(Almost) All The Fads

Last month I brewed, blogged about, and finished off a great sour NEIPA. I had a teaser at the end where I indicated I would be brewing it again…with a twist. I’ve now brewed this beer, both for my enjoyment and as my entry into my homebrew club’s summer advent exchange.

This beer is a minor variation on last months Norwegian Fog sour NEIPA. Essentially, the same beer, but with grapefruit added…giving me (almost) all of the current beer fads in one fantastic brew. (but no f^@&ing glitter).

Recipe – (Almost) All The Fads Kveik Grapefruit Sour NEIPA

This beer was grain-to-keg in 6 days.

All water was adjusted to 200 PPM sulfate:50 PPM chloride, 75 PPM calcium

1. Mashed 2.72 kg of Wheat Malt, 2.50 kg Pilsner Malt and 0.45 kg of Malted Oats at 64.4C for 75 minutes.
2. Sparged to collect ~25 L of wort at 1.056 gravity.
3. Brought to a boil for 10 min during which time 28g of dried grapefruit zest was added
4. Chilled to 39C and transferred to an insulated/heated carboy.
5. Added 6 capsules of Jamesons Women’s Health probiotics and held at 37C for 24 hours
6. At the 24 hour mark the wort was “cooled” to 35C and pitched with a 300 ml starter of Ebbegarden kveik
7. At the 48 hour mark the fermenting beer was dry-hopped with  1 oz Citra , 2 oz Mosaic and 2 oz Motueka
8. The beer was held at 35C until day 4, at which point the heater and insulation was removed and the beer allowed to naturally cool to cellar temperature (~16C).
9. At the end of day 5 the beer was transferred to a keg, force-carbonated at 40 PSI for ~34 hours.

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Golden and hazy. The head retention is not great – perhaps due to the oils from the grapefruit skin.

Aroma: Grapefruit up front, with a subdued tropical hop background – hints of mango mostly. Lactic aroma is present, but not dominant.

Flavour: Fantastic. Upfront is a refreshing, citrus tartness, overlaid on a “generic” tropical hop note. The beer is lightly sour, so its easy to drain a glass, and the acidity makes it very refreshing. The malt note is definitely behind the scene – bready an light.

Mouthfeel: This is probably the most thirst-quenching beer I have every brewed. Its dry, modestly acidic, and crisp. It finishes with a lingering grapefruit and tropical fruit note.

Overall: This is a great beer, and one which I plan on brewing again. I am a little disappointed that the hop character isn’t as bold as it was in the Norwegian Fog. I suspect this was due to adding the hops early in the ferment, so more character got lost during the ferment. None-the-less, this is a great beer, and an ideal drink for hot muggy summer days.