Braggot!

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claphamsa

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How do you all make your bragots? do you make a 10 G batch, honey half and one normal? do you take second runnings and hope? do you brew just to make one? I usually do the second runnings thing ....and its turned out great!
 
One big batch does it all for me - I have an extract & specialty grain recipe that also uses about 9 lbs of honey, and results in a primary volume of about 8 gallons. Tops out at around 9-10% ABV, but the ethanol level is masked by all the residual complex sugars from the specialties, and I love to see how it sneaks up on people!
 
One big batch does it all for me - I have an extract & specialty grain recipe that also uses about 9 lbs of honey, and results in a primary volume of about 8 gallons. Tops out at around 9-10% ABV, but the ethanol level is masked by all the residual complex sugars from the specialties, and I love to see how it sneaks up on people!

you should post your recipe! we have very few braggot recipes that are any good around here :(
 
Lately I just do the second runnings off of big beers that I make. Pretty simple and basic, but it works very well for me.
 
i made 2 about 15 months ago..... I have NO idea what i did (ive only actually kept records for about a year) I know they were both real good....
 
I do a light hopping, pretty much around 1/3 of an APA. The flavour of my type of braggot will be very light, and just a hint of malt, hint of hops to offset the sweetness of the honey.
It really is something that I make to be like a mead, except I can drink it in three months, and balanced for maximum blending of taste, smell and flavour. In no way do I have it down, I just make it and love it.

Here is the notes from the one I have conditioning now. Not much, it's an ongoing process.

20090824-Braggot
12:00 2 gal late running wort from IPA. SG preboil 1.013.
Just a touch of hops, REALLY, just an IIPA touch.
Some pellets of Columbus 15% AAU, Amarillo 7% AAU
7 lbs honey.
13:30 chilled
14:00 In bucket, Pitched US-05, SG 1.060, in fridge@60F. Est ABV 6%.
20090824 1800 Airlock blocked up, slow steady fermentation.
20090825 Evening, changed out airlock, mostly clean.
20090828 Fermentation has mellowed.
20090902 Krausen has dropped, need to free a keg to, free a carboy to age this sucker.
20090909 Racked to secondary, SG 1.000 in storeroom. Still very cloudy.
20090914 Flash light test, Still very cloudy.
20090917 Moved to keggerator to crash chill.
20090918 Racked to keg. SG 1.000, Tasty,
Under pressure. Waiting.
 
you should post your recipe! we have very few braggot recipes that are any good around here :(

Really? I JUST kegged my first braggot and tasted my FG sample and it tasted pretty good.

No second runnings (I don't do 10g batches). I got the recipe from Ken Schramm; I combined recipe & technique from his Hefty Braggot recipe and his appearance on Brewing Network - seems good so far. ;) We'll see when it gets served next spring I guess. :eek:

My recipe uses most of the same stuff in the Hefty Braggot. I started with 5gal of water and use the brew-in-a-bag method. So, I added my grain & mashed in my kettle for 60 minutes. Removed the grain & started the boil. Did my hop additions (60/10/5) then cut off the heat and added 10 pounds of honey. Chilled it, put it in my carboy, added 1 gallon of spring water, pitched my yeast, and let 'er rip.

I kegged it today, 4 weeks after initial fermentation. I'd had a bit, uh, to drink on brew day and completely forgot to take my OG but my FG was 1.016 today. So, basically, my brew session was solely for my braggot; no other beer was made that day. (Did make a dry mead, though.)
 
I've made lots of meads over the years to good success and only one braggot a few years back. It came out great.

I made a big beer that was half golden promise malt and two types of honey, orange blossom and wildflower with Halletauer hops. I then fermented it with an English Ale yeast in the primary and a sweet white wine yeast in the secondary.

It took awhile in the fermenters but finally bottled it after about 5 months or so, and after a year it had become really nice.

Specifics...

Golden Promise Malt, 7#
Pale Ale Malt 2 row, 1#
Cara Munich, 1#
Caramel 10L, 1#
Orange Blossom Honey, 3#
Blended Honey, 3#
Acid Blend, 2 tsp.
Yeast Nutrient, 1 tsp.
Irish Moss, pinch
Halletauer whole hops, 2 oz.

Single step mash at 150F for 1 hour. Add honey at end of boil after removing hops. Add acid blend, nutrient and moss, boil for 10 mins.

ale yeast in primary, add sweet white wine or sweet mead yeast into secondary. Tertiary after 2 months then bottle at about the 5-6 month mark.

OG: 1.075/ FG at secondary 1.030/ FG at tertiary 1.012

Great brew.

cheers

~r~

(and yes I know I didn't get a great conversion on that batch)
 
I just started a small Braggot over the weekend.

Recipe:
5 gallons. OG: 1.070 FG: 1.016 (maybe)

3.5 lbs light DME (Briess)
4.25 lbs unpasteurized honey
.5 lb Caramel 10L
.5 lb Honey malt
.75 oz Goldings (US) hops (60 minutes)
Recycled Nottingham yeast

I cribbed this recipe from a site dedicated to mead, from a guy who had never made ale before (!). Since I've never made mead before, it seemed appropriate for us to both muddle through it from our respective camps. I modified the recipe, adding the honey malt, because from what I understand the honey will ferment out completely leaving very little residual sweetness; the honey malt is there to keep some of the honey flavor and sweetness.

I heated one pot with 3 gallons of water, steeped the grains for 30 minutes and then added the hops and boiled for 60 minutes, adding the DME at around 15 minutes before flameout. At flameout, I began heating a second pot with 2 gallons of water to around 120 degrees, and added the honey while the first pot was getting an ice bath. From all I've heard, boiling the honey will drive off the aromatics. It also sounds like there will be some wild yeast suspended in the honey that will survive, but my guess is that's just part of the style. We'll see in a few months how that all works out.

Once cooled, I added the contents of the two pots in the fermenter, stirred them up and pitched the yeast starter. The airlock was bubbling away within four hours. I now have the fermenter in my ghetto cooler (plastic tote with some water, and the fermenter covered in a wet t-shirt) to keep the temperature in the mid-sixties.

I've never had braggot before, and I've only had mead once. I'm making this mostly out of curiosity, and also in the hopes to have something my wife might drink. As such, I'm not really sure what to expect as far as taste, etc.
 
I made a similar braggot to yours back in August 2011. Here's my recipe...

5 gallon batch

OG 1.072
FG 1.006

7 lbs 2-Row
½ lb Carmel malt 40L
6 lbs Honey (5 lbs Clover/1 lbs Buckwheat)
1 oz Cascade hops @ 60 mins
Nottingham Dry Yeast

My hops were older so there isn't as much hop bitterness as I would like but as it has aged the flavor has really developed. It was pretty one dimensional at around 6 months but lately the honey flavor has really come to the fore front.

I am expecting it to taste great this August around the 1 year mark.

Good luck on yours!
 
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