Northern Brewer Grapefruit Sculpin clone

[DorsiaOnFridayNight]

Has anyone tried the finished product yet? I am thinking about using the all grain recipe but by the looks of it in the software it is 63% efficiency with that grain bill. Plugged it into beersmith with my efficiency and it is giving a much different ratio of the caramel malts.

Just brewed this AG recipe last night. Got a 63% efficiency, which was kind of disappointing. Though this is my first 5 gallon batch with new equipment, so hopefully it will get better.

 

[arnobg]

Just brewed this AG recipe last night. Got a 63% efficiency, which was kind of disappointing. Though this is my first 5 gallon batch with new equipment, so hopefully it will get better.

So to confirm my thoughts and Beersith calculations, what was your OG? 1.065 as the recipe calls for?

 

[DorsiaOnFridayNight]

So to confirm my thoughts and Beersith calculations, what was your OG? 1.065 as the recipe calls for?

Actually, your post made me recheck my Beersmith inputs. I had too much of the Cara in there, so my efficiency actually came out to 65%, but yes, the measured OG was 1.065

 

[HealeyA87]

I just racked mine to secondary after 10 days in primary.
OG 1.070
SG at racking 1.012

[emoji57]


View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1452870472.038452.jpg

 

[brew703]

Can the Melanoidin be eliminated or is it really necessary? I'll have to order a pound and most of it will go to waste as I'll probably never use it again.

 

[ultravista]

What is the right amount of grapefruit for a 5 gallon batch? White pith, outer peal, or a combination of both?

 

[HealeyA87]

The guy I go to at my LHBS told me to use just the zest of one grapefruit. He said it should be a little more than 2 oz, but to use the zest only, the orange outer part. He said not to get down to the white.

 

[DorsiaOnFridayNight]

I was concerned about the relatively low IBU figure from that hops schedule, but I duped it anyway. I like the result a lot, and it tastes similar to my memory of the original. I have a bottle of the original here but haven't done a side by side yet.

I just noticed that Beersmith was calculating the IBU at around 45, when the original is around 70. Does this seem right? I just racked to secondary and tried the hydrometer sample and it didn't seem very bitter.

 

[jrcrilly]

I just noticed that Beersmith was calculating the IBU at around 45, when the original is around 70. Does this seem right? I just racked to secondary and tried the hydrometer sample and it didn't seem very bitter.

It comes out tasting great (to me). I'm guessing the grapefruit peel (added later) gets the bitterness where it belongs.

 

[jrcrilly]

Can the Melanoidin be eliminated or is it really necessary? I'll have to order a pound and most of it will go to waste as I'll probably never use it again.

If you like the result as much as I do, you WILL use it again.

 

[arnobg]

Can the Melanoidin be eliminated or is it really necessary? I'll have to order a pound and most of it will go to waste as I'll probably never use it again.

If you like the result as much as I do, you WILL use it again.

Are you guys referring to the Dingemans Cara 20?

@jrcrilly how did your efficiency/OG come out, did you make any changes to the grain bill to compensate for the 63% efficiency they used to make the recipe?

 

[HealeyA87]

I bought 2 grapefruits to get the fresh zest for dry hopping. Apparently that only gave me 1oz by weight of zest. Do you think if I were to take 1oz of the dry zest that came with the kit, and let it soak in a little bit of grapefruit juice from the grapefruits, that it would be ok to add when dry hopping? I would obviously sanitize it after it soaked in the juice. I was thinking of letting the dry zest soak for an hour or 2 in the fresh juice, then draining it and then adding the zest to the vodka and fresh zest. That would give me 2oz for dry hopping. I wanna make sure the juice would be ok

 

[brew703]

In ref to grapefruit peel, are you guys using a vegetable peeler to peel the grapefruit, leaving the pith or using a zester?

 

[HealeyA87]

In ref to grapefruit peel, are you guys using a vegetable peeler to peel the grapefruit, leaving the pith or using a zester?

I used a mini-cheese grater.

 

[arnobg]

So the color looks good in everyone's photos. Did you all stick to the Cara 20/Caramel 20L combo?

also with the 0 minute additions, did you start cooling right after adding them?

 

[jrcrilly]

I'm brewing the NB recipe right now. I subbed Crystal 40 for the 20, though. Didn't realize that I don't have any 20 on hand. I doubt that I'll notice a taste difference.

 

[jrcrilly]

Are you guys referring to the Dingemans Cara 20?

