Hello, everyone!
I am very excited to finally post in this forum - which I have consistently stumbled into over the years through Google. Gotta say this is by far my favorite of the homebrew forums simply because of the brown color scheme.
Now that I am finally in my career and can afford to brew, I have revitalized the passion. So I decided my first brew would be a rough braggot. In the past, I made the mistake of boiling my wort at 212 for an hour, pitching the yeast at 100F (It takes a LONG time for 4.5 gallons of water to cool) and never racking - getting the yeastiest mead you'll ever taste.
So for my first batch, I am experimenting with a very simple recipe:
2lb Rye
1lb Chocolate Rye
2lb Clover Honey
2lb Wildflower Honey
1oz Cascade Hops (Probably won't affect the flavor profile much)
Went ahead and steeped the wort in steps using a single gallon of water...
20 min at 100F
20 min at 125F
50 min at 153F
(Pitched the honey and hops in the last 20 min)
Dumped into a 5-gallon bucket.
Added 2 gallons of cold water.
Added 3 teaspoons of Yeast Nutrients
(Filtering sucked. I need to work out a better filtering method)
Upon reaching near room-temperature, I whisked to add oxygen for several minutes then pitched the yeast. (12% alcohol Wine Yeast)
I am really looking forward to finally tasting a 50% Rye beverage. The wort was sweet and smokey like a darkroast coffee or a guiness.
Will rack into a carboy after a couple weeks.
Any thoughts on this project, journeymen and artisans?
My original idea for this was to use a hardy grain like Rye as it is resistant to cold weather - as well as honey as mead is one of the oldest beverages. It is in the spirit of the Vikings. To Val Halla!
I am very excited to finally post in this forum - which I have consistently stumbled into over the years through Google. Gotta say this is by far my favorite of the homebrew forums simply because of the brown color scheme.
Now that I am finally in my career and can afford to brew, I have revitalized the passion. So I decided my first brew would be a rough braggot. In the past, I made the mistake of boiling my wort at 212 for an hour, pitching the yeast at 100F (It takes a LONG time for 4.5 gallons of water to cool) and never racking - getting the yeastiest mead you'll ever taste.
So for my first batch, I am experimenting with a very simple recipe:
2lb Rye
1lb Chocolate Rye
2lb Clover Honey
2lb Wildflower Honey
1oz Cascade Hops (Probably won't affect the flavor profile much)
Went ahead and steeped the wort in steps using a single gallon of water...
20 min at 100F
20 min at 125F
50 min at 153F
(Pitched the honey and hops in the last 20 min)
Dumped into a 5-gallon bucket.
Added 2 gallons of cold water.
Added 3 teaspoons of Yeast Nutrients
(Filtering sucked. I need to work out a better filtering method)
Upon reaching near room-temperature, I whisked to add oxygen for several minutes then pitched the yeast. (12% alcohol Wine Yeast)
I am really looking forward to finally tasting a 50% Rye beverage. The wort was sweet and smokey like a darkroast coffee or a guiness.
Will rack into a carboy after a couple weeks.
Any thoughts on this project, journeymen and artisans?
My original idea for this was to use a hardy grain like Rye as it is resistant to cold weather - as well as honey as mead is one of the oldest beverages. It is in the spirit of the Vikings. To Val Halla!