Wedding Braggot

[BastedBrew]

Hello, long-time reader, first time poster here.

I am a very active homebrewer, I brew all-grain in 5 & 6 gallon batches. Pretty average setup, bayou classic kettle & coleman cooler mash tun.

I just bought ingredients for a Braggot for my buddy's wedding next year - I wanted to do this batch on the smaller side, 3 gallons, BIAB. Ingredients can get expensive so making sure I am doing everything right before brewing the 5.75G batch that will age for months before the ceremony.

Recipe for batch/attempt #1:
3Gal BIAB
7# 3oz Biscuit Malt - Belgian
3# 9oz US 2 Row
3.2oz Applewood smoked malt
1# 3oz Locally sourced honey
.5oz Fuggle
1.2g Whole toasted cloves
1.2g Bog myrtle leaves
.05oz Ceylon cinnamon stick
.05oz Crystallized ginger
.05oz Pink peppercorns
WLP002 (2L starter)
1 pack D47
Yeast nutrient

Will be fermenting the wort without honey until krausen starts to drop, then planned on pitching the honey and a packet of Lalvin D-47 wine yeast.
Am hoping this will create a nice balance of 'beeriness' and 'meadiness'.
Racking whatever that turns into onto the spices for a few weeks to clarify.

I am worried about the ale yeast fermenting out all the honey aroma & flavor, or that the combination of wine & beer yeast will make for some terrible esters. I have never used wine yeast in beer, and definitely not in combination with beer yeast.

Any tips would be welcome!

 

[treebeerd]

I doubt the honey flavor will make it through fermentation. You could try using honey malt to try to keep the honey flavor though. Anyway, with all the other spices and malts you plan on using, I don't think you'll miss it!

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

Make sure the wine yeast isn't a "terminator" strain, unless you're planning to pitch it decidedly last.

 

[Paps]

I don't claim to be an expert or anything but..........
is not the "normal" amount of honey in a mead 3-lbs per gallon.
If so, even split in half by the malt used, you are way low on the amount of honey in the brew.
Adding "honey malt" like mentioned above is a good idea.
Fermenting them seperately and blending can work but i'd suggest killing off the wine yeast before doing so. Lest you restart fermentation.

 

[BastedBrew]

I did a little more reading on the subject and it looks like my honey percentage is too low. For this batch I think I am going to use 6# of generic foodservice honey.

I'm going to add it to primary during high krauesen, rehydrate the D47 and pitch that with about 2 tsp of yeast nutrient.

Does anybody have any advice on whether carbonating would be a bad idea? Most of these styles are >.5 to 1.0 volumes of c02. Probably because of multiple racks and aging, taking everything out of suspension. Would it hurt to pitch some dry yeast and some corn sugar during bottling?

 

[BastedBrew]

Ended up going with 6# of honey added at high krauesen. Pitched a packet of rehydrated D47 as well.

Recalculated gravity to 1.114 after honey addition.

3 racks & 3 months later, finished out into bottles at 1.009, 14.1% abv. Primed to 2.7 vols.

Bottled in 750ml american champagne bottles using a standard wing capper. (pulled the metal plates out with pliers, turned them from 26mm to 29mm setting, used 26mm standard caps, the extra 3mm allows for a full seal on the odd shaped champagne bottle tops)

Turned out extremely drinkable! Definitely have to share this one, maybe 6 months from now Even this young, the 14% abv is very scary, bottles carbed up nicely, albeit very slowly. took about 3 weeks. Deep mahogany color. Called it 'Charles of the Wood.'