[Rattlesnake44]

So... Fermentation is almost done on the Grape Ape APA. I'll be adding the zest and flesh of four grapefruits and about 3 oz of Citra and Cascade hops and let that sit for about 5-6 days.
Looking for feedback on using the citrus, never done it before. Any anecdotal evidence the forum can provide? Looking for dos and don'ts, best practices, success and failure stories.
Thanks all

[HoosierBrew]

I like to add zest in a dry hop canister or nylon bag in the keg and then pull it when the flavor gets where I want - no guesswork.  As for the fruit, I'd add it to secondary and give it a week, then bottle or keg.

[Rattlesnake44]

I like to add zest in a dry hop canister or nylon bag in the keg and then pull it when the flavor gets where I want - no guesswork.  As for the fruit, I'd add it to secondary and give it a week, then bottle or keg.

Sounds about what I was thinking of doing. My plan was to use one nylon bag for the hops and zest, another bag for the flesh of the fruit. I'm going to be super careful to remove all the white pith, I've heard that makes for extreme bitterness. I keep checking gravity to make sure the fermentation is as close to done as I can, I read that fermenting the citrus flesh can lead to "vomit" like flavors, which I definitely don't want!  I'll give all of that 5 days in the beer then cold crash and keg. Sound about right?

[HoosierBrew]

I like to add zest in a dry hop canister or nylon bag in the keg and then pull it when the flavor gets where I want - no guesswork.  As for the fruit, I'd add it to secondary and give it a week, then bottle or keg.

Sounds about what I was thinking of doing. My plan was to use one nylon bag for the hops and zest, another bag for the flesh of the fruit. I'm going to be super careful to remove all the white pith, I've heard that makes for extreme bitterness. I keep checking gravity to make sure the fermentation is as close to done as I can, I read that fermenting the citrus flesh can lead to "vomit" like flavors, which I definitely don't want!  I'll give all of that 5 days in the beer then cold crash and keg. Sound about right?

That should work. FWIW, I've heard the rumors about getting the vomit flavors, except there are several people here, most notably Keith (Majorvices) who makes a grapefruit IPA at his brewery. From what I've gathered, the people who got that nasty flavor used a fairly high percentage of their fermentables as squeezed citrus juice. I think you're good. You'll have to post how it comes out !

[Rattlesnake44]

Roger that. The vomit thing bothered me a bit but that's why I wanted to make sure fermentation was done before I added the grapefruit. I'll make sure to update the brew thread I did with a finished pic and taste update.

[Stevie]

I believe the one vomit "beer" I tasted started as 100% OJ. Some think it was a combo of low nutrients and high acidity. Mercaptan bomb for sure. Tasted like college.

[majorvices]

I have never made a grapefruit IPA. I have run my IPA and IIPA through a grape fruit randall with great success. Most recently I did it through a grapefruit and tangerine randall and that was delicious. There is a brewery who makes a grapefruit IPA called Citrus Ninja and I hear they just age the beer on whole, sliced grapefruit. The beer is awesome but no idea on how it is made other than what I have heard.

[Rattlesnake44]

I have never made a grapefruit IPA. I have run my IPA and IIPA through a grape fruit randall with great success. Most recently I did it through a grapefruit and tangerine randall and that was delicious. There is a brewery who makes a grapefruit IPA called Citrus Ninja and I hear they just age the beer on whole, sliced grapefruit. The beer is awesome but no idea on how it is made other than what I have heard.

This whole idea started when my girlfriend and I were sitting in the backyard trying Ballast Point's Grapefruit Sculpin IPA. We both thought it was a great sunny day backyard drinking beer but a little to high in ABV (7%) to be a good sessionable drinking beer.  So I did some research online and was able to come up with the recipe I used by mashing a few different recipes I found online together. The goal was to keep all the hop and citrus flavor but reduce the ABV some. The one that provided the most info used 4-6 grape fruits, zest and flesh with pith removed, in the beer with dry hops for a week. So that's what I'm trying. I guess we'll find out how it all works together in a couple weeks

[majorvices]

Certainly sounds like a worthy experiment! I may try the whole grape fruits in secondary soon.

[HoosierBrew]

I have never made a grapefruit IPA. I have run my IPA and IIPA through a grape fruit randall with great success. Most recently I did it through a grapefruit and tangerine randall and that was delicious. There is a brewery who makes a grapefruit IPA called Citrus Ninja and I hear they just age the beer on whole, sliced grapefruit. The beer is awesome but no idea on how it is made other than what I have heard.

Ok, my bad. I didn't get the 'randallized' thing the first time.  I was thinking you'd used grapefruit sections in a secondary.

[HoosierBrew]

Tasted like college.

That's gold. My college too, on occasion.

[kramerog]

Microplane or good vegetable peelers are the best way to zest without getting pith.  With a microplaned the zest gets to be really small; the best way to dial in the flavor you want is to add some zest, taste the beer 24-48 hrs later, and repeat as necessary.  With a vegetable peeler, the zest is much thicker and the flavor takes longer to extract.

[Rattlesnake44]

Microplane or good vegetable peelers are the best way to zest without getting pith.  With a microplaned the zest gets to be really small; the best way to dial in the flavor you want is to add some zest, taste the beer 24-48 hrs later, and repeat as necessary.  With a vegetable peeler, the zest is much thicker and the flavor takes longer to extract.

Thanks!

[pete b]

Last year I made a batch of grapefruit and hops bitters. I used it once in an APA. I added it at bottling, just enough to compliment the cascade hops, I wasn't making a grapefruit beer as such. It totally worked.