Braggot Recipe

Hey all, just wanted to try and get a bit of a sanity check on a braggot recipe I'm working on. Looking to do something BIG that I can age (years/decades if it will allow it). I pulled the recipe from this forum somewhere... and made a few tweaks to simplify a bit.

My biggest concern at the moment is the hopping rate, does what I have look reasonable? Or should I aim higher? The original recipe had a massive amount of hops (beersmith calculated it at something like 160 IBU) but that seemed excessive to me.

My plan for fermentation is get the base beer started, then add the honey in installments later. I may end up adding a dry mead yeast or champagne yeast once I start making honey additions.

Anyway, comments or criticism is welcome. Here's the recipe and stats.

Thanks a lot.

Beer Profile
Brew Type: All Grain Date: 4/20/2012
Style: Braggot
Batch Size: 12.00 gal
Boil Volume: 14.01 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Estimated Original Gravity: 1.120 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.028 SG
Estimated Color: 29.6 SRM
Bitterness: 61.8 IBU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 12.21 %

Ingredients
5 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract (added at end of boil)
8 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US
6 lbs Rolled Oats
5 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
1 lbs 8.0 oz Chocolate Malt
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L
4.0 oz Roasted Barley
3.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min)
3.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient
20 lbs Honey (1.0 SRM) (Added during fermentation)
1 Pkgs Nottingham Yeast

Why use DME? Mash tun not big enough?

How will you add the honey during fermentation? Won't it just sink to the bottom. It looks like the Nottingham will die before all the honey is consumed. So, what keeps you from having a mass of honey in the bottom of the fermenter.

I just did my first batch, so I'm no expert, but I would use a more attenuating yeast and put all the honey in at the beginning. That way you will get an accurate OG and will be able to monitor things more accurately.

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As for the DME, yeah mash tun won't fit all the grain . Not sure if I can add the honey directly or not, I've seen arguments both ways.

I'll probably add a mead or champagne yeast after the Nottingham has a chance to work on the malt sugars.

I'm not worried about being able to measure OG. I can do some quick and dirty math to get a close enough approximation. I would prefer to build up the gravity in stages rather than toss the yeast into a massive pool of sugar right away.

It's working fine for me. As I posted in my other thread, my OG is around 1.135 (or maybe higher) and fermentation is rip-roaring.

I am using EC-1118 though.

I tried making what was basically a cream ale braggot. Hopped it to about 30 IBUs. It's still undrinkably bitter after 3.5 months. It just didn't have enough body or residual sweetness to sustain those levels of bitterness. I would drastically reduce your IBUs, and move most of your hop additions forward, if you still want to use them.

After a little googling and reading the schedule I'm considering is this:

1. Brew the base beer and ferment with nottingham in carboys.
   
2. Move to a large secondary (probably an LME jug from the LHBS) and add high alcohol yeast and nutrient
   
3. Add honey, Use a drill with mixer to blend in the honey.
   
4. Repeat [3] until all the honey is incorporated

I'm thinking anywhere from 3-4 days to a week between honey additions. Should take about a month to get it all in there (I'm in no rush).

I'm hoping the mixing will help incorporate the honey without having to dilute with water. I could make a lower volume/higher gravity wort up front to compensate for diluted honey, but I would prefer to keep the initial beer at a moderate-ish gravity to start with.

corwin3083 said:

I tried making what was basically a cream ale braggot. Hopped it to about 30 IBUs. It's still undrinkably bitter after 3.5 months. It just didn't have enough body or residual sweetness to sustain those levels of bitterness. I would drastically reduce your IBUs, and move most of your hop additions forward, if you still want to use them.

Click to expand...

What was the OG on that? At 60 IBU the final ratio is about .5 IBU/SG, not exactly super bitter, but I suppose that depends on how much it dries out in the end.

No point in later hop additions, all that would just disappear with age any way.

Just a quick update, I modified the recipe a bit. Scaled it down to 10 gallons, and eliminated the extract/upped the honey %. OG and IBU are the same as before.

10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US
5 lbs Oats, Malted
4 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
1 lbs 4.0 oz Chocolate Malt
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L
4.0 oz Roasted Barley
2.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min)
2.50 tsp Yeast Nutrient
20 lbs Honey (Added in secondary)
1 Pkgs Nottingham Yeast
+ Some strain of high alcohol yeast in secondary (TBD)

Reduced the overall cost of the batch by almost 25%, not bad.

On a side note. I seem to recall reading somewhere (can't remember where) that corked and caged bottles would age better (let less air in over time) than capped bottles. Is there any merit to that statement or am I full of crap? If I am, would they be any worse off than capped bottles?