Braggot recipe help!

[Darthbrewder]

I have been wanting to brew a beer for a while now but I have been sidetracked by my mead making. So I figured I would try my hand at a braggot. Here is the recipe that I have formulated thus far. Just hoping for some input from those who are more experienced than myself.

5 gallon braggot

6 lb honey
3 lb lme ( maris otter or light)
.5 lb biscuit
.5 lb chocolate
1 oz fuggles
Us04, muntons, or other?

Steep grains in 1qt of water, in bag at 155f for 30 mins.
Add lme and top up to 3 gallons.
Bring to a boil, add hops and boil for 30 mins.
While cooling wort add 6lbs of honey.
Add 2 gallons cold water to fermenter and add the wort. Aerate then pitch yeast.

I have yeast nutrient that I plan on adding I just mainly wanted to know if this will give me a balanced braggot. Any suggestions and criticism is encouraged and appreciated. Thanks, cheers!

 

[Lefou]

A braggot can have anywhere from 20-50% honey as a fermentable ingredient, but that's BJCP guideline.
Yours has about 60% but it still fits the definition of a braggot.
In my calculator this ended up around 7.4%ABV and final gravity near 1.017. This is going to be a strong ale so I'd age this awhile.
Try to keep your ferment temps in the mid 60's and below 70 and consider using a blow off. if you have it.

Are you going to bottle or keg?
I bottle all my brews and will be waiting at least a month to condition 22oz. bottles using two glucose tabs each. Cracking a seal any sooner than a month after bottling will give a "green" taste similar to Granny Smith apples. It's indicative of incomplete conditioning in beer and is a taste I wouldn't expect outside of a tart cider.

Then there's water to consider. This is going to be in the amber to dark category, so if you use soft or distilled water you may need to add a bit of temporary hardness with calcium carbonate. On the other hand, no rule says to can't brew a lighter colored braggot. That's my preference simply because my local water is "soft", something good for making light-colored Pilsners and ales.

 

[Darthbrewder]

Thanks for your reply. I was beginning to think I wasn't going to get any feedback on this.
I do plan on bottling because I don't have a legging system...yet. I may adjust the recipe slightly to make for a less strong end product. Haven't decided yet.
I have actually acquired a water analysis report from my water company. From what they sent, comparing it to the chart that palmer suggests in 'How to Brew', it looks like my water is good for brown/amber, dark/brown ales. So I chose my grains according to that. It looks like I may have to adjust the dark grains slightly though.

I've never had a braggot and I've only ever tried a few meads. I enjoyed the meads that I did have. I guess I'll just have to brew one to decide if I like it or not.
Have you ever brewed a braggot? If so what was your experience? Would you do it again? Would a SNA schedule be needed for a braggot or are the grains and just an initial dose of nutrient be sufficient?

 

[Lefou]

Malted grain provides a large base of sugars and proteins that will supply nitrogen-based compounds the yeast will consume. Straight honey and water need nutrients, your wort really doesn't need Fermaid like a honey must.

My particular braggot was 36% honey. The wort portion consisted of Dingeman Pilsner and Briess red wheat.
When I bottled, I realized the gravity was lower than a normal ale or Pils might reflect simply because the yeast was still working on the residual sugars. I'm expecting a fairly dry, light, and thin braggot because I mashed fairly low (in the 140-150F range). From experience I know yeast - even an ale yeast - will highly attenuate a honey must. If you're looking for a heavier braggot mashing at a higher temp with Carapils and darker malts will help.

The only time I really bother with Fermaid is when I dose my yeast starter. Unclarified, boiled wort is loaded with almost everything you need to get the yeast active. On my last brew I added crushed clementine sections to boost potassium levels.
https://byo.com/mead/item/1908-yeast-nutrients-techniques

 

[Lefou]

Here's a blast from the past...

