Braggot

[Queequeg]

I am brewing this in a few days. The beer folks weren't helpful when i asked about my yeast choice. Maybe you mead folk can offer some insights. NB its a 6 L batch. Thanks


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 9.35 l
Post Boil Volume: 6.35 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 l
Bottling Volume: 5.50 l
Estimated OG: 1.085 SG
Estimated Color: 15.6 EBC
Estimated IBU: 22.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 79.20 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.5 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.72 kg Golden Promise (Simpsons) (3.9 EBC) Grain 1 36.4 %
0.16 kg Rye, Flaked (3.9 EBC) Grain 2 8.0 %
0.12 kg Biscuit (Dingemans) (44.3 EBC) Grain 3 6.0 %
0.12 kg Honey Malt (49.3 EBC) Grain 4 6.0 %
0.07 kg Acidulated (Weyermann) (3.5 EBC) Grain 5 3.5 %
4.40 g Hallertau Magnum [9.70 %] - Boil 60.0 mi Hop 6 21.0 IBUs
4.00 g Celeia [4.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 1.8 IBUs
1.0 pkg Dusseldorf Alt Yeast (White Labs #WLP036 Yeast 8 -
0.79 kg Honey (2.0 EBC) Sugar 9 40.0 %


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 1.98 kg
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Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 10.08 l of water at 73.6 C 71.0 C 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 75.6 C over 7 min 75.6 C 10 min

Sparge: If steeping, remove grains, and prepare to boil wort

 

[videojunkie1208]

I've not made a braggot, but you seem a bit light on honey, I would target an OG around 1.110 or so by adding more honey this reads more like a honey beer. I use a lot of EC-1118 and D-47 for meads and melomels. EC-1118 is a fairly transparent yeast. doesn't add much flavor, and let's what you have shine through - a word of caution, it will ferment every scrap of sugar it can get into...

It depends a lot on what you want the final product to taste like. if you are going for a particular ale flavor, something like Mangrove Jack M42 or what you've selected could be interesting.

 

[cmac62]

My understanding of a braggot is a mead with malt, not a beer with honey. So, I'd say I agree with VJ above. Also for the yeast, I'd go with the BOMM recommendation of WY1380. This will get you down pretty low, but may not take you as far as the EC-1118. I generally like a little sweeter mead that 1.000.

 

[rsquared]

EC-1118 is a fairly transparent yeast. doesn't add much flavor, and let's what you have shine through - a word of caution, it will ferment every scrap of sugar it can get into...

Just like most beer yeasts, I don't believe EC-1118 will eat maltotriose, so you should have some remaining sweetness from the grains.

Personally, I'd go with a beer yeast that gives the right character for the beer base style you're going for.

 

[bernardsmith]

My understanding of a braggot is a mead with malt, not a beer with honey. So, I'd say I agree with VJ above. Also for the yeast, I'd go with the BOMM recommendation of WY1380. This will get you down pretty low, but may not take you as far as the EC-1118. I generally like a little sweeter mead that 1.000.

I think a braggot is a braggot - it's neither a beer with honey or a mead with grain. It is sui generis , a braggot. And I think you can use whatever yeast you prefer or have on hand. I am about to make one with added heather and elderflowers and I will be using Nottingham.

 

[videojunkie1208]

I think a braggot is a braggot - it's neither a beer with honey or a mead with grain. It is sui generis , a braggot. And I think you can use whatever yeast you prefer or have on hand. I am about to make one with added heather and elderflowers and I will be using Nottingham.

In a sense we are all correct. it depends on your taste and interpretation of this:

Are braggots another pillar of the brewing world? I always thought of it a a triumvirate: Wine, Mead, and Beer, with varying Venn Diagrams of blends between the three. (Braggot being on the spectrum between mead and beer, pyments being on the spectrum between mead and wine, and I have no idea what you would call a 'grape/beer' beverage...

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/styles/114/
Braggot
With references dating into the 12th century, Braggot was historically made by blending spices and herbs with mead and beer. Many taverns would make this blend right at the bar, though brewers would also blend them as well. The ultimate goal is a beverage with perceivable honey and beer qualities (meaning malt, hops and/or yeast) that compliment each other, though not necessarily equally present. Ideally, there should be a balance between the honey character and malt flavor with the hop bitterness not overpowering the sweetness while remaining noticeable.

 

[bernardsmith]

Interesting, I dunno that braggots were traditionally made with hops not least because hops were not that common in 12th C Europe, given the control the RC church had over brewing and the gruit herbs used in brewing. It was the Reformation that really introduced the soporific and desexualizing use of hops (brewer's droop, anyone? ) rather than the psychotropic properties that were to be found in many of the gruit herbs... but that is another story. That said, hopped meads in Britain were not called braggot but botchard and botchard was made without grain. (see for example, Peggy Hutchinson's Home-Made Wine Secrets (no date) published by Foulsham).

 

[videojunkie1208]

Interesting, I dunno that braggots were traditionally made with hops not least because hops were not that common in 12th C Europe, given the control the RC church had over brewing and the gruit herbs used in brewing. It was the Reformation that really introduced the soporific and desexualizing use of hops (brewer's droop, anyone? ) rather than the psychotropic properties that were to be found in many of the gruit herbs... but that is another story. That said, hopped meads in Britain were not called braggot but botchard and botchard was made without grain. (see for example, Peggy Hutchinson's Home-Made Wine Secrets (no date) published by Foulsham).

Perhaps not Hops, but juniper, cinnamon, cloves, heather, and other berries and roots would certainly have been widely available for seasoning purposes. common mulling spice blends probably varied by proprietor, as would (if this is to be believed) the mix and quality of the braggot.

Perhaps it started as a way to dispose of beer that was past its 'sell by' date, or meads that had become oxidized and unpalatable.