I am primarily a man of mead, but I love a good wheat beer as well, so I'm trying out this as a recipe. Now this is the first time I've put together a recipe for brewing beer of any description, so please be gentle on me! This is an exact repost of my recipe from GotMead:
My recent adventures in getting rid of some nasty homebrew have led me to the conclusion I need to brew a better brew for myself!! Now most people are insisting that a "true braggot" be at least 50% honey. I want more of a beer like experience with some bolder honey notes, more honey = less body. Plus I want more flavor than 1/2 to 1 pound honey per 6 gallon batch can give me. But I also do not want a high ABV to the point of aging more than a month, so I am going for the following (brewing beer is WAY fussier than mead I found out after getting this recipe ready!).
Honey Wheat Braggot
Extract Recipe
Batch size: 5.5 Gallons
Boil size..: 3 Gallons
Boil Time : 60 Minutes
Boil Gravity: ~1.082
OG . . . . . : 1.075
FG . . . . . : 1.011
ABV . . . . : 7.85%
IBU . . . . : 10.37
SRM . . . . : 4.67
Fermentables:
7 Lbs LME 65% wheat/35% barley
4 Lbs Honey
Hops:
1 oz Citra, pellets - 10 minutes AA:11%
1 oz US Fuggle, pellets - flameout
1 oz Saaz, pellets - flameout
Adjuncts:
1 oz Coriander - 15 minutes
1 oz Sweet orange peel - 5 minutes
Yeast:
Original plan:
Lallemand/Danstar, Munich - 1 liter starter
New plan:
Waiting on a hook up with the Master Brewer at our local downtown brewery. Lucky me my friend works there as the food & beverage manager
.
Method:
Dissolve seven pounds of 65% wheat 35% barley LME into 3 gallons of artesian well water. Bring to boil to the hot break, ~20 minutes. Once the hot break is achieved set a timer for 20 mins. Add coriander, timer for 10 mins. Add Citra, set timer for 5 mins, Add sweet orange peel, set timer for 5 minutes. Add Fuggles & Saaz at flameout. Put into ice bath to chill wort. Add honey, stirring well dissolve. I don't care if there's haze, this is a wheat beer after all, DON'T FEAR THE HAZE!!! Add to fermentor and bring to SG of 1.075 with more artesian well water, letting wort cool to ambient temp. Aerate with my mix-stir-thingie for ~7 minutes. Pitch yeast that I obtain from the local brewery. Invoke the braggot gods with a sacrifice of young nubile virgins obtained just for this purpose.
EDIT: I will add two gallons of water to the fermentor first, then add the wort liquor and top off with additional water as needed to get me my 1.075 SG.
Once primary is done in ~2 weeks siphon to secondary. After ~2 weeks in secondary siphon to bottling bucket with appropriate amount of honey/water mixture, bottle, then warm or cold condition for ~4 more weeks. Refrigerate for at least 2 weeks then sample.
I have already purchased most of what will be required (the LME and U.S. Fuggle hops anyway). But much of this is dependant upon what comes of my session with Dean and any suggestions he will have for me. Not sure what he'll be able to teach me and when, but, we'll see, as we are fond of saying in this household.
I am going to hold off on this for a month at least as I have so much on my plate (or is that in my glass) that this is an immediate future to-brew-list item, not a happening/happened one. I've got ~9 gallons of mead waiting for the bentonite to work it's wonders over the next few weeks, then that needs to be bottled. But I have to get the bottles ready, but then, but then, but then...
So anyone have any suggestions? Plenty of time to hammer things out, learn from the braumeister, then get it all put together for pitching day. Plus it gives me lots of time to gather additional ingredients as I'm 25 miles and a 3 hour round trip bus ride away from my LHBS, so I wanna get all the extra ingredients at once..
And this is my second posting about a starter as there are so many conflicting methods out there:
OK, now a simple question about a starter. If I use our artesian well water, then use some DME to make a 1 liter starter, what is a good SG on that?? I have looked online and get varied answers such as: 1.025 to 1.060, then there is the debate of pitch the entire contents after swirling it all up, or wait for it to all settle then pour off the liquid and pitch the solids only.
Maybe a middle of the road approach like 1 liter water + 120 grams of DME to make a 1.042 starter. Then after a couple days when it has all settled down I'll decant the liquid portion, add some of my wort to perk them all back up, then ceremoniously pitch the beasties and watch the fun and foam (hopefully it stays INSIDE the fermentor).
Any beer brewers out there have some input for this recipe, or has my research paid off and I've got it hammered out more or less correctly?? I'll be posting this to homebrewtalk in a little bit as well.
