does braggot need the same nutrients as mead?

[fredthecat]

i do a yearly mead with DAP, yeast nutrient and wine yeast. it isn't boiled.

i want to do a braggot this time. if i add 2.5kg of malt to 2kg of honey (10 litre batch), will it be necessary to add DAP? i currently don't have any, but do have some yeast nutrient left.

I'll be pitching an ale yeast for this mead btw.

2kg honey
2kg pale ale malt
.5kg munich malt
.1kg chocolate malt
1oz columbus hops for 20IBU (yes)

so
1. do i need DAP?
2. what will the expected attenuation be? (my mead attenuated to 1.000)
3. is a small portion of chocolate malt good?
4. any other advice re: braggots.

thanks

 

[virzik]

1. Not really. I've done meads without it and they have turned out great. It might take longer than usual.
2. Depends on yeast you use. My lowest by far is with Mangroove Jack's M02 when it fermented down to 0.990
3. That's where you have to experiment. I personally prefer cara malts in braggots.
4. I would use Vienna or Maris Otter malts in braggot, adds more malty sweetness. Also small amount cara malt would be nice.

 

[dmtaylor]

Mead never really needs nutrient in my opinion unless you plan on reusing the yeast over and over.

Braggot for sure doesn't need nutrient. Malt has tons of nutrients.

 

[bernardsmith]

Mead never really needs nutrient in my opinion unless you plan on reusing the yeast over and over.

Braggot for sure doesn't need nutrient. Malt has tons of nutrients.

I think current thinking is that honey is a desert when it comes to nutrients and if you are making a relatively high gravity mead then you are asking for problems if you don't provide adequate nutrients, minerals and metals. That said, I agree that malt - generally speaking - is nutrient rich although Wyeast makes nutrients for beers (by all accounts this is identical to their wine nutrients just labelled differently

 

[fredthecat]

1. Not really. I've done meads without it and they have turned out great. It might take longer than usual.
2. Depends on yeast you use. My lowest by far is with Mangroove Jack's M02 when it fermented down to 0.990
3. That's where you have to experiment. I personally prefer cara malts in braggots.
4. I would use Vienna or Maris Otter malts in braggot, adds more malty sweetness. Also small amount cara malt would be nice.

actually i was going to use maris otter, guess i will now. i drink my dry mead pretty often actually, and ive gotten used to it. when it's sweet at all i find it hard to drink as an everyday. i might go just maris otter/honey.
im also planning on using mangrove jack m42 for this, any knowledge of that one? i dont want it bone dry.

I think current thinking is that honey is a desert when it comes to nutrients and if you are making a relatively high gravity mead then you are asking for problems if you don't provide adequate nutrients, minerals and metals. That said, I agree that malt - generally speaking - is nutrient rich although Wyeast makes nutrients for beers (by all accounts this is identical to their wine nutrients just labelled differently

i don't think i could risk doing a straight mead without adding DAP, as i've always done it in the past. once ages ago I tried making mead without DAP and it had off flavours, though it wasn't the same whole process I do now.

With this one I'm going to go for an OG of 1.09, and use yeast nutrient but not DAP.

 

[madscientist451]

i do a yearly mead with DAP, yeast nutrient and wine yeast. it isn't boiled.

i want to do a braggot this time. if i add 2.5kg of malt to 2kg of honey (10 litre batch), will it be necessary to add DAP? i currently don't have any, but do have some yeast nutrient left.


so
1. do i need DAP?
2. what will the expected attenuation be? (my mead attenuated to 1.000)
3. is a small portion of chocolate malt good?
4. any other advice re: braggots.

thanks

1. No, but I'd still use the yeast nutrient in staggered additions
2. That depends on mash temp, how much crystal malt, yeast selection and other factors. From the above malt bill and amount of honey, I'd say its going to finish somewhere 1.020-1.030.
3. Don't know
4. Other advice: If its your first Braggot, perhaps start with an established recipe that looks like it will suit your taste, then tweak it on re-brews. You can also try brewing beer and making mead separately and then blending to taste when its all done.