Grapefruit Peel IPA

From my HomeBrew kitchen comes my latest experiment; Grapefruit Peel IPA.  I cooked up this batch in early October using a pretty straight forward recipe with as few ingredients as possible. It's aroma is forward and friendly with grapefruit leading the way.  I've honestly never used grapefruit peel in a beer before so I'm quite happy with the results it contributes to the smell.  I dry hopped it as well so it's difficult to tell how much aroma is hops and how much is peel. 

Grapefruit Peel IPA

The head is frothy with a ton of retention that chases this beer down to the bottom of the glass.  I added a small amount of rye to the grain bill (0.4oz) to help with the head and give it a little spice.  

The body is nice and spicy but not quite as hoppy as I had hoped it would be. I'm guessing it's somewhere around 35-40 IBUs which falls drastically short of the 60-80 range that I was hoping for.

  I'm still trying to figure this out so I compared hop additions to IPA style beer recipes I found online.  

It's got a nice biscuity body from the Vienna malt, its translucent in clarity with a warm orange colour.  It's refreshing with a bit of spice and lots of citrus wallop.  

The recipe is below if you want to give it a shot or help me modify it to make it even better.  It's a decent beer and I'll give it a C (61) for effort.   

Grapefruit Peel IPA 

1 Gallon Batch

1.3 lb Vienna Malt

.5 lb 2-Row Malt

.4 oz Rye Malt

.5oz Cascade @ 60 min

.25oz Cascade @ 15 min

.25oz Hallertau dry hop in secondary

1/2 Peel of Grapefruit in secondary

1/2 Packet of Safale US-05 yeast

10 days primary fermentation

10 days secondary fermentation

7 days bottled at room temp

14 days botte in the fridge 

Great Lakes Brewery: Etobichoker Double Belgian IPA

 


From Great Lakes Brewery comes the legendary (well sorta) Belgian Double IPA called Etobichoker.  This is a beer that I've heard about in whispers, but tonight marks the first occasion where Etobichoker has made its way to my fridge.  It came highly recommended by the friendly crew at Great Lakes Brewery and I was promised that it would be unlike any IPA that I have ever tried before.  This is the legend of Etobichoker!

Make no mistake, this is a truly unique ale.  The artwork and the hilarious story that decorate the can are enough to make you want to dive in.  The back of the can reads:

"Legend has it Etobichoker rose from the depths of The Humber terrorizing Etobicokers and 

haunting their children's dreams.  Overwrought citizens everywhere from Sherway Gardens to Longbranch still report sightings of the hideous monster daily.  Turns out, Etobichoker is one of those oft-misunderstood monsters who simply love hops for their pungent aromas and flavours of pine, tropical fruit and resin.  Just like the rest of us!"

Etobichoker has a body colour somewhere between gold and orange.  It pours with a subtle head and packs a pungent boozy aroma with tropical hints of peach, pineapple, and melon.  Smells like the yeast also contributes a light banana nose.  

This boozy beer comes in at 8.1% and packs a dignified 80 ibu's.  On first sip, it's tartness masks the boozy undertones of this double IPA with great balance.  You can tell that this beer is strong, but it doesn't taste like you're drinking more booze then beer. It goes down easy and has a clean mouth feel. For a beer with 80 ibu's it's not actually as bitter as you would think. It tastes as though the hops and booze find a nice middle ground underpinned by a mild sweetness.

This limited run beer is awesome!  Its seasonal and ties in well with Halloween and Great Lakes Pumpkin Ale.  I rate Etobichoker an irreproachable A (81).  Remember, this beer is a limited run and its ONLY available directly from The Great Lakes Brewery.  Because it's such an easy drinking beer, I can see myself unknowingly ending up hammered after a number of tall boys.  I think Etobichoker is actually the name of the hangover you get as a result of drinking this Tank Ten ale.

Support your local brewery!

Chris