OK there it all is, the good, the bad, and the fugly for you to take a hammer to and whack into shape...
Thanks for any help guys! Muchly appreciated...
My recent adventures in getting rid of some nasty homebrew have led me to the conclusion I need to brew a better brew for myself!! Now most people are insisting that a "true braggot" be at least 50% honey. I want more of a beer like experience with some bolder honey notes, more honey = less body. Plus I want more flavor than 1/2 to 1 pound honey per 6 gallon batch can give me. But I also do not want a high ABV to the point of aging more than a month, so I am going for the following (brewing beer is WAY fussier than mead I found out after getting this recipe ready!).
Honey Wheat Braggot
Extract Recipe
Batch size: 5.5 Gallons
Boil size..: 3 Gallons
Boil Time : 60 Minutes
Boil Gravity: ~1.082
OG . . . . . : 1.075
FG . . . . . : 1.011
ABV . . . . : 7.85%
IBU . . . . : 10.37
SRM . . . . : 4.67
Fermentables:
7 Lbs LME 65% wheat/35% barley
4 Lbs Honey
Hops:
1 oz Citra, pellets - 10 minutes AA:11%
1 oz US Fuggle, pellets - flameout
1 oz Saaz, pellets - flameout
Adjuncts:
1 oz Coriander - 15 minutes
1 oz Sweet orange peel - 5 minutes
Yeast:
Original plan:
Lallemand/Danstar, Munich - 1 liter starter
New plan:
Waiting on a hook up with the Master Brewer at our local downtown brewery. Lucky me my friend works there as the food & beverage manager
.Method:
Dissolve seven pounds of 65% wheat 35% barley LME into 3 gallons of artesian well water. Bring to boil to the hot break, ~20 minutes. Once the hot break is achieved set a timer for 20 mins. Add coriander, timer for 10 mins. Add Citra, set timer for 5 mins, Add sweet orange peel, set timer for 5 minutes. Add Fuggles & Saaz at flameout. Put into ice bath to chill wort. Add honey, stirring well dissolve. I don't care if there's haze, this is a wheat beer after all, DON'T FEAR THE HAZE!!! Add to fermentor and bring to SG of 1.075 with more artesian well water, letting wort cool to ambient temp. Aerate with my mix-stir-thingie for ~7 minutes. Pitch yeast that I obtain from the local brewery. Invoke the braggot gods with a sacrifice of young nubile virgins obtained just for this purpose.
EDIT: I will add two gallons of water to the fermentor first, then add the wort liquor and top off with additional water as needed to get me my 1.075 SG.
Once primary is done in ~2 weeks siphon to secondary. After ~2 weeks in secondary siphon to bottling bucket with appropriate amount of honey/water mixture, bottle, then warm or cold condition for ~4 more weeks. Refrigerate for at least 2 weeks then sample.
I have already purchased most of what will be required (the LME and U.S. Fuggle hops anyway). But much of this is dependant upon what comes of my session with Dean and any suggestions he will have for me. Not sure what he'll be able to teach me and when, but, we'll see, as we are fond of saying in this household.
I am going to hold off on this for a month at least as I have so much on my plate (or is that in my glass) that this is an immediate future to-brew-list item, not a happening/happened one. I've got ~9 gallons of mead waiting for the bentonite to work it's wonders over the next few weeks, then that needs to be bottled. But I have to get the bottles ready, but then, but then, but then...
So anyone have any suggestions? Plenty of time to hammer things out, learn from the braumeister, then get it all put together for pitching day. Plus it gives me lots of time to gather additional ingredients as I'm 25 miles and a 3 hour round trip bus ride away from my LHBS, so I wanna get all the extra ingredients at once..
And this is my second posting about a starter as there are so many conflicting methods out there:
OK, now a simple question about a starter. If I use our artesian well water, then use some DME to make a 1 liter starter, what is a good SG on that?? I have looked online and get varied answers such as: 1.025 to 1.060, then there is the debate of pitch the entire contents after swirling it all up, or wait for it to all settle then pour off the liquid and pitch the solids only.
Maybe a middle of the road approach like 1 liter water + 120 grams of DME to make a 1.042 starter. Then after a couple days when it has all settled down I'll decant the liquid portion, add some of my wort to perk them all back up, then ceremoniously pitch the beasties and watch the fun and foam (hopefully it stays INSIDE the fermentor).
Any beer brewers out there have some input for this recipe, or has my research paid off and I've got it hammered out more or less correctly?? I'll be posting this to homebrewtalk in a little bit as well.
OK there it all is, the good, the bad, and the fugly for you to take a hammer to and whack into shape...
Thanks for any help guys! Muchly appreciated...
