azoteman213
Member
I did mine a bit differently. I added the muscat grape juice at flameout. I was concerned about the sterility since it was given to me by the owner of my LHBS in a glass bottle, so that is part of the reason for adding it in the boil but also because I was following the Brew Your Own recipe. I also added the saffron in the last 15 mins of the boil & added the honey at flameout. It tastes great so far but I'm letting it age in the keg for a while, maybe a month or so. I don't have the ability to cold crash so I had to just be patient & let the yeast drop out of suspension naturally.
After doing some more research, I will do it differently next time, much more similar to this technique. I read the article someone posted a link for on this thread where one of the Dogfish brewers said they add saffron in the fermentor for aroma more than flavor. I'm wondering how I'm going to do that..whether to boil it in a little water or just soak it in 95% ethanol for a few days to sanitize it. Also, I just listened to an old podcast interview of Sam Calagione on The Brewing Network where he says they add the honey during the whirlpool above 180 degrees. Since I'm not able to do a whirlpool since I use an immersion chiller, I think I will cook it in a pot on the stove for 45-60 mins around 180 since that's how long professional breweries typically whirlpool. Sam also says they add the muscat grape juice a couple of days into the fermentation. So next time I'll also get one of the sterile cans of muscat grape juice to do that.
Saffron is used in food as well and I read that when a recipe calls for it you can add it to water and let it soak for two hours, or you can used heated water and leave it for 20 minutes and then rub it on whatever you are cooking. You could boil it in a little water and add the water and the saffron to the fermentation vessel, although I do not know if that would be any different than adding it at flame-out (except maybe you avoid having the aroma carried out by the CO2 during fermentation). Your 95% alcohol (or bourbon, or vodka, etc.) doesn't sound like a bad idea since people do it with oak or other additives. I wonder if anyone has had experience adding the saffron directly in the fermentation vessel without issues. At first I was nervous about adding raw honey directly into the fermentation vessel, but after reading about mead makers not boiling there honey and having fine results, I decided to try it. It turned out with a nice honey aroma. I did find one bottle with a black ring around the neck, but haven't seen it on the other bottles so hopefully it was just the one bottle. So far it taste pretty good. Time will tell. Good luck experimenting!