Porter Braggot

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digdan

digdan

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Don't know if I should post this on the brewing or the mead side. I thought I would give the mead forum some love.

I've been tossing around the idea of a porter braggot, and I'm kinda lost on how I should formulate the recipe.

My assumption is to use honey as the base fermentable.

Here is what I have so far :

13lbs clover honey (think dark honey would take to long to come to fruition, but what do i know :cross:)
.5lb Carmel 20 malt
.5lb Carmel 80 malt
.5lb black malt
.5lb chocolate malt
.5lb Munich malt
.5lb molasses
4 gallons spring water
4oz saaz hops
English Ale Yeast

I think the process should include putting the malted grain in a sack and mixing it around with 2 gallons of soft boiling water and 3oz of saaz hops.

After 90 minutes I would cool the liquid and mix it with the remaining water and honey.

Let it sit for a while to acclimate to brew room temps, aerate and pitch nutrient and yeast. And wait for the long fermentation...

My ultimate goal is lots of complexity, and probably be part of a future black and tan braggot.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated
 
That looks like one interesting brew.... Complex is the word on that.. The ale yeast will probably leave you with something like a barley wine and would need extended conditioning time to come into it's own.. I want to see some pics and notes after racking....:ban: The clover honey is a great adjunct and I'd say fermentation would be better suited with at least 2 racks... Smoother finish if you let it go for maybe a month primary then rack off and let her sit for a few months secondary... I wouldn't be tempted to try it too soon..;)
 
I've been making light beer recipes in which I replace the base fermentables with honey. I have had very good reviews on it. The biggest issue is time. Honey ferments slow, and it takes a long time to age. I have never done a dark brew, but I'm very willing to experiment.

But I would rather take advice then find out solutions through trial-and-error.
 
The dilution ratio for most braggot recipes for the honey component is usually around 1 part to 6 parts and when honey is the only fermentable in straight meads 1 to 3 is average.

That said, if you want big all around then an OG of 1.120 can be had with around 13 lbs of crushed malts to 9 lbs of honey or 6 pounds if you are a malt extract guy.

At that gravity you are definately wantig to do SNA nutrient addition method to bring down the fermentation time and aging time. 6 to 9 months minimum since you are in barley wine territory. You can up the hops to 8-10 oz if you extend the aging up to a year or you easily raise it another ounce.
 
pdilley said:
The dilution ratio for most braggot recipes for the honey component is usually around 1 part to 6 parts and when honey is the only fermentable in straight meads 1 to 3 is average.

That said, if you want big all around then an OG of 1.120 can be had with around 13 lbs of crushed malts to 9 lbs of honey or 6 pounds if you are a malt extract guy.

At that gravity you are definately wantig to do SNA nutrient addition method to bring down the fermentation time and aging time. 6 to 9 months minimum since you are in barley wine territory. You can up the hops to 8-10 oz if you extend the aging up to a year or you easily raise it another ounce.
Click to expand...

Hate to bust balls, but who defined this ratio?

I personally like 100% honey as all my base fermentation. In fact I have a large following of friends who agree with me. The lack of tannins and complex nutrients give my home brew a unique ... un-hangover view. But it does dehydrate like nothing else.

Seriously, give me sources.
 
No one defines ratios. Its a simple volumetric evaluation of each component of the recipes put up. I started volumetric evaluation as part of curiosity once I finished reading all of Ken Schramms recipes and start programming my own Mead calculation engines for my brewing program which are all volumetric based for conversion between all local measurement systems.

There is no smoke and mirrors with volumetric analysis as you just look at each component in a blend individually before blending and then look at the ratio of the blending itself. It does not care when or how a recipe was written.

If you want to blend a porter and a Mead or if you want to ferment all the fermentable items together you are going to be hitting the same volumetric components to achieve a similar end result.

Just do the math legwork yourself and you'll see the patterns emerge yourself.
 
Thanks! Thats what I was thinking, but not in so many words. The main reason I got into brewing is because its an art, and not strict.

I will make a porter with honey as the main fermentable, but not for awhile. I'm going to wait until the honey flow is in full swing, like early August.

Then I'm going to make a pilsner/braggot/hydromel, and mix the two together to make a mead black&tan

I would hope I'm breaking new ground.
 
It is exciting when formulating.

Braggots are not new though, they date back in written records to the late 1300's in Chaucer's England and in Ireland back to the 1200's. Braggot were simply made by blending spices and herbs with mead and beer, to produce a strong concoction with uncommon flavors. Most taverns would actually blend Mead with the beer of choice directly at the bar. Everything was rather dark and smokey malt wise in the day so a Pilsner will bring it up to modern times.

My oldest written recipe reference is The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened by Kenelm Digby 1603-1665. London, Printed by E.C. for H.Brome at the Star in Little Britain. 1669. P.108

Its good to see it make a come back, and Mead in general today as it almost completely slipped by the way side for a while there.

Even Digby lamented it in the passage ...Where are all the old dishes vanished to? Who has ever known "A smoothening Quiddany of Quinces?" Who can tell the composition of a Tansy? These are tame days when we have forgotten how to make Cock-Ale. They drank 'Sack with Clove-gilly-flowers' at the "Mermaid," I am sure. What is Bragot? What is Stepony?...

Everything old becomes new again in time :)
 
pdilley said:
It is exciting when formulating.

Braggots are not new though, they date back in written records to the late 1300's in Chaucer's England and in Ireland back to the 1200's. Braggot were simply made by blending spices and herbs with mead and beer, to produce a strong concoction with uncommon flavors. Most taverns would actually blend Mead with the beer of choice directly at the bar. Everything was rather dark and smokey malt wise in the day so a Pilsner will bring it up to modern times.

My oldest written recipe reference is The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened by Kenelm Digby 1603-1665. London, Printed by E.C. for H.Brome at the Star in Little Britain. 1669. P.108

Its good to see it make a come back, and Mead in general today as it almost completely slipped by the way side for a while there.

Even Digby lamented it in the passage ...Where are all the old dishes vanished to? Who has ever known "A smoothening Quiddany of Quinces?" Who can tell the composition of a Tansy? These are tame days when we have forgotten how to make Cock-Ale. They drank 'Sack with Clove-gilly-flowers' at the "Mermaid," I am sure. What is Bragot? What is Stepony?...

Everything old becomes new again in time :)
Click to expand...

First time I've ever heard of Stepony. Looked it up and it seems to be a weak raisin wine flavored and balanced with lemons or limes (what ever a limon is)

I think that might be worth exploring!
 

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