Gruit style buckwheat braggot/bochet

This.... is going to have a lot going on........

Wanted to do something more in the bochet range of meads, and figured with a dark caramel color and deep rich flavor, buckwheat honey may be the best way to go. This inn turn made me get the brilliant idea of adding malted buckwheat to the recipe to add a different aspect of the buckwheat to the brew.

I have NEVER done any sort of brewing within the realm of grains or beer.

So with that in mind, please be understanding when I say this brew scares me a little. Especially when I found out that I'd have to malt the buckwheat myself since there's no source for buckwheat premalted. (and I set out not to use extracts if at all possible).

After thinking on this monstrosity a bit further, we've figured we probably want some additional flavors added to cut through any of the smokier earthy flavors this might wring out, so we decided to get some bitter orange peels for a bit of a bittering agent (if necessary), and quite frankly, because I'm not a huge fan of hops.

We also pick some sweet orange peel if the brew turns to not need bitterness as much as I may anticipate. This is kind of the essence of winging it....


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So here we go.

Starting the malting process on all the grain. Should be able to soak the grains twice and then a third time in between two jobs. If all goes well with this, we should be have dry malted buckwheat by the week's end, and, maybe we'll even carmelize it a bit if we can find a nice guide on that.

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Calculating out my recipe.

4 pounds of (hopefully soon to be) malted buckwheat.

5-18 fl oz jars of honey (which calculates to a little less than 8 1/2 lbs of honey, some of which will be caramelized (probably about 1/4-1/2)

Spring water (sufficiently enough for the buckwheat to be mashed with to equal 3 gallons and extract the maximum sugars... Admittedly, here's a weak link in my recipe, and will require more research. I am NOT a beer brewer...)

necessary amounts of yeast nutrient and energizer, of course,

???? bitter orange peel (for bitterness and flavor)

Expected ABV will (according to the calculator) be around 14%, depending of final specific gravity (It's calculating it to start at about a 1.143 SG, and ending at a relatively sweet 1.036, and was figured using a sweet mead yeast. A lot of this of course, is subject to change as we work through the process)

Probably will use red star cotes des blancs yeast, which can be suitable for meads, tends to range around that point for ABV, and will leave some residual sweetness (though hopefully not overly much)


Any suggestions, help, or concerns... feel free to post away.

If you want to suggest I try another yeast, we have some safale US-05 and S-04. We have Red Star Montrachet, Premier Cuvee, and Lavlin BM-4x4

We also have some extra buckwheat honey (another 18 oz jar), should more honey be needed.

Oh yes, and caramelizing my honey won't be a big deal. I play with hot molten burning sugars regularly.

Buckwheat ? Is that a grain or the seeds of a plant related to rhubarb? I ask because perhaps it does not malt.. Just because it looks like a cereal... what you might do is look for some special grain like Crystal 120 or Special B and steep that in some water and use the flavored /colored water for the honey must. That is what I am about to do with some meadowfoam honey.

If you are on the left hand side of the country then your buckwheat may make a fine mead... here on the right wing our buckwheat (IMO) requires very limited usage (I might add it 1 part to 4 with clover).

Buckwheat will malt apparently. Have found plenty of posts even here on people malting their own buckwheat.

On the right hand side of the country, but honey is from the left. Really unsure. First time playing with it.

Also found out my supplier likes to switch measurements. Sells me gallons on the one side, weight oz on the other. I don't quite have as much honey as I thought. May end up using the clover honey as you suggest.

It's a shame. Was really aiming for a nice very nutty and earthy brew. The plan is also of course to step feed it. Not so much to keep my yeast alive as much as to monitor flavor as it develops.

What can I say? it's a hell of an experiment.

If you don't have enough buckwheat honey and need to supplement with clover why don't you use the clover for the Bochet? That way you will retain the buckwheat honey flavor you were hoping for.

Hahahahahah... That.... oddly enough, never occurred to me.

Cheers!

Buckwheat tastes like poop after fermentation. Not that I've ever eaten poop, but I can only imagine. Keep it in mind when your bochet gruit braggot ends up tasting like poop, that's all I'm saying..........

I have read online that Eastern US Buckwheat honey can give off a "grassy" or "barnyard" type taste if used as the primary honey. West coast and European Buckwheat honey however are supposed to not give off those flavors.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=296921
https://www.reddit.com/r/mead/comments/3aseoj/hello_reddit_meadery_first_ever_reddit_post/

HB_in_Subic said:

I have read online that Eastern US Buckwheat honey can give off a "grassy" or "barnyard" type taste if used as the primary honey. West coast and European Buckwheat honey however are supposed to not give off those flavors.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=296921
https://www.reddit.com/r/mead/comments/3aseoj/hello_reddit_meadery_first_ever_reddit_post/

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That's much more reassuring.

I've since decided to be a bit more precautionary and experimental than I perhaps need to be, and will be doing 6 1/2 gallon batches, with some variations.

