NOTE: This is high gravity beer, and requires a starter. In advance of brew day make a yeast starter of 750 ml to 2,000 ml. An alternative may be to use 2 packages of Wyeast 3787, but not as effective as a starter.

Make a tea of saffron by steeping saffron in 1/2 cup hot water. Heat 2.5 gallons of water to a boil. Remove from heat and add 2 cups of liquid malt extract, stir well return to a boil. At boil add 1.75 oz. Willamette hops and boil for 60 minutes. At 45 minutes remove from heat and stir in balance of liquid extract and dry extract, mixing well. Return to heat and bring to boil. At boil add .50 oz. Willamette hops and Whirlfloc tablet. Boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in honey and saffron tea, mixing well. Let stand for 5 minutes to sanitize the honey. Cool wort using whatever method you prefer.

Put 2 gallons of cold water in fermentor, Strain hops from wort and pour wort into fermentor. Add the Muscat concentrate and top off to 5.5 gallons. Let wort cool to 70° F to 75° F and pitch yeast. Aerate well by either vigorous shaking of carboy or using oxygen aeration. Ferment in primary at 70° F for 10 to 14 days minimum. Primary fermentation may be longer due to the honey, which normally takes longer to ferment than malt. Let stand in secondary until a consistent hydrometer reading is obtained for 3 days in a row. Boil .75 cup corn sugar with 1 1/2 cups water for 10 minutes, let cool, pour into bottling bucket, and siphon beer into bottling bucket. Stir gently to mix. Bottle. Condition in bottle for 1 month, or longer.

The following is information on how to best utilize saffron from my saffron supplier, Vanilla Saffron Imports. I would not recommend using the grocery store variety of saffron.
http://www.saffron.com/

Saffron Tea:
The secret to getting your money's worth with saffron is to buy *OUR Sargol saffron and then make a tea out of it before you add it to a recipe. Yes, a tea, sometimes referred to as an infusion or "steeping" saffron. This is exactly the same principle you use in making any tea - the longer the saffron steeps, the stronger its flavor, aroma and color. Where saffron preparation differs from tea is that you can release saffron effectively in hot liquid such as water, broth or milk or in room temperature white wine, vodka, rosewater, orange blossom water, white vinegar or citrus juice. In other words, saffron's chemicals respond positively to hot liquid or room temperature alcohol and acids (citrus).

The amount of liquid is not important, use whatever is called for in your recipe or add just a teaspoon or two of hot water to a recipe, which will not harm it. Then put the threads or powdered saffron in the liquid and leave it for a minimum of 20 minutes before you add this "tea" to the recipe. Do not remove the saffron threads from the liquid. They continue to release aroma, flavor and color for up to 24 hours which is why saffron dishes and breads always taste even stronger as leftovers. With more flavor, aroma and color release than you would otherwise have, steeping saffron is the most economical way to use this spice.

Once you get comfortable cooking and baking with saffron, you will find the longer you steep your saffron, the less you will need per recipe. *Please note that we say *OUR Sargol. Which we consider different to all others, since ISO-3632 requires minimum 190 units of color for Category–1 saffron. Ours has 230/255 units of color, surpassing by 40 points ISO minimum requirements.

A special note about toasting OUR Sargol saffron: do not do it! It is unnecessary to dry OUR Sargol saffron any further because it has already been processed to exactly the right dryness for either steeping or crushing into powder. The only reason you might read elsewhere that saffron threads should be further dried prior to use is that lower grade saffron may contain too much moisture for good release of its aroma, color and flavor. Since Sargol saffron contains no excess moisture we do not want you to take a chance of spoiling it by scorching it over a flame, on top of the stove or in an oven.

Saffron Threads or powder: 1 Ounce: $35.95 - 1/2 oz. $21.95. Price includes shipping, a free bar of saffron soap, and a free 2 oz. bottle of Pure Vanilla Extract