Quote:
Originally Posted by EBrewFro
My brew of this has been in the fermentor for a week now. I'm about to transfer to the secondary. I used 8lbs. Light DME and because of what seems to be a nationwide lack of simcoe hops right now I just used some left over Northern Brewer hops from my last brew. Oh and I did a 3.5 gallon boil and topped off to 5 gallons in the fermentor, I mixed the solution very well and got a good OG so it's definitely not a 6 gallon batch. My OG was 1.0865 (i put the 5 there because it wasn't quite 1.087 but almost). I used a small pinch of saffron, roughly 20 threads worth. I was able to get the proper grape juice concentrate from the wine section of northernbrewer.com.
I didn't put a blow off hose on it but I did have a little bubble out of my airlock the night after adding the grape juice. No explosion though. My primary is a 6 gallon fermentor so maybe the extra headspace helped out there.
I'll keep everyone posted on how she turns out.
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It's been bottled for 3 weeks to the day. My carb levels are still low, very little head when initially poured which quickly dissipates. There is a constant release of bubbles which indicates it is carbonating just hasn't gotten to where it should be yet.
The color is a rich golden with almost an amber tinge. Probably a skosh too much saffron. Very clear beer, can see perfectly through it. I would have assumed some kind of filtering process was done other than just secondary fermenting if I were evaluating someone else's beer.
On the nose it's got a bit of an estery smell that blends with the smell of the grape juice. Other than that it's malty sweetness, not sure I can even pick up on the hops.
The mouthfeel is smooth but I can feel the alcohol down my throat. The taste is very malty sweet as would be expected with a slightly dry finish.
I think once it's carbonated fully the harshness of the alcohol feel will go away. Also, I think this beer is going to need to age at least two months before all the sweet flavors have mellowed and blended.
This beer isn't where I want it to be yet but I'm very anxious. I'll post another tasting review in a month-ish. Oh, my FG was 1.015 making this a ~9.5% beer
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. I skimmed most of the thread and didn't see this discussed, but has anyone tried this with simple white grape concentrate (maybe welch's)? I'm poor and a cheap ass, so spending $4 instead of $15 appeals to me 
. (BTW: as long as it is decently close, that is what matters. SWMBO probably won't be able to tell much of a difference).
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