First Braggot... looking for opinions.

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FattyLumpkins

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I am very aware that I just set myself up with the tread's title, but...
I am about to brew my first braggot this coming Friday (4/17) and I'm interested in a more experienced take on my recipe and schedule.

Lemon Ginger Braggot
6 U.S. Gallons
7 lbs. local honey (NE WA wildflower)
3 lbs. White Wheat malt (U.S.)
2 lbs. Bohemian Pilsner malt
1 lbs. Abbey malt
1 lbs. Light Munich malt
10 oz. grated ginger, divided (60, 15)
.5 oz Tettnanger pellets, 6.1% A (60)
2.5 tsp. Lemon zest ( in secondary)
Wyeast 4783 Sweet White

Starter to a cell count of 360B.
Multirest mash on the grains. I figure a typical 40-60-70 for durations of 30-25-35 to still have some malt flavor, but put it more in the back seat to the honey.
4 lbs. of the honey are a late addition, last 10 of the boil. The other 3 lbs. would be stirred in before I hit it with the wort chiller.
Primary for 2-3 weeks. BEFORE you put into secondary, boil the lemon zest in 1 pint of water for 15 minutes. Put through a sanitized blender to thoroughly puree the zest. Cool, place in the secondary and syphon braggot on top of it. Secondary for one month. I will be bottling, so I will age the bottles at least 3 months.

I read about the lemon zest trick on a thread here somewhere... The recipe was inspired by another thread here about a Ginger Cream Braggot. They used 2 lbs. of ginger (!!!!) and a pound of lactose. I figured I would go more for a hefe-stylized braggot with lemon and ginger. And, try as I might, I couldn't locate any Sorachi Ace hops.
 
I would add all the honey at flame-out or later. No use in cooking off valuable aromas.

You have a wide array of malts, which may muddle up some of the flavors if you want the honey to stick out.

at 65% efficiency you are at 1.077, if you have a higher efficiency I'd think about using a half does of nutrients at pitch for the yeast. Other than those notes, It's worth a shot for sure! Also, as well as timing your racking, I'd let the gravity and flocculation tell you when to rack, not a predetermined timeline.
 
Definitely using a yeast nutrient in the primary.
Yeah, I thought about the grain bill muddying up the flavor. I figured with that much honey, it might be the better part of wisdom to go shorter on the 60C rest and longer on the 70C to make it less malty and more fermentable. That's the theory, anyway.
Thought about the SG of when I would rack, but I have found widely varying ideas as to when. Some say 5-8 points over your desired FG, some say 3 points EXACTLY. I figured, based on all my gleaned knowledge on mead making and my work schedule, I shouldn't be too far off of this after 2 weeks. I will be, as always, watching gravity closely after primary fermentation slows significantly.
 
Ran out of DME so I mashed for a 3-qt. starter last night, all the grain was Weyermann Abbey Malt. OG around 1.041, give or take 3 point. Pitched into a 1-gallon jug t 72 degrees and called it a night.
Woke up, let the dog out, then checked on my starter and WHOA NELLY! In 8 hours it went from pitch to 1.011 with a 1 1/2 inch yeast cake. Is this a normal thing with wine yeast?
 
I used a smack pack, wyeast 4783 sweet white. Just added 1 qt. of starter with 4 oz. of honey. That should get me to a ballpark cell count. Cold crash tomorrow, brew Friday. Keep you posted...
 
If you still have time, and some DME, I'd add a bit of that to your starter. That will help get the yeast used to malt sugars and simpler ones. If not, having a good starter will get you places too.
 
Ran out of DME, local wine/kitchen gadget shop only has hopped LME and dextrose. Closest LHBS is 70 miles. Ain't happening today.
BUT... I had a total 1 gallon starter using 20 oz. Abbey malt and 4 oz. honey. Cold crashing now.
Fun side note; my screw caps for my growlers fit perfectly on my 1 gallon jug.
 
So I missed my brewhouse efficiency. Hit around 65%, giving me an OG of 1.078 in stead of 1.096.
Everything else... like a charm. But there HAS to be an easier way to grate ginger.
Fermenter was chugging along nicely this morning. More to come!

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Looks great but the ginger should not need to be grated in future use. I know that is a pain. Just shop into 1" chunks then smack them once with your fist over the flat side of your chopping knife on them to crush the chunks and break them up a little. That did just fine in my last ginger mead. Let us know how it goes, looks delicious.
 
Looks great but the ginger should not need to be grated in future use. I know that is a pain. Just shop into 1" chunks then smack them once with your fist over the flat side of your chopping knife on them to crush the chunks and break them up a little. That did just fine in my last ginger mead. Let us know how it goes, looks delicious.

I thought about that after I got 4.5 oz. grated. The recipe I based this one off of called for grated ginger, so I chose to err on the side of caution. Besides, I am curious to see if grating will give me more of the ginger flavor. 10 oz. in 6 gallons seems on the higher side, but not outlandish. I've seen ginger additions as high as 2 lbs. in 5 gallons. Hardcore!
 
