I’m going to juice them.
I ended up putting them through the juicer and it worked great. I have the kind of juicer that actually crushes and seperates so the seeds and skins go into one thing and the juice goes into another. I ended up with 2 qts of juice left over ( its really thick, like puree) that I froze for future brewing adventures. Another advantage to juicing was that I could pull a sample of the saison, which is finished primary, and dose measured samples with the wild grape puree to figure out a good amount. I aimed for just enough to enhance but not greatly increase the tartness and dryness of the saison. I sanitized the grapes before juicing.
Good. You have no idea the racking headaches you saved yourself . Learned the hard way a few times before I switched to purees. FWIW I was thinking of using around 30% Muscat juice in mine. I think I’ll make it in the spring. I’m curious to see how yours comes out.
I’ll post when its finished. Wild grapes have a very intense tartness to them so I ended up with about 1 1/4 cups of puree per gallon. Most of the grapes were red so I’ll be interested to see if the beer has a pinkish hue. I’m hoping to get a decent crop of a white wine grape that just started producing this past year. With that one I could do something similar to what your talking about.
I ended up putting the grape juice in the primary last weekend then yesterday I racked onto the Nelson Sauvin hops. I tasted a sample. I think its going to be a great beer. I’m glad I dosed some samples first because it seems I got the amount of wild grape just right. The grapiness is upfront in taste and aroma but not overwhelming: the tartness, wildness, and wine like character seems to fit right in with the saison style. I think wild grape and saison might be best friends. It will be interesting to see if the N. Sauvin hops increase the wine character.
Awesome - can’t wait to hear how it comes out. I think I’ll make mine in the spring.
I bottled this today. I think its going to be great. The wild grape aroma is very assertive. The tartness is prominent but in a refreshing way that compliments the driness. Finish is a lot like white wine. I want to try the Nelson Sauvin in something else because I can’t perceive if the hops are contributing to that white wine finish or not. I wan to evaluate a few after bottle conditioned and make a big old batch for early summer: I could dig having a couple of these after putting in a long day working on the homestead. They should be carbed up for my birthday in two weeks!
Its ready now and I love it. Its got a nice blush color. The aroma is dominated at first by wild grape which reminds me of the late summer walks picking grapes. After that more standard saison fruity/funky aroma. The flavor is also at first an assertive wild grape with tartness pleasantly lingering but mingling with a sweetness more wine-like than malty. It finishes dry. Prosecco-like but quaffable. I’m going to make more with my frozen grape juice I have left. I can see drinking it this summer while grilling fish with potatoes and veggies from the garden.
Awesome ! Can’t wait to make mine.
Jon-might want to take a look at this Classic California Moscato Wine Kit
$88.95 marked down to $57.82 + $16.46 shipping to Indianapolis.
Awesome, Ken . Thanks a lot. It definitely fits the quantity I’m looking for, without getting stuck with a bunch of unused juice. I want about 30% muscat in 5.5 gallons, so that’s upward of 2 gallons I need. I did see that Williams Brewing has a 2.5 gallon muscat kit on sale right now for $35. May go that way if it’s still on sale. Thanks.