Braggott Question

[amrmedic]

Ok, I am an AG brewer and just branching out into mead. I made my first mead, a simple semi-sweet mead. While reading up on mead, I came across Braggott which has piqued my interest.

My question is this: Can you make Braggott by mixing beer (already made) with mead?

Also, if brewing it from scratch, do I mash my grain and get up to the point of the boil, then add in the honey then boil? Do I use only malted barley or can other grains be used? Can I use LME and just mix it into the must or does it still require a boil? I know if using hops, its best to boil the wort to get the hop oils out.

Thanks

 

[biochemedic]

You're probably best off doing your mash and boil with only the grain portion (will improve your hop utilization, and also it's not necessary to boil the honey -- you will loose some honey aroma and flavor with the heating.) You can add the honey at flameout, or as you're cooling. You can use whatever grain bill you want, but I would not just add LME/DME to the must...you are correct in that you would need some boil to appropriately utilize hops, and I think, generally speaking, that a braggot should have some hop bitterness and aroma...according to the style guidelines (not that I put all my eggs in that basket!) it should fit the base beer style.

In terms of mixing...I've never tried it before, but just for the hey of it, I mixed some of of my cyser with my Belgian IPA (what I had open, and what I had available beer wise that seemed best -- certainly better to try the BIPA than the coffee oatmeal stout). Overall...have to say, it's not bad! The carbonation is a little off, half of the mix not having carbonation to begin with, but the flavor and aroma is interesting.