Spicing up my IPA with fruit?

[woomfy]

I'm new to brewing, had some great success with the Youngs IPA kits, and i have a notion to spice my next brew up a bit. I have a Richies Simply kit being delivered shortly, and fancy adding something fruity like grapefruit in an attempt to create an Elvis Juice, taistylike.
If I was adding a bottle of grapefruit juice or actual grapefruit inc peal, when and how would i do this?
Surely the juice would increase the sugar content and upset the SG. Alternatively if I was adding actual fruit/peel, towards the end of initial fermentation, would the fruit/peel need sterilising somehow?

Thanks, in anticipation.

 

[woomfy]

Further to request for advice, I have just taken delivery of some lovely Citra hops that I'll DryHop.
Should add some fruity flavour.

No one got any experience of adding fruit to a brew, here?

 

[DavidDetroit]

There are some hops that provide that grapefruit flavor/essence that you're looking for and would be much easier than adding fruit. You could also probably add grapefruit flavoring (which you would want to add just before bottling).

If you were to proceed with grapefruit, blanching/pasteurizing the fruit is the way to go. Freezing breaks the cells down but is not a replacement for pasteurization. I add fruit nearer to the end of fermentation (five days) and put it in a mesh,, food-safe bag. It does change the OG. I wouldn't expect too much sweetness to remain if the yeast gets hold of it. That could cause the beer to be a little dry.

I would save the fruit for a wheat beer base or a stout or something like that.

But experiments are great and one can learn a lot from doing it firsthand.

 

[Slid]

Further to request for advice, I have just taken delivery of some lovely Citra hops that I'll DryHop.
Should add some fruity flavour.

No one got any experience of adding fruit to a brew, here?

Go with the dry hop for the next step, mate!
Adding stuff like fruit is a tad too far from a risk perspective, for mine.
Citra addition will get you a very long way in your chosen direction and messing that up should be avoided just yet!

 

[Slid]

To respond to the second issue of adding fruit to beer, this is a very ancient practice, but requires more thought than chucking a bag of Citra in 5 days before bottling.
Not many of my fruit experiments have added much more than colour (blackberries) or time (picking blackberries). Adding orange peel is a leap of faith, even if you think you know what you are doing and Grapefruit, well perhaps a slightly longer leap.

Adding a litre of carton juice is almost certain to be OK, as long as you can remove any yeast suppressing additives (preservatives), or add the juice so late in the process it makes no difference (like cordial to the poured beer at the extreme).

 

[woomfy]

Thanks Gents, some food for thought.
Think now I'll stick to adding the Citra, this time round, see how that goes. But will continue to research fluit flavouring possibilities.
There's another thread going just now with the addition of marmalade concentrate. Now I like that idea.

 

[Underhill]

Watching with interest as I'm thinking of doing something similar with an IPA kit

 

[MrRook]

I've had good success with adding lemon zest to steep right after the boil is done.

 

[TarnSup]

I’ve just added the zest of 2 grapefruit into the FV 5 days before bottling. Soaked them in Vodka overnight to kill any nasties