One way to stay out of your brew is take off traveling for a while...about 10 months in this case. Just got home this afternoon and tapped into a "Smoky Braggot" I left conditioning...yumm.
Late last year, I made my first attempt at roasting my own grains. I shot for an amber roast using "kahun nuts" (Belizean name). These are a palm nut, about golf ball size, rich in oil, which give off a strong oily coconut flavored smoke. They fall by the truck load at my place here in Guatemala and are mostly tossed into the jungle or burnt. I use them to smoke fish too, but they are so potent you have to go light or the result is over powering. So I used a mix of charcoal and kahun nuts to roast/smoke the grains. Grain was 2-row. I hit the amber target and the grains had a nice potent smoky coconut taste. I assume a similar effect could be created by using more commonly available coconuts.
I decide to use this roast to brew a "Smoky Braggot". Brewed it in January and then we left to travel...just got home this afternoon. Of course, one of the first things I did was tap into the keg of Smoky Braggot!
Also first time to use my DIY spunding valve. Left it set at 12 PSI and the resulting light carbonation is about right for a braggot I think.
I accidently over pitched signficantly (re-using yeast slurry) so the body is thinner, and the sweetness less, than I would like, bit its still pretty damn tasty with a noticeable, but not excessive, smoky coconut finish. And at about 8% ABV, I've got a nice little buzz going.
More later, I'm busy drinking! ;-)