !