Braggot from a Coopers beer kit?

[byronyasgur]

A friend of mine got a gift of a coopers beer kit. He has no interest in brewing it - in fact he doesn't even drink beer really - no telling with the giver of the gift was actually thinking .... anyway he is an avid beekeeper and is a bit interested in the idea of making mead. I once accidentally turned an IPA into a braggot of sorts - it was my second brew and I thought I could go half and half with the honey and grain - it didn't turn out great tbh but I think I had other problems too
Anyway I'm wondering if anyone has any experience or ideas with using a beer kit like that as the basis for a braggot. I think it's either the "Lager" or the "Canadian Blonde" ... something pretty lightly hopped and light in colour anyway from memory. There was brew enhancer in the kit from what I can remember - I never did a coopers kit but isn't this just sugar to bring up the OG ? ... I was thinking I could just add in roughly the same weight of honey ( or even more?? ) instead of the enhancer ... but then what other adjustments would I make and what sort of ageing would i be looking at. I'm thinking 3-6 months, and should it be carbonated or not?

Any observations, ideas, warnings, suggestions, recipes etc etc most welcome, thanks



I think the kit is one of these two
http://store.coopers.com.au/lager-1-7kg.html
http://store.coopers.com.au/canadian-blonde-1-7kg.html

 

[bernardsmith]

Just a personal opinion here but I would think that a light ale might not be the best beer to blend with the honey. You might want something with a little more heft in the flavor department. (my choice might be the grains that I would use to brew an IPA (marris otter?) rather than what looks like a wheat ... ) And while it is possible to make a braggot with a higher ABV (possible? I meant very likely) a high ABV mead suggests that you cannot drink this as if it's a session beer so either you find a way to control the ABV or you plan to produce a mead to be drunk by the glass and not the pint. But I am a contrarian... so take what I say with several pinches of salt.

 

[byronyasgur]

Just a personal opinion here but I would think that a light ale might not be the best beer to blend with the honey. You might want something with a little more heft in the flavor department. (my choice might be the grains that I would use to brew an IPA (marris otter?) rather than what looks like a wheat ... )

not much I can do with this - he's not set up for all grain by any stretch of the imagination - I don't think he'll be shelling out for a can of marris otter lme or anything. I think it's a case of work with what we've got ... or do you think it would be so bad that it would be better to just leave it altogether?

... plan to produce a mead to be drunk by the glass and not the pint

yea I'd say that's what we'd probably do

 

[bernardsmith]

I know I am a contrarian but Canadian Blonde ... ? Is that like a homemade Bud lite or a Millers? I can only think that that will more likely spoil a batch of raw honey from a local apiary rather than add anything worthwhile to the flavor.. BUT... perhaps you could so something and that is to make a braggot-cyser - Apple juice+ honey (that's the cyser) +the wort- so you are making use of the fact that the Ale is light and the apple is light. Depending on the amount of juice and honey (the juice will have a gravity of about 1.050, and the honey will add 35 points per pound per gallon of juice ), you can aim for whatever starting gravity you prefer (Canadian Blonde? What's that 1.050? So, for example, for every gallon of juice you add 2 lbs of honey while you also ferment a gallon of the CB, (I would ferment them separately and combine them when you are ready to bottle - the cyser may take a few weeks or months before it's ready - and you might use 71B as the yeast for the cyser) then your cyser-braggot will have a nominal starting gravity (when you blend the cyser with the ale) of 1.085 or about 11% ABV. - but it could be higher if you added 3 lbs of honey to each gallon of juice but you would need to be careful of osmotic shock as the concentration of sugar will be incredibly high in which case you step feed the honey to the yeast.

 

[thm57]

I did a braggot out of a coopers real ale kit. I added the 1 kg of sugar the instructions recommended, then 3kg of Costco honey. Turned out much like a strong beer to begin with, but after about 8 months it got really good. Came out at 12%, but you don't need to add sugar if your adding honey.

 

[byronyasgur]

I did a braggot out of a coopers real ale kit. I added the 1 kg of sugar the instructions recommended, then 3kg of Costco honey. Turned out much like a strong beer to begin with, but after about 8 months it got really good. Came out at 12%, but you don't need to add sugar if your adding honey.

Thanks for that info - did you leave it to age for long and did you carbonate it are the two questions that come to mind

 

[thm57]

Yes on both accounts. It took a while to carb up though.

 

[byronyasgur]

How long did you age it for roughly

 

[thm57]

I started trying them around 6 months old, but they improved dramatically between 8 months to a year. I have 1 bottle left that i'll be opening at the 2 year mark soon.

 

[byronyasgur]

are those braggots? - I mean would a braggot have similar ageing characteristics to a mead
sorry just realised you said how long you aged it first time

 

[thm57]

I didn't realize how much alcohol there would be originally and I was fairly lax with my fermentation protocols so that contributed significantly to the time to get it ready.

Making a lower alcohol version with some staggered nutrient would speed things along nicely.

 

[Darthbrewder]

I brewed a blueberry hydromel not long ago using the yeast cake from a mr. Beer kit I got for cheap. The hydromel ended at about 7.7% abv. From what I understand coopers owns mr. Beer so I assume the yeast is the same. It turned out pretty good. Took a while for the "green" to age out. Maybe 5 weeks or so.

I also just recently brewed a dark brown braggot using Nottingham yeast. It was ok after about a month but after about 6 weeks it finally has started to come into its own and I have a feeling a couple more months it will be even better.

It was pretty light ending at 5.7% abv. I feel like for the honey to come through it will need more time and more honey.
Batch 2.5 gal
2.5 lbs honey
1 lbs marris otter
4 oz amber malt
4 oz crystal 60
3 oz chocolate malt
1 oz roasted barley
1/2 oz east Kent goldings at 30 mins. ( 30 min boil)

I boiled just the beer wort and at flameout while cooling added the honey.

I feel like if it was a lighter beer style( color wise) the honey would have a better chance of shining through. While it's good now I feel like it needs more honey. But with age, who knows?

If you use equal weight coopers kit and honey and use a sna schedule along with a starter, I think with enough age you might actually have something really nice. It's going to be strong and have a light mouthfeel though. Lightly carbonated I think wold be ideal. And I think you are on the right track with the, at least, 6 weeks of bottle conditioning.

 

[byronyasgur]

If you use equal weight coopers kit and honey and use a sna schedule along with a starter, I think with enough age you might actually have something really nice. It's going to be strong and have a light mouthfeel though. Lightly carbonated I think wold be ideal. And I think you are on the right track with the, at least, 6 weeks of bottle conditioning.

thanks for that