Grapefruit Ginger Blonde - Suggestions and Criticisms Please

I've always thought that Shiner was onto something with their Ruby Redbird brew. But, I've also always thought it was lacking in places. Going back to 2011, when I first had it I thought the ginger was way too prominent. Last year I thought it was pretty dang good! Had a few this year and find that it is just "meh..." without much grapefruit or ginger flavor, and bland on it's own. Maybe it's just inconsistency between batches? Maybe my palate is changing?

Anyway, I want to have something similar, yet suited to my tastes. I started with BlindLemonLars' "Squeeze My Lemon Summer Blonde" and modified it a bit for what I was looking for (I think).

Grapefruit Ginger Blonde (Title a work in process)

Batch size: 5.25 gallons into fermenter
Recipe Type: All Grain BIAB
Style Blonde Ale
Yeast: S-04
Est. Original Gravity: 1.050
Est. Final Gravity: 1.011
IBU: 24.6
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Mash Time: 75 min @ 150*
Mash Thickness: 1.25 qt/lb
Color: 6.3
Primary: 14 Days
Secondary: 14 Days (If needed)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%

Ingredients:
6 lb & 12 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) - Rahr (2.0 SRM)
2 lb Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM)
8 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
8 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60 SRM)
0.50 oz Centennial (10.00%) (60 min)
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (SuperMoss) (10 min)
1.0 oz Cascade (5.50%) (10 min)
4.0 oz Grapefruit Zest - Fresh (5 min)
0.25 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (5 min) (I have it left over from a recent Wit)
1.0 oz Cascade (5.50%) (0 min)
1.5 oz Ginger Root - Frest Grated (Whirlpool Steep 20 min @170*)
32(?) oz Grapefruit Juice - Secondary (If needed)
0.5 oz Ginger Root - Fresh Grated - Secondary (If needed)

Total Grain Weight: 9.75 lb
Mash Schedule: BIAB, Light Body
Mash 75 minutes @150.0*F
Ferment 62-65*F

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I'm looking for a clean, refreshing ale with grapefruit and ginger flavor prominent, with the grapefruit slightly more than the ginger, and more hop aroma and bitterness than the original Ruby Redbird. I don't want the ginger flavor to be too hot or spicy either.

Couple of questions I have since I have not designed a recipe or used fruit zest or ginger.

1. How does the base recipe (grains and hops) look before any grapefruit or ginger?

2. Will the grapefruit zest give me the flavor that I am looking for?

3. Is 1.5 oz steep of ginger zest too much? Will it extract any flavor/aroma?

4. Keep the orange peel out of it? (I was thinking of tossing it in since I have it, and will not need just 0.25 oz when I brew a Wit again)

5. What will the acidity of the grapefruit juice do to the yeast if it is needed? I am not set up to keg yet, so I will need to bottle.

6. Will adding ginger zest in secondary add any flavor/aroma?

7. Will hop flavor/aroma pair well with grapefruit and ginger? I think Ruby Redbird is around 13 IBU, maybe there's a reason?

Any other suggestions or criticisms are gladly accepted!

Cheers and Many Thanks!

1. What's the corn for?
2. It's more for aroma than for flavor, but these are not two totally different things.
4. Chuck it in.
5. It will slow the yeast down a little, but it should still carb. You can spend a dollar for a pack of champagne yeast to add when you bottle if you're worried about it. Personally, I've never had a problem getting ale yeast to carb acidic beers.
7. Zest and ginger should pair fine with flavor/aroma hops. But grapefruit pith, acid and the spiciness of the ginger will make the beer seem higher in IBUs than it really is. I'd keep it under 20, but I'm guessing.

Your base recipe is looking pretty good. As the previous comment reads, what's the corn for? It may be wiser to strive for pure malt fermentables. Maybe a little more of the cara-pils could help you. You could lighten it up by putting only cara-pils (no 60L), and up to a lb. of it. Hops are good too. Perhaps a full oz. of Centennial would give you a better bitter flavor.

Don't add anything to your beer that has not been sanitized after cooling the wort. This could lead to an infection in your beer. Hops are an exception to this rule, as we know about properties, packaging sealed standards, etc. The grapefruit juice can ferment out, possibly, depending on secondary temperature.

I think it's possible to achieve ginger and grapefruit flavors by using appropriate hops. Don't get me wrong, hop selection is something in it's own, but it can be possible to come close to these flavors if only to accentuate (compliment) them.

Hey guys,

Thanks for the responses. The corn, from what I understand, is to reduce the maltiness of the beer. Am I wrong in this thinking?

Kingwood Kid: Thanks for the champagne yeast advice, I will probably go ahead and pick up a pack in case I do end up adding grapefruit juce to it. I'll also be careful not to get any pith with the zest.

GSul: I haven't used corn before in a beer, and am not opposed, by any means, to an all malt grist. I think I will leave the corn in for the first iteration of this. I'll also go ahead and increase the cara-pils to 60L ratio.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks again!

The corn will leave you with a lighter bodied beer. Carapils will do the exact opposite. I don't know what you're going for exactly, so I can't say how to best formulate the recipe. At the gravity you have, you can probably just use pale malt, the 8oz crystal and maybe 8-16oz table sugar, and mash around 148 to get a refreshing/crisp ale. You might consider switching the C-60 to C-40 or honey malt to get a lighter flavor .

I got the base recipe from another that used both corn and cara-pils; so I went with it. You do bring a good point though and I'd rather not use the corn anyway. Thanks!

1.5 ounces of ginger is a lot IMO. I make a ginger wit and I started with 1 ounce. It wad good but I felt like the ginger was too dominant. It tasted a lot like ginger ale. Now I use about .5 oz and I think it's just right. It allows for a balance of flavors. I used .25 oz recently and it is noticeable but definitely stays in the background. Oh and I add at FO.