Autumn Spiced Braggot

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summersolstice

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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.
 
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.
 
for the 120L crystal, it looks like NB sells 70-80L or 155-165L... should I err on the side of light or dark?
 
No, I used 4 oz whole peppercorns in the boil. It is a spiced braggot, after all. Go lighter if you wish but mine wasn't that hot-spicy

Went with .2 cause thats all I ended up getting and some cinnamon @ 5min as well. It's been 4 weeks and I was about to bottle tonight but I still see some active fermentation... :D
 
Bottled tonight. Went from an OG of 1.072 to 1.000 tonight. Nearly 10% ABV! Guessing 3-4 weeks conditioning on this one.
 
One of the few braggot recipes on the forum!!! Thanks.

I know from experience that mead takes years to mature into the delicious beverage it should be. How about aging braggots ... what's the ideal aging time and is it worth it? Are the benefits as pronounced?
 
<sinp>...what's the ideal aging time and is it worth it? Are the benefits as pronounced?

For a braggot, it needs less time to age than a 16% dry traditional might, but aging will still elevate the flavors. Mostly, you're aging to allow the honey character to come back and for the alcohol to subside a little. As long as you're around 10-12%, a few months should be plenty of time. Plus, having malt in the mix helps these to be drinkable far sooner than your average mead (JAO excluded ;)).

Hope that helps.
 
Hi, please forgive a stupid question from someone trying their hand at this kind of thing for the first time:

Since it looks like this recipe uses exactly 6.5 gallons of water, plus ingredients, will this not fit inside a 6.5 gallon carboy? Or does the hour of boiling reduce things down enough to fit it inside? I'm just asking because the 6.5ers are the biggest carboys I've seen around here.

Thanks!

dan
 
what do you think of trying this without the hops?? i got 2.5 lbs of buckwheat honey and i was told a braggot would be an excellent choice, im not realy looking to make a complicated mead though, its my first try. any opinion would be awesome and very welcome.
:mug:
 
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