Braggot Recipe

aa62206 said:

dont be afraid of a braggot, just think of it as a beer recipe. 1lb per gal gives approx 1.040, therefore, substituting honey for malt is easy, just base your expected OG on what your malt will yield plus the honey addition. a real Braggot is just a beer that has between 1/3 and 2/3 of the fermentables from honey. I have made Braggots with OG ranging from 1.040 up to 1.120. the finsihed gravity on the 040 was only 005, so not all Braggots are psycho killer strong.

meads will sometimes reach 0.98, so remember the brew you make with honey will generally finish lower than a malt only brew of equal OG. adding the honey early will drive out the volitliles from the honey (florals, etc) but the result will still have a different mouth feel that is hard to describe but you will learn to recognize after brewing with honey for a while. if the honey has desireable volitlies then the honey can be added at the end of the boil, just long enough to sterilize it.

pilsner only party gyle mash, 3 gal of 1.089 wert into 6 gal boil with 1.5 lb honey, 1 oz 6.5aa 60 min, .75 0z 6.5aa 30 min, 1 oz 6.5aa 7 min. notingham ale yeast, 55 deg ferment. OG 040, FG 005. looks like and tastes like a slightly richer and more desireable miller lite, the most likely to be liked (by the yellow beer crowd) I have brewed yet. 4.56 abv


dark amber braggot: 1lb crystal 90, 1lb rye, 5 lb 2row pale malt, 1.5 lb 6row pale malt 3/4 lb crystal 120, 1/2 lb carapils, 1lb caramunich. mash 149 F. runoff of 7.5 gal 1.035. 1 oz simcoe + .75 oz glacier for 60 min, 1oz kent goldings for 15 min, 1 oz check saaz at flameout. 10 lb honey and 1.3 oz pepper (cracked) added at the same time as the goldings honey was 5 lb local raw honey and 5 lb clover. zest of 2 oranges added at flameout along with the saaz. chilled to 1.092 wert then added .75 gal for a 6.25 gal batch of 1.081. white labs wlp002 ale yeast, 1/18/10, rack to secondary and add .5 oz cascade and 1 oz simcoe on 2/6 measured 1.014, 2/13 bottled in 61 12 oz bottles with 5 oz corn sugar. took a while to carbinate, i think it was about 2 months before it got much. quite good after about 7 months. 8.85 abv. this was an attempted remake of an earlier batch that was extract based, did not come out the same, but both were good strong brews.

tripple brown braggot: 20 lb2 row, 1 lb aromatic, .75 lb crystal 120. 7 lb local honey. .75 oz 9.7aa brewers gold 60 min, .5 11.4aa cinook 30 min, 1oz 12.7aa simcoe 15 min, 1 oz 12.7aa simcoe 5 min. 4.5 lb honey at start of boil, other 2.5 for last 5 min. 1.120 at 71 deg, SF lager yeast wlp810.high 60's ferment. 5/10 brew day, 064 on 6/3 052 on 7/3 037 on 7/30 035 on 8/15. bottled with 4.5 oz corn sugar in 62 12 oz bottles. this again took a long time to carbinate and finish.

as you can see the higher the grav, the longer the ferment and finish. the two heavier ones realy never got to the peak before all were gone. if you go heavy, think of a year as a good wait, much longer could be good. both the heavies were nicely recieved by the drinkers of craft beers, the dark amber being described as "my favorite beer ever" by Becky next door, lover of chocklate chip cookies and the like .

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