Home of the BrewNosers

Hey there,
Thanks to the local wildlife I am short on my grape harvest for this year, so thinking of using them for brewing instead.

I have some Chardonnay that I'm thinking of using the must in a hefeweisen, probably during mashing. If it doesn't give me enough character I'll add some juice to the wort.
But, my real issue is what to do with the larger portion of Cabernet Franc grapes.
They're NS grapes, so lower brix levels than the wine kit stuff. Acids will be higher too. Lots of strawberry, rhubarb and cherry flavours.
So the beer will have to have a fair amount of mouthfeel and maltiness to balance out the acid and red fruit flavours. Stout is the first thing that comes to mind, but I'm not much of a stout drinker. Or I could go in the opposite direction and do a a sour or lambic.

Any thoughts?

I just had a bottle of Dogfish Head's 61, which is a syrah/IPA blend. I had it in my fridge for a year before drinking it, so much of the hops had probably faded, but it was surprisingly delicious and ungimmicky. I didn't think it would work, but it did.

I'm not sure the fruit/acid would go well with the roast of a stout. Maybe a brown ale or an ESB. Dubbel would also be an option I think

KB1138 wrote:I'm not sure the fruit/acid would go well with the roast of a stout. Maybe a brown ale or an ESB. Dubbel would also be an option I think

Sorry, should have been more specific, was thinking milk stout so I can counter the acid with lactose.
But a dubbel could be interesting. Thanks