Again playing with buckwheat honey is pretty damned new to me, as is the whole malting and beer making process end to this. We'll see how it goes.

Despite the potential for some wickedly nasty flavors, it's exciting. I think the chance for failure and equal (if not more) chance for discovery and a new recipe is what helps to further push myself in brewing.

So far, everything is going fine with the actual malting process. (getting seeds to germinate is EASY though. Turning them into fermentables? we shall soon see.... )

EDIT: reading through the topic you linked:

Indie said:

If buckwheat does have some underlying earthy flavors it might go rather well with a Braggot.

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I feel a bit more reaffirmed.

So an update on this....

I malted my grains myself. I toasted a third of them, and then split 6 lbs into two separate bags for steeping.

I followed some instructions on the grain free brewing section, except, I saw a lot of references to crushing the grains, so I figured I may as well.

Weeeeellllllll.......

According to the fellows up there, buckwheat is a ***** to brew with mainly for getting a decent end result.

That's what happened with me. I used amylaze during the steeping, followed all the steps, and what I got as a result, definitely had a "sweet beery" flavor. Quite interesting really.

Unfortunately, the solids... Oh my god... The SOLIDS!!!

I tossed in some bitter orange anyhow, and it gave a very mild bitterness, but something unique.. I liked where it was going.

Tossed in an 18 oz jar of buckwheat honey (it looks like I got about 3 gallons of "thin buckwheat gravy", to be kind when describing it), and it gave a NICE molasses taste, taking a beery starter into some darker territory. Took the advice of the fellows here and cut it with two pounds of clover honey, tossed it into a fermentation jug, and tossed in some more bitter orange peel on top. Safale S-04 yeast.


Today I woke up to some decent fermentation. 6 hours later, (because I ran out of airlocks), I had to release the pressure from the balloon that's working as my 'lock. Did it again at 6pm, and now again at 7:30.

This stuff is going to have one hell of a head...

So far most of the sugars are honey based, and, depending on how this proceeds, I will either rack to remove solids in a few days (or rather, rack the liquid out of the solids) or I'll toss it in a dark corner somewhere to forget it, and try again with the other half of my malted grains.

I've already decided a few improvements might be to roast more of the grain, and probably leave the grains whole (while trying to find a better steeping schedule), which, (fingers crossed) will result in a better, clearer, wort.

I'll probably skip adding the bitter orange until I toss it into the fermentor. It seems like I'm pulling out more flavor (from the smell alone) by keeping orange peels cool. (I do remember from previous readings that a lot of the volatile oils in citrus tend to have a lower evaporation temp, so that might have something to do with it).

I'm also really anxious to burn the hell out of some honey to get some flavors out of that. And possibly some raspberry honey to toss in? Not much, just a little to give some bright notes into it too.

Buuuuuut, for right now, I'm just sitting with this "gravy", hoping to see where it takes me this week, and then will work from there.

Tonight I have some mildly alcoholic ginger beer to pasteurize.

You may consider dropping in a vanila bean to pull in all the flavors together and some toasted oak chips. If you could get buchwheat extract why not use it? Did you grow the honey yourself to? We grow buckwheat for our bees in the summer so they have something to snack on during the dearths, on a warm day with a bright sun and a gentle breeze the whole field of it is full of bees and bumblebees and wasps and flies, and smells like the dog just farted right next to you WVMJ

So last night I did a mash of the remaining 3 lbs of malted buckwheat which went significantly better. Not going to add any more grains, but I kinda feel like I am getting the hang of working with grain. Still needs some improvement but seeing where my mistakes had been.

Toasted the grain more this time, and it shows slightly. Left the grains whole and got a cleaner product (but still a LITTLE cloudy and possessing a bit too much starch and sediment)

Cold crashed and racked the wort before adding it to the previous fermentables. Racked them too.

Added 2 pounds of clover honey, 2 pounds of buckwheat.

So far, the fermentables count is

6 pounds of home malted buckwheat
5 lbs of clover honey
3 lbs of buckwheat honey.

Bittered by bitter orange peel.

No idea the SG. Decided not even to take one yet. Too much racking has been needed to get an accurate idea, and WAAAAAY too much starch-iness/sediment from the first attempt that I feel would just throw my numbers off beyond what I care to even contemplate. (plus I lost about 2/3rds of that first bit, which fermented out fairly well).

will probably bitter again as time goes on.

As for the smell? it's different. I will admit that. But it smells still beery with a weird sweet southern black tea smell... not unpleasant. Just... different. makes me wonder what black tea might actually do in a brewed mix of buckwheat and other honeys as a mead...

Still has a thick foamy head. Doesn't seem like your typical foamy head from fermentations in the past. Or even the first foamy head that developed. This is like your prototypical "pint of suds" beer foam head. Probably more due to the buckwheat, which GF brewers have said is pretty desirable and why they tend to use some buckwheat in their brews.

Taste? ehhhh... It just screams to me "BEER!!! BEER!!!" and I don't care for beer. But it's not bad. Better than a number of really malty beers in the past that made me think, "ahhh yes.. liquid bread".