@jrcrilly how did your efficiency/OG come out, did you make any changes to the grain bill to compensate for the 63% efficiency they used to make the recipe?

I was referring to the recipe. If he likes it as much as I do, he will brew it again.

I don't usually adjust grain bills but just accept the increased beer density as a bonus.

 

[HealeyA87]

So the color looks good in everyone's photos. Did you all stick to the Cara 20/Caramel 20L combo?

also with the 0 minute additions, did you start cooling right after adding them?

I used the ingredients supplied with the NB kit.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1453682938.635144.jpg

 

[thadeus_d3]

So the color looks good in everyone's photos. Did you all stick to the Cara 20/Caramel 20L combo?

also with the 0 minute additions, did you start cooling right after adding them?

I brewed this yesterday and subbed the Cara 20 for 20L, since that's all I had on hand. After the 0 min addition, I scraped the hops off the side of my kettle and gave it a 30 second stir before cooling.

 

[Soopa]

I assume the grapefruit peel that comes with the NB kit is dehydrated. So using two ounces of fresh peel wouldn't be enough. Right?

 

[thadeus_d3]

I assume the grapefruit peel that comes with the NB kit is dehydrated. So using two ounces of fresh peel wouldn't be enough. Right?

I'm not sure, but I plan on using 3 oz of fresh peel.

 

[DorsiaOnFridayNight]

I assume the grapefruit peel that comes with the NB kit is dehydrated. So using two ounces of fresh peel wouldn't be enough. Right?

Not sure if this helps, but I soaked my dehydrated peel from the kit in 4 oz of vodka in a normal mason jar. After soaking up the liquid, it filled it about 1/3. Didn't take a weight measurement or anything though

 

[signpost]

I would think if you just used the zest or colorful part of the peel and left the white pith, it would give more flavor per ounce than the dried stuff probably gives.

But that's just my guess.

 

[HealeyA87]

I just kegged my batch. I tasted a sample when I took my gravity reading. It doesn't have as much hop flavor as I expected, and I just dry hopped for a week. I don't know if this will show up later or not. The grapefruit flavor is definitely there. Maybe a little more than I wanted. I used an oz of fresh grapefruit zest and an oz of the dry zest. But it may level out in flavor after it sits for a week

 

[HealeyA87]

First pour after carbonating it, just to see where it was at. Still needs to sit and let everything settle so I can get the last of the crud out

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1454179166.202751.jpg

 

[Slowfro]

Has anyone made the famous "blood orange hefe" that has been on the forum forever? I'm wondering if you use a similar technique of using the zest and actual fruit and make a tea to essentially pasteurize the fruit then dump the whole tea/zest/fruit mixture into primary if that would give any of the grapefruit flavor. Thoughts?

 

[arnobg]

Brewed this today and nearly had a perfect brew day. Hit my Pre-Boil numbers right on and was slightly shy of SG. 5 gallons into the fermenter at 1.063. I had 80% efficiency so I scaled the recipe to my system:

10 lb 4 oz 2 row
8 oz Dingemans Cara 20
4 oz Caramel 20L

Hops all the same.

For those of you who have brewed this, any reason not to use the whole grapefruit peel? The instructions in the actual recipe just say to use peel.

 

[jrcrilly]

I just kegged my 2.5 gallon version (6 1/2lbs 2 row, 6oz Crystal 40) today. Hit the numbers for 8% and so far (not yet carbonated) it tastes just like the 5 gallon batch I made previously. The next batch will be 10 gallons. The Pliny clone I brewed recently pleases me even more but it is much more expensive to make so probably won't do 10 gallons of that.

I used the dried, shredded peel from the LHBS. No complaints.

 

[HealeyA87]

Keg conditioned for a week. The difference one week makes is crazy. Last week, the grapefruit was overpowering and the aftertaste wasn't the best. Today, it is so crisp and refreshing. The in your face grapefruit is gone. Now it accents the hops nicely, but isn't overtaking the flavor. And I absolutely love the color. It's a bit cloudy, but i don't care. I think it looks awesome.





View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1454905262.796695.jpg

 

[arnobg]

Keg conditioned for a week. The difference one week makes is crazy. Last week, the grapefruit was overpowering and the aftertaste wasn't the best. Today, it is so crisp and refreshing. The in your face grapefruit is gone. Now it accents the hops nicely, but isn't overtaking the flavor. And I absolutely love the color. It's a bit cloudy, but i don't care. I think it looks awesome.





View attachment 336187

How much grapefruit did you use, how did you use it, and for how long? Thanks for sharing.