Pitch Black Braggot

Curious what all the beer brewers/mead makers think of this recipe....

It's a 4 gallon batch

The Grain Bill (60 min mash)
Flaked Barley 0.5lbs
80L Caramel Malt 1.0lbs
Roasted Barley 1.0lbs

The Boil (60 min)
Target 10% Hops 0.5oz for 60 min
Target 10% Hops 0.5oz for 30 min
East Kent Golding 5% Hops 0.5oz for 15min
Irish Moss 1tsp for 15min

At Flameout
Buckwheat Honey 3.5lbs

The Yeast
White Labs Irish Ale WLP004
2 quart starter (1.035 og) made 60 hours prior to brewing, this stuff grows like crazy

Overshot my target OG of 1.040 by a hair, hitting 1.044-1.045, I could have probably diluted it down because this will take the yeast just past its predicted tolerance but with some care and the huge starter I don't forsee a problem.

It is dark, like no light getting through it Guiness style dark, which was obviously the goal, should be right around 45.9 IBU's, sample of wurt/must tasted pretty good so very optomistic of where it'll be post ferment

That just made me wonder, since 3.5lbs of the 6lbs of fermentables comes from honey, which keeps it well within the braggot category, instead of a honey beer. Does that make it a must or a wurt or is there another secret classification for this....maybe there should be

Comments? Complaints? Opinions?

Not sure the wort/must question is answerable for a braggot, "wust", "mort". who knows?

Recipe sure looks tasty though. My only concern would be the strong taste of the buckwheat...had a bad brewing experience with it once.

I made a blended braggot from a sweet mead and an IPA recently, my first attempt at such, and it was awesome. Definitely plan to make more braggot.

Very cool looking recipe. I always thought that if buckwheat was good for anything it was a braggot. I have made one bragot myself trying to get that Guiness style of beer and mine used caramelized honey to get that just black profile. I hope to see how this turns out. Keep us informed. So few people seem to do braggots starting the fermentation of everything together like this.

Arpolis said:

Very cool looking recipe. I always thought that if buckwheat was good for anything it was a braggot. I have made one bragot myself trying to get that Guiness style of beer and mine used caramelized honey to get that just black profile. I hope to see how this turns out. Keep us informed. So few people seem to do braggots starting the fermentation of everything together like this.

Click to expand...

Thanks, between the 80L and the buckwheat honey it is black as night, no light gets through at all, I'll get some pictures posted soon.

Just sort of fit to me brewing it like a partial mash recipe, replacing the malt extract with the honey, if it comes out the way I'm hoping I'm going to try a few other beer styles this way.

Arpolis said:

...So few people seem to do braggots starting the fermentation of everything together like this.

Click to expand...

And that's a shame because a well balanced braggot is absolutely delicious.

I just by chance discovered braggots last year and I think they will be my focus for this brewing season.