Mulled wine beer?

[bransona]

Just wondering if anyone has done this or could offer some insight, especially if you're familiar with brewing/fermenting wort and grape must together (or even if you have advice on spicing beers).

I was mulling some wine recently and had an idea for a beer that featured those flavors. Probably something pretty malty like a barleywine or dubbel/quad, brewed with some amount of grape must. I haven't done a ton of brewing with spices, but I do at least know my usual preference for mulling spice ratios. Brewing with orange peel is far from unheard of, but I have no idea if sweet orange peel in the wort would equate to the bit of acidity/sweetness you get from adding sliced orange. I also know practically nothing about grape must and wine, other than that it should be a red grape that's fairly fruity/sweet.

Could this ever work? What base style would you use, and with what sort of red grape must? What yeast would like both of those sugars and would stay fairly clean or fruity (or any good Belgian strains? WLP530?)

All thoughts certainly appreciated. This may be a fool's errand

 

[bransona]

Bump for any advice before I just start slinging grape juice at my fermenter

 

[tennesseean_87]

I'm not sure exactly what you're shooting for. Spiced wine with some beer flavor? Beer with some spice and wine notes?

Winter warmer type recipes might give you stronger beers with spice notes added. I'm not sure what adding grape juice to one of these recipes would do.

I know some lighter beers like saisons have been aged in wine barrels. Maybe look into that and add some spice? I have a mason jar with some lees and oak from a wine kit I did and I keep forgetting to add it to some sort of saison.

I did a wheat beer long ago with some spices that came out alright, but no wine influence. (Belgian yeast, malted wheat, some medium and dark caramel malts, cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange zest, iirc.)

 

[bransona]

I'm not sure exactly what you're shooting for. Spiced wine with some beer flavor? Beer with some spice and wine notes?

Winter warmer type recipes might give you stronger beers with spice notes added. I'm not sure what adding grape juice to one of these recipes would do.

I know some lighter beers like saisons have been aged in wine barrels. Maybe look into that and add some spice? I have a mason jar with some lees and oak from a wine kit I did and I keep forgetting to add it to some sort of saison.

I did a wheat beer long ago with some spices that came out alright, but no wine influence. (Belgian yeast, malted wheat, some medium and dark caramel malts, cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange zest, iirc.)

I'm after something that sort of toes the line between wine and beer (think DFH's Siracusa Nera, but not that dark and sweet), featuring the spiciness of a mulled wine. That's why I was thinking about co-fermenting wort and must together. A winter warmer is actually a fantastic idea for the base beer, thank you!!