This braggot took 2nd place in the OTHER MEAD – Braggot category at last week's Muse Cup, Colorado's newest AHA/BJCP sanctioned mead-only competition.
Autumn Spiced Braggot
3.0 lbs Fawcett Optic pale malt
3.0 lbs Northern Brewer Pilsen malt extract
.50 lbs 120L Crystal malt
.25 lbs peppercorns
1 oz Cascade pellet hops
1 oz Hallertau pellet hops
½ oz Hallertau pellet hops
OG 1.066
Mash crushed malt in 1.5 gallons of 155F water for one hour. Add two more gallons of water, malt extract, Cascade hops, and peppercorns and boil for 45 minutes. Add 1 oz Hallertau hops and boil for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add ½ oz Hallertau hops and 6.5 lbs of Alfalfa honey. Cool with three gallons of bottled water that’s been chilled to near freezing in the freezer. Allow to cool to 70F and pitch Safale US-05 dried yeast. Ferment at 70F in a plastic primary for one week.
At the end of a week, rack to a glass carboy on top of the prepared spice mixture. The mixture is 4 oz of freshly grated ginger and the zest and juice of one lemon steeped in boiling water (I use a French press) for 15 minutes.
Remain in the secondary for two weeks and rack to a bottling bucket on 2/3 cup of alfalfa honey dissolved in 1.5 cups of warm water. Bottle or keg in the vessel of your choice.
Might be tempted to make this for the winter nights. Might make it soon and hold it till near Christmas.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Me
In the process of buying a bar... One drink at a time...
Quote:
Originally Posted by chortly
...homebrew contains more satisfactrons per serving, so you don't have to drink as much as you would a commercial beer to get to your satisfactron saturation.
Yum, this sounds really great! What was turn-around time for good drinkability? I have been thinking about something for Thanksgiving/Christmas, but I wouldn't want to rush this recipe.
I'm new to mead (I just started a JAOM, but isn't finished); I'm really a beer guy. So Braggot interests me. What does it taste like and what is the ball park on the final ABV?
I'll just copy and paste this from the other forum I frequent:
Sorry about that FG omission. As you'd guess, the addition of honey dries it out somewhat. My FG was 1.006.
As for tasting notes, the flavor is similar to a ginger beer with the addition of a very nice honey nose. The peppercorns add some zing to the ginger and the lemon zest/juice provides a little lemon twang. The hops aren't that evident since the ginger dominates, but that was my goal since I wanted the honey nose to remain prominent.
I've made two batches and it's time to start another. This braggot is very easy to make and should make a good introduction to braggot but yet still satisfy the experienced brewer.
Autumn Spiced Braggot
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