Adding Grape juice to Holiday Ale

[Pyg1506]

Would appreciate some help:

Brewing a Holiday Ale:
Base wort: 2 Row, Munich, Carapils)
Specialty grains: Patagonia Caramel 90, CaraRed, Torrified Wheat, Victory
Hops: 60 min 1 oz EKG, 30 .5-1 oz Fuggles
Spices: Cinnamon, Candied Ginger, Sweet orange peel
Yeast: Wyeast London Ale III

Thinking of pulling off 2.5 Gallons and adding some sweet grape juice to create a "Wassail" type of drink. Does anyone have any insight into amount, when to add, Welch's concentrate (sp?). Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!!!

 

[Zwerski]

My only experience was a good one. A NB kit called Saison du Vin. Saison style with 42 oz. of Sauvignon Blanc concentrate added after the 5.5 gallon boil. To date my wife's favorite batch out of the 25 or so I've done. You need to be careful about the cleanliness and preservatives in regular ole juice. Infection or yeast growth interference can result. Best to get ingredients made for fermentating.


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[Pyg1506]

@Zwerski: Thanks for the input. Still on the fence with the idea. Want to go with a really dark and sweet grape but dont want to spend a ton. I'll have to look around at my options. Definitely no major commercial stuff (Welch's)--afraid of uninvited bugs so I may end up with some true grape must from my LHBS.

 

[TipsySaint]

If you want grape juice that remains "grapey" you need to stick with wine types. the best one to go for IMHO is Muscat. It's disdained in the beer world for this exact fact. I would start with it making up no more than 10% of your fermentables but Midas Touch (if you haven't had it, go buy some now!) goes up to about 20%.....

Welches you might have some luck but it's pretty heavy on the sugar and it may end up contributing very little grape but a lot of booze....

 

[Pyg1506]

Thx for the Muscat input. Midas Touch is fantastic, but I want the color as much of the taste. Really going for a hybrid beer/mulling spice wine concoction--not sure Muscat would give me what I want.

 

[TipsySaint]

a wine grape may, but I doubt welches would. You will want to check and make sure there are no preservatives or added sugars....or if there added sugars, they aren't anything like sucralose or similar....