Sour grapes in secondary

[MikeMorrison]

Hey folks. I recently brewed a saison with homegrown hops and Lallemand Belle Saison yeast. We have some grapes in the yard that need to be picked real soon. They are green and very nicely tart. I'm considering racking the saison onto them for a secondary fermentation and possibly adding some brett. Anyone do this before? Should I process them in some way to avoid any unwanted beasties? Maybe boil or at least pasteurize them first? Or freeze them? And thoughts or advice would be welcome!

[weisseguy]

Hey folks. I recently brewed a saison with homegrown hops and Lallemand Belle Saison yeast. We have some grapes in the yard that need to be picked real soon. They are green and very nicely tart. I'm considering racking the saison onto them for a secondary fermentation and possibly adding some brett. Anyone do this before? Should I process them in some way to avoid any unwanted beasties? Maybe boil or at least pasteurize them first? Or freeze them? And thoughts or advice would be welcome!

I read somewhere that grapes are crawling with bacteria on their skins. I’m thinking it’d be best to pasteurize them first. Otherwise I can’t see why you couldn’t add them.


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[EastCoastHoppers]

Personally, I wouldn't use heat as you will drive off flavors. I'd squash them up and add a couple of campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite) to kill off any unwanted bugs.

[MikeMorrison]

Personally, I wouldn't use heat as you will drive off flavors. I'd squash them up and add a couple of campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite) to kill off any unwanted bugs.

Seeds and all?

[EastCoastHoppers]

Seeds and all?

I'd strain it through some cheese cloth or a muslin bag after crushing to try to just get the juice (press or squeeze the bag to get as much juice out as you can). Just make sure that you don't use a blender or juicer or you'll damage the seeds which could release tannins and add bitterness. Either mash em up with a potato masher or take the opportunity to be traditional and tread them with your feet! Once you have your juice collected add your campden to kill off any bugs, give it a day or so to off gas and then add to your beer.

Alternatively you could just crush the grapes, mix in the campden, give it a day or so and then rack your beer on top of it but I think straining it before hand would reduce the amount of trub and therefore beer loss associated with all the grape skins etc.

[oceanic_brew]

this sounds tasty to me


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[weisseguy]

this sounds tasty to me


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Agreed!


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[RossBee]

Just a suggestion, juice your grapes, add 0.1 g/l of metabisulphite to the juice to kill any nasties, wait a day or two and add to your beer. Alternatively, don't add the metabisulphite and let nature determine the outcome.