Was a bit heavy on the bitter orange. Which is funny. Treating it like you would hops didn't give me much bitterness. Treating it like a mead created too much bitter. Cutting it with the new brewables will probably reduce that (and require additions later).

The buckwheat honey flavor is definitely present. It's a molasses like flavor. It's weird and different, but I knew that going into this. I do want to stress that it's not tasting off or bad. It's just not a flavor you taste in mead. As a beer, it's at least more in the same ball park. Still have 2 lbs of clover honey which will probably be burnt and added next, after the yeasties tear through this addition of fermentables, I rack again, and can reassess. Still leaning to a bit of raspberry honey for a tiny bit of brightness to punch it out a bit. No more buckwheat honey, most likely.

Vanilla.... Maybe...... Maybe. If it ends up needing something to soften it, I'll try it. I think I have a half a dozen vanilla pods lying around somewhere... :S

It's a weird brew. I will give everyone that. But it's not something to shy away from. It's just something that has to be treated as though it's its own beast. It's both still something like what I was aiming form, and at the same time, really developing in an interesting and different way than I had imagined.

So this is still not finished. It's closing in on it though.

Sent a singular bottle to a party for tasting.

Got pretty damned good reviews.

One compared it to a lager because of it's darkness. (it's not very dark though, and they aren't very experienced with beers). The other impressions were that it was a good IPA like brew, with definite citrus tones that shown through. (the bitter orange). A fair number were surprised to learn that it wasn't hops bittered, and, that it balanced more towards a mead in regards to fermentables.

In retrospect, I wish I was braver with the buckwheat honey, and balanced more towards 4 lbs of the buckwheat honey, and only 3 lbs of clover.

The ABV is a bit high for some, (it's a mead though and not finished aging), and for that some consideration might be given. Considering, for example, malting and mashing the last two pounds of buckwheat that I possess, and adding more wort (approximately 2 gallons) to the brew (essentially lowering my ABV back down to a point where I can tinker a bit more) If I were to do this, another 2 lbs of buckwheat honey would probably be advisable, and then maybe 1-2 lbs of burnt clover honey.

So far no burnt honey has been added, and it kinda feels a little light on the flavors... The burnt honey would have rectified this I believe.

I may also add some as a final addition prior to bottling to allow for a slight color tweak and taste change (and also midway between this final addition, bottling to carb).

Biggest regret has been holding back based on the negative comments about the ingredients on here, which may have prevented a more interesting and complex tasting brew.

Still not that disappointed. For those interested, do not shy away from buckwheat honeys (at least west coast ones), and braggots may be the way to go when utilizing them.

Play around with different ingredients. There's some interesting recipes still to find.

Did you make a true malt, wherein you sprouted the seed prior to roasting? Or did you merely roast the seed with out sprouting? I think your experiment looks interesting.

SerifSansSerif said:

Biggest regret has been holding back based on the negative comments about the ingredients on here, which may have prevented a more interesting and complex tasting brew.

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Well, you know what they say... one man's poop is another man's pleasure.

Or maybe they don't say that. I dunno.

My apologies that my experience might have dissuaded from your superior intuition. I was sincerely trying to help. I have indeed had some terrible meads in my past, which had a common theme of buckwheat. But, it's possible these were not well made, or the "wrong kind" of buckwheat, whatever that might be.

Masbustelo said:

Did you make a true malt, wherein you sprouted the seed prior to roasting? Or did you merely roast the seed with out sprouting? I think your experiment looks interesting.

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I made a true malt. It's easy as hell, and the Bob's Red Bard stuff malts super easy. Used 5 gallon paint strainer bags for the soaking, and a food dehydrator set at 120F to dry. Roasted for about 20-25 min in a 350F oven a day or two after drying.

Followed the instructions for making a wort in the grain free forum for buckwheat. Extra amylase was added, DO NOT CRUSH THE GRAIN. You also don't get much out of the grain compared to the liquid added. It just sucks up so much, and if you follow the info on the grain free section, it says that a lot of times the problems related are stuck sparges and low efficiency rates.

Kinda wish I was more into beer. The whole grain free thing is interesting as hell, and it seems like there's a lot of room for experimentation right now.

dmtaylor said:

Well, you know what they say... one man's poop is another man's pleasure.

Or maybe they don't say that. I dunno.

My apologies that my experience might have dissuaded from your superior intuition. I was sincerely trying to help. I have indeed had some terrible meads in my past, which had a common theme of buckwheat. But, it's possible these were not well made, or the "wrong kind" of buckwheat, whatever that might be.

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Trust me, you weren't the only one who was pushing me away.

And it's still not a perfect brew. It's only a "decent" brew IMHO, and it has plenty of room for tweaking to each person's individual tastes.

EDIT: for those interested, my source for honey has been Glory Bee. Shipping's kinda brutal, but there's usually a coupon code floating around the internet for 10-20% off (basically discounted shipping)