A study dated from 1924 on the diets of rats supplemented with raw wort and fermented beer. The study basically found out wort was loaded with B vitamins and the rats gained weight.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1259513/pdf/biochemj01159-0066.pdf

From time to time, I simply mash grains and make a grain tea from raw wort. It has zero caffeine, is loaded with vitamins, minerals, and protein. Lots of simple sugar, easy to digest and can be fortified with honey. The wife doesn't drink beer but she loves a mild, honey sweetened malt tea.

 

[MilwaukeeBrewGuy]

Here's a blast from the past...

A study dated from 1924 on the diets of rats supplemented with raw wort and fermented beer. The study basically found out wort was loaded with B vitamins and the rats gained weight.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1259513/pdf/biochemj01159-0066.pdf

From time to time, I simply mash grains and make a grain tea from raw wort. It has zero caffeine, is loaded with vitamins, minerals, and protein. Lots of simple sugar, easy to digest and can be fortified with honey. The wife doesn't drink beer but she loves a mild, honey sweetened malt tea.

That's awesome! Great idea.So essentially, to make braggot one needs to mash and boil as if making a beer and then just load 30-40% or so of honey into the fermenter?

 

[bernardsmith]

I generally use malt extract when I make a braggot. Makes life a great deal easier . I am not trying to make a beer or an ale but a mead with grains.

 

[Darthbrewder]

That's awesome! Great idea.So essentially, to make braggot one needs to mash and boil as if making a beer and then just load 30-40% or so of honey into the fermenter?

Pretty much... adjust to taste and all that.

I've actually just bottled a variation of the recipe I posted about 3 weeks ago.
When I get home from work I'm going to crack one open and taste. Once I get an idea of what to expect I'll post my full notes. And pics!

 

[Steveruch]

Several years ago I brewed a wheat beer like normal, then after primary fermentation I racked one gallon into a small carboy that had one pound of honey in it. It turned out real good.

 

[Lefou]

I moved on from extracts to all grain recently and realized I had more success when working with extracts. Mashing grain takes extra time and work and it can be kind of frustrating when your beer spoils in the fermenter, especially when the expensive honey is wasted.
Lots of good extract malt choices to be found and plenty of yeasts to choose from, too.
My last good beer before trying the all grain approach was three gallons of Cascade-hopped honey ale made with Cooper's extract and some extra LME from the local brew shop.

 

[Steveruch]

Mashing grain takes extra time and work and it can be kind of frustrating when your beer spoils in the fermenter, especially when the expensive honey is wasted.

What do you mean by spoils? I kind of doubt that the batch being all grain instead of extract would have caused it to spoil.

 

[bernardsmith]

You can more easily spoil all grain because you are using a far larger volume of boiling wort and you need to get the temperature down to pitching temps very quickly. If the wort takes too long to hit pitching temps then you are inviting souring bacteria. With extract you might use only 1/4 or 1/3 of the total volume to boil the wort and so adding the remaining water at ice cold temps will help create a swift drop in temperature.

 

[Steveruch]

You can more easily spoil all grain because you are using a far larger volume of boiling wort and you need to get the temperature down to pitching temps very quickly. If the wort takes too long to hit pitching temps then you are inviting souring bacteria. With extract you might use only 1/4 or 1/3 of the total volume to boil the wort and so adding the remaining water at ice cold temps will help create a swift drop in temperature.

You can boil all grain in a smaller volume of water and add ice water to drop the temp. I've done it a couple of times.

 

[BeerSmith]

Just my two cents but the easy way to make a Braggot is to make a nice beer, then make a nice sweet mead and combine the two after they are finished "to taste". That lets you get the balance right.

 

[Lefou]

You can boil all grain in a smaller volume of water and add ice water to drop the temp. I've done it a couple of times.

Make your AG batch with a higher gravity, add cold water. As long as you hit your expected numbers, do what works.

Lots of discussion on hot side aeration. I think it's real because I've ruined at least two AG worts and never had the problem with extracts. My sanitation was OK, and the only thing I came up with was my cooling process.