Groundskeeper Willie's Braggot

This is my first attempt at a braggot (which my buddy and I have affectionately named "Groundskeeper Willie's I was Mead for Loving You (everything else is CRAP!)). I'm brewing it tomorrow, and we'll have to see how the fermentation and flavor come out. Anyway, here's the recipe:

6.6 pounds light LME
.5 pound honey malt
.25 pound crystal 60L malt
.25 pound biscuit malt
10 pounds wildflower honey

2 ounces Amarillo hop pellets (60 minutes)
1 ounce Willamette hop pellets (20 minute)
1 ounce Willamette hop pellets (1 minute)

Wyeast 1278- Scottish Ale yeast, 1 gallon starter made the night before

2 tsp yeast nutrient
2 tsp yeast energizer

Process:
Steep all specialty grains in 4 gallons of water at around 165* F for 30 minutes
Remove specialty grains, bring to a boil
Remove from heat, stir in LME, return wort to boil for 60 minutes
Hop schedule: add 2 ounces Amarillo hops when wort is first brought to boil
add 1 ounce Willamette hops after 40 minutes of boiling (20 minutes to go)
add 1 ounce Willamette hops in the last minute of boil
Remove wort from heat, bring wort temp to ~170* F
Add honey, stirring wort as added
Keep wort at ~170* F for 10 minutes to help dissolve honey
Reduce wort temp to 70* F as quickly as possible
Aerate wort
Add yeast nutrient and energizer, pour in the yeast starter
If necessary, add clean water to bring wort to 5 gallon mark

Then wait. I don't know how long this is going to take to ferment. I'm expecting a final gravity of around 1.028 and a 12% ABV, so I'll have to keep checking on it to see how long it takes me to get there. I plan on putting into secondary for 2-3 weeks after the primary fermentation has stopped, then adding corn sugar and bottling this bad boy. Then

This is the first recipe I've ever made up, so any and all criticisms and suggestions are gladly accepted.

You probably should start that yeast sooner and step it up a couple times. You're going to want about 3-4x as much yeast as you'll get out of that one vial, so it might take a the better part of a week to get there.

If you're looking to brew this weekend, I'd say make your starter with two packs.

You can find a yeast pitching rate calculator at http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Let us know how it turns out!

Update???

I'm being patient with this one. I sampled one a couple weeks ago; it was good but still had some warm alcohol flavors. There was also no carbonation to speak of. I'm wondering if I should have added some champagne yeast before bottling.

I think this will be great in mid-winter when it's nice and cold out.

RedGuitar said:

I'm expecting a final gravity of around 1.028 and a 12% ABV,

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RedGuitar said:

I'm wondering if I should have added some champagne yeast before bottling.

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If you had added champagne yeast before bottling, you would have bottle bombs.

Possibly. He didn't mention where it actually finished, probably lower than 1.028 I bet.

I just realized that I left out some of the details here.

I left this in primary for two weeks, then racked to secondary for four weeks before bottling. I added yeast nutrient and energizer when initially pitching yeast, then again at one week, and then again when I transferred to secondary. My OG was 1.106 and my final gravity was 1.019.

Think this will carb up if I leave it alone?

Hmm, possibly. I put it at 11.6% ABV, close to the yeast's tolerance. It may still carb up, I betcha it'll take a while if it does though.

So, it has been a little over a year since this was bottled, and I just opened one. Mouthfeel is thick but smooth, almost a milk-like consistency, with no carbonation at all. This has aged to be fairly (surprisingly) dry, mellow with just a note of sweetness but a hoppy finish. Light amber in color, no head.

I like this, but think I would make it a little lighter next time. At 12% ABV, this is definitely some to sit and sip on.

Very nice. I am excited to see braggot results. I am 4 days shy into a month in primary for my braggot. After the month is up I will rack off the lees. Hope I can stand a year of aging befor trying mine like you.

Oh, it has been tried a handful of times over the last year. Just been waiting a couple months between each try.

Would you say this ages well or is there less of a benefit from the aging.

I think it benefitted from aging.