Sour grapes in secondary

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MikeMorrison
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Sour grapes in secondary

Post by MikeMorrison » Sun Sep 23, 2018 5:37 pm

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!
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weisseguy
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Re: Sour grapes in secondary

Post by weisseguy » Sun Sep 23, 2018 6:08 pm

MikeMorrison wrote: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
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Re: Sour grapes in secondary

Post by EastCoastHoppers » Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:13 am

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.

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Re: Sour grapes in secondary

Post by MikeMorrison » Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:35 am

EastCoastHoppers wrote:
Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:13 am
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?
Fermenting: Sticke Altbier, Amarillo Saison, DDH Amarillo IPA with Verdant Yeast
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EastCoastHoppers
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Re: Sour grapes in secondary

Post by EastCoastHoppers » Mon Sep 24, 2018 2:04 pm

MikeMorrison wrote:
Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:35 am
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! :lol: 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.

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oceanic_brew
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Re: Sour grapes in secondary

Post by oceanic_brew » Tue Sep 25, 2018 6:04 am

this sounds tasty to me


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weisseguy
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Re: Sour grapes in secondary

Post by weisseguy » Tue Sep 25, 2018 9:13 pm

oceanic_brew wrote:this sounds tasty to me


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Agreed!


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RossBee
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Re: Sour grapes in secondary

Post by RossBee » Wed Sep 26, 2018 1:12 pm

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.
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