So I made this braggot...

[zaprozdower]

Basic stuff, made it with 5 lbs of honey, a can of amber liquid extract, with nottingham ale yeast.

So its been about 2 weeks in the fermenator and it seems to have reached a FG of about 1.005, which seems about right. Most of my beers taste decent straight out of fermentation. This mostly tastes vaguely of cider and a good bit of rubbing alcohol.

I have read all the just wait it'll be ok threads, but does this seem normal for this particular kind of beer? I didn't really follow any kind of recipe as braggot recipes are rare. I was also planning on oaking it with some light roast oak chips soon. Is my beer going to be ok and would anyone strongly recommend for/against oaking?

 

[david_42]

More honey than extract, so think of it as a mead. It will take time to mellow.

I'm not a fan of oaking, but since you have a long wait, why not put part of it in a smaller jug and try it? You can always oak the rest, but give it at least 6 months.

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

It looks like you used 3.3 lbs of extract and 5 lbs of honey, I would call that a braggot, but if I use any malt with honey I call it a braggot.
If this is the first time you have used a large amount of honey you have to realize that fermenting honey takes longer, and it need time to clean up afterwards.
I made one just under two weeks ago, 20090823 using 2 gal late running wort from an IPA batch, but lightly hoped and around 7 lbs of honey. OG 1.055.
It looks like the Krausen has fallen and I will rack it to a secondary in soon and let it condition for around 2 weeks to a month then crash cool and keg.
As I said, using lots of honey extends the fermentation, requires conditioning in the primary or secondary, and even more ageing. But the final product is well worth it. Think of a very light beer that almost makes you think its a mead without having to wait a year+.
So give it time and don't worry.