Adding Grapefruit peel/juice to fermentor

[Blinky]

Hi - I'm looking for some advice from the collective!
See my recipe thread here: https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/session-pale-ale-recipe-feedback.104945/
Im wondering whether to add Grapefruit to this beer, my mates loves grapefruit and I'm partial to an Elvis Juice as well... At first I was thinking I could juice 2 or 3 (is that enough? that's another question!) but then I thought why not just buy 100% fresh grapefruit juice from Tesco and put in say 1/2 litre? But now I wonder, is that going to make it sour, is that why I should add just the peel? I see the DIY dog recipe also says add as much Grapefruit and Orange peel as you like, any idea why they say to also add orange, and what ratio? Jees! Things are much simpler when you just chuck a load of dry hops in and forget about it for a couple of days! On that note... Dry Hop... I've not dry hopped with the 70g of Citra yet (the recipe has 30g @20min and 40g @ 5 min, slightly different from the recipe I posted, but the malt bill is the same), should I still do this if adding Grapefruit? I also have some galaxy and 100g of El-Dorado, would they make a better pairing?
One more thing, this will be kegged, so no need to worry about bottle bombs or preservative killing the yeast

 

[Moe]

If you like Elvis juice, get a bottle of grapefruit extract from the Malt Miller.

You just add to the keg, it tastes remarkably similar to the Elvis Juice flavour

 

[Stu]

If you like Elvis juice, get a bottle of grapefruit extract from the Malt Miller.

You just add to the keg, it tastes remarkably similar to the Elvis Juice flavour

That's my concern. I don't think Elvis Juice recipe is anything like the original one - I think it uses fake flavouring.
I don't know if Grapefruit extract would work quite so well, but definitely worth a try!

 

[jof]

Just remember that graptefruit is incompatible with certain medicines. E.g blood pressure medication & possibly some anti depressants.

 

[Blinky]

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/natural-pink-grapefruit-extract-15ml/?v=79cba1185463 that what you mean? Sadly it's out of stock

 

[DocAnna]

Just remember that graptefruit is incompatible with certain medicines. E.g blood pressure medication & possibly some anti depressants.

This... Grapefruit juice is a potent inhibitor of the cytochrome P enzymes in the gut and to some degree in the liver, specifically CYP3A4. A glass of about 200ml halves the effectiveness of the enzymes for about 24 hours, and smaller amounts are also potent. There's not a lot of agreement about what is in the juice that causes this. Impacts lots of antihistamines, antibiotics, antifungals, blood pressure drugs and simvastatin. I suspect the brewdog recipe with orange juice and peel option is about trying to get the fruit citric bit and grapefruit aroma without having all sorts of warnings on the beer.

You could always dry hop with Saphir too - Vault city use it in their fruit/grapefruit radler.

 

[Caramel Ox]

For reference Cascade + Moutere tastes so much like grapefruit you wouldn’t want to add anything else.

 

[Blinky]

For reference Cascade + Moutere tastes so much like grapefruit you wouldn’t want to add anything else.

Might do that next time then

 

[hoppyscotty]

That's my concern. I don't think Elvis Juice recipe is anything like the original one - I think it uses fake flavouring.
I don't know if Grapefruit extract would work quite so well, but definitely worth a try!

Well flavourings are not all created equal, it's like vanilla essence vs extract. One is a fake flavouring and one is real vanilla in concentrate form, think extract is good and essence is bad...cant remember. Fruit juice is mostly water anyway, like 90%, so if you can get it in a form with reduced water content in a more concentrated form then that will be better.

I've tried puree in a mango IPA and it wasn't good, not much if any mango carried through, and the flavour of the base beer was washed out...no surprise when you consider Mango puree is 90% water, all you're doing is effectively diluting your beer with water and adding a tiny amount of actual mango the flavour of which has no chance in carrying through to the final beer at such small amounts. Also noticed this in some commercial beers where the claimed fruit flavour hasn't carried through in any detectable way. The next time I'll try something different. I like the idea of getting the flavours from hops primarily and boosting the fruit flavour it with a bit of extract or something. If I were to use peel I'd use dried peel too.

My benchmark for a beer with fruit flavour is Stones Tangerine Express. That is an absolutely cracking beer with strong tangerine/orange flavour coming though, though not sweet or overpowering in any way. I have no idea how they get that flavour and if they use real fruit or some form of extract or concentrate. I'd love to know.

 

[Moe]

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/natural-pink-grapefruit-extract-15ml/?v=79cba1185463 that what you mean? Sadly it's out of stock

Yes.

That’s a shame it’s out of stock. I’ve used it twice, it’s really good

 

[Moe]

Well flavourings are not all created equal, it's like vanilla essence vs extract. One is a fake flavouring and one is real vanilla in concentrate form, think extract is good and essence is bad...cant remember. Fruit juice is mostly water anyway, like 90%, so if you can get it in a form with reduced water content in a more concentrated form then that will be better.

I've tried puree in a mango IPA and it wasn't good, not much if any mango carried through, and the flavour of the base beer was washed out...no surprise when you consider Mango puree is 90% water, all you're doing is effectively diluting your beer with water and adding a tiny amount of actual mango the flavour of which has no chance in carrying through to the final beer at such small amounts. Also noticed this in some commercial beers where the claimed fruit flavour hasn't carried through in any detectable way. The next time I'll try something different. I like the idea of getting the flavours from hops primarily and boosting the fruit flavour it with a bit of extract or something. If I were to use peel I'd use dried peel too.

My benchmark for a beer with fruit flavour is Stones Tangerine Express. That is an absolutely cracking beer with strong tangerine/orange flavour coming though, though not sweet or overpowering in any way. I have no idea how they get that flavour and if they use real fruit or some form of extract or concentrate. I'd love to know.

Reading that reminds me of Brewdog Tangerine Dream. Not had that for a few years now, it was an absolute cracking summer beer.

Also another really good grapefruit beer is Williams Bro Ruben’s Grapefruit IPA. They used to sell it in Aldi, but not seen it for a few years