Wheat Malt Braggot, Red Braggot, Spiced Braggot

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Hrahn1995

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So i have done a great braggot in the past, but im thinking about doing a batch of just various braggots. I will probably attempt to recreate my Heavy Braggot called Jotunheim, which is a simple braggot using no boil with 2lbs of wildflower honey, and 1/2lb of Dark Dry Malt Extract then about 1/4 oz of Cascade hops added in the primary. It was jsut a wonderful, Dark Braggot that was very amber colored and nicely sweet without being anything close to cloying.

I would first like to play around with a Wheat Braggot. I know