My last ginger mead that I made some 3+ years ago had 2.5lb chopped/crushed raw ginger root in 5 gallons. It took some 18-24 months to mellow out but that may be from the cheap honey and low yeast nutrient regiment but that is one of my favorite table meads.
 
Update...
Just checked braggot. Yeast was starting to settle out, which seemed a bit early to my understandings of mead making. Temp in the room dropped to 62 overnight, chilling the carboy to 66, according to the therma-strip. Turned the space heater up (shooting for 72-ish), degassed, took a gravity reading and added 5 g. or yeast nutrient.
 
Degassed/ roused the yeast, added another 5 g. of Fermax, gravity at 1.028. Got a little ways to go before I look at putting it in the secondary with the pureed lemon zest. I am guessing, but I figure another 3-4 days until it hits 1.016.
Quick question... The braggot has been lingering in a semi-active phase of fermentation (yeast starting to drop out, but just barely an inch of clear brew at the top of the carboy) for the past two days. Is this normal? All other signs show a typical, steady-as-she-goes fermentation. Had one minor temp crash when my wife turned the heat down in the room where I ferment. The thermal strip showed 66 degrees, probably stayed that way for no longer than 8 hours. I slowly brought it up to 72 over the next 24 hours. With Wyeast, I figured this would just slow it down a little, but I am somewhat curious if a 6 degree jump in 24 hours might have stressed the yeast.
Thoughts?
 
With that temp drop I would not think that would stress and prematurely stop the yeast. But then again I have not used that particular wyeast yeast. From that company I have only used London esb 1968 and that one will drop out of suspension before fermentation is complete so you are supposed to rouse the yeast from time to time.
 
As of yesterday the gravity was at 1.026. I'm not sure if it's stuck or just taking it's time chewing through the honey. I've been hitting it with small doses of Fermax fairly regularly )5 grams every other day) and degassing daily. So I am looking at these three options as to what is happening...
1) SLOW AS HELL fermentation, which seems very likely with everything I have read about fermenting honey;
2) Stuck fermentation, due to how rapidly it dropped from 1.078 to 1.032 (3 days);
3) Too many unfermentable sugars from the grain bill. I used a multi-rest mash (40-60-70, for 30-20-40 min., respectively) and a 165° infusion sparge I've used successfully on BIAB brews, so I should have gotten more fermentable sugars to reduce body a bit and avoid muddling the flavor too much.
Of the three, #1 seems the most likely to me, but I am curious as to others' opinions on the matter. Any thoughts?
 
Hmmmm not too familiar with that yeast strain you used but looking at wyeast web site it should be able to ferment up to 14% abv and you are at 6.8%ish. Even with unfermentibles I would expect the gravity to get down to the 1.010 range. So I am torn. I generally never see a mead go more than 3 days without a gravity drop unless it is stuck or at its abv limit. But your recipe and care sound great and I can not imagine this stuck unless your yeast is quirky. You may try raising the temp for a day. Possibly place the carboy outside or something to ramp it up into the 80* range and see if fermentation picks up.
 
Outside is a no go, as I'm just under 3K in altitude. Tried raising the temp, currently at 76°. Gonna check on it tomorrow after my fishing outing. So far I'm not seeing much other than the apparent rate of yeast drop out slowing. Wait and see, I suppose. Either this works (win) or I will have a braggot with a lot of body (push).
 
Sorry, been MIA for a while. Trout don't catch themselves...
So I pitched the braggot to a secondary last Wednesday (May 6), SG @ 1.019. Still a bit high, but we are talking three points. Besides, I pretty much had to transfer as the bottom of my carboy was trying to break off. Large crack completely ringing the base. Well, that's $45 gone...
I boiled 4 tsp of lemon zest in 1.5 cups of water for 15 minutes, then pitched the brew over it. I'm going to let it clarify for a while (2 months I figure, but I'll let the brew tell me when). I don't think it will clear up all that much, though, with the 3 lbs. of wheat in the mash. I'm thinking to keep it that way, seeing as it is a hefe weizen braggot. Plus, I think the lemon and ginger will go very well with the German wheat flavor (part of the reason I chose to do it this way).
Thoughts?
 
Bottled the braggot this past Sunday (June 28), and got my first real taste of it. OG was 1.012, 3 points under my goal, so I have an estimated ABV of 8.64%.
Taste; first impression was WHOA alcohol hot! Gonna need quite some time to mellow. After that it was ALMOST exactly what I was hoping it would be. Good mead-like flavor with back-of-the-palate, wheaty Hefe flavor. Ginger was unmistakable and noticable upfront, but not strong.
My only complaint thus far is the lemon flavor/aroma I was shooting for wasn't there. Wondering if it was lost behind the alcohol bite.
 
So...
Tried this after 4 weeks in the bottle and it was nowhere near ready. WAY young, almost yeasty in flavor.
10nweeks was A LOT better. A good ginger bite up front, with a smooth finish and rounded mouth feel. The nose was mead-like. Still next-to-no lemon flavor, though. Next time I will have to go with Sorachi Ace dry hopped.
 

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