Wild Grape Ale from Argentina

[AGM83]

Hi to all, this is my first post. My name is Agustín from Argentina.
I wanted to share my first experience brewing a Grape Ale, fementing only with the yeast of the fruit skin, it is now a wild beer.
I live in Buenos Aires and bring grapes from my parents house in a little town, the grape tree is about 100 years old, it was planted by my great grandparent, who came from italy.
Let´s begin with the process, I used 5 kg of pilsen malt, and mash at 65°C, a very little addition of hops, just to achieve 14 iBus.
After pouring the wort in the fermentator, I added 2 kg of red grapes, previously crushed, the skin was also there. The original gravity was 1064, after the fruit.
The yeast was a bit lazy at first, I leave the fermentator at room temperature, from 18 to 24°C, depends on the moment of the day. A couple of days later, it started to ferment very powerfuly, at day seven, final gravity was 1004, so we bottled it and add some sugar for bottle conditioning.
Two weeks more and it was ready, and it is great, flavor is like a Belgian Saison, very spicy, and you can notice the winy flavor from the grapes. I can´t tell you how great the beer is. I can´t wait next year to make more.
After bottling all teh beer we add new basic wort in the fermentator, so we can use the yeast again, and we bottled it again, the is no more grapes in flavor, but a great beer, we look the yeast at the microscope and we noticed some bacteria too, but 99% was wild yeast. I put a lit in the fridge because I want to continue making this wild beer, it is really grate.
I attach some pictures of the process.

Thanks for reading, I hope you can do the same, it is very fun. If anyone need more information or detail, don´t hesitate in asking.

 

[JohnSand]

Cool! Welcome aboard!
I did something similar when making cider. I dosed two batches with brewer's yeast, but one I let ferment with whatever was naturally on the apples.

 

[AGM83]

Cool! Welcome aboard!
I did something similar when making cider. I dosed two batches with brewer's yeast, but one I let ferment with whatever was naturally on the apples.

I think this year I will try to make cider too! Which was better, wild yeast or brewer´s yeast?

 

[JohnSand]

The wild yeast was a little tart and funky. Family liked the brewer's yeast better.

 

[Biergarden]

The wild yeast was a little tart and funky. Family liked the brewer's yeast better.

Can you tell me how you made it?

 

[fluketamer]

threadsurrection i know but on topic for me.
bored recently i started reading bjcps style guidelines ( yeah i know) . anyway i came across grape ale and was surprised i never heard of it before. invented not too long ago in italy , with up to 20 -40 percent must in the grist. i dont like the idea of grape flavored beer, but i love proseco and dry grape/ apple ciders (which dotn taste to far off from macrolagers - btw) so i thought a dry grape ale could possibly be refreshign and interesting in the summertime ( and i can only imagine the color - yea).

like a snakebite with ale instead of stout.

i was wondering if anyone here ever made a grape ale.

i was thinking something along the line of a simple ale (80/2 2row/crystal 20 us05 and some simple hop like magnum or something. with 20 percent store bought grape juice in the boil at flame out.

i know it would be best to start small like a gallon or two but i am pretty sure adding grape juice to the boil would likely ferment out nice and dry and leave me with something highly palatable.

 

[JohnSand]

Can you tell me how you made it?

Sorry for the delayed reply, somehow I missed yours.
Cider is really simple. I had bought a gallon in Pennsylvania, then bought another on Long Island. These were orchard products. They told me that they can only sell pasteurized cider. I separated it into three batches, the PA, the LI, and a mix of the two. I added a little yeast to each of the pure ciders, putting them in jugs big enough for head-space with a loose cap to vent CO2. The mix I let sit and ferment naturally. Their pasteurization isn't complete, because in a couple of days it was fermenting vigorously. I left them all until they cleared, then bottled with a little frozen apple juice concentrate to carbonate and back sweeten. To prevent them from drying all the way out, I pasteurized the bottles myself. I judged carbonation by using one plastic soda bottle. When it's hard, they're carbed. This method was not perfect, as some bottles did not carbonate. But they all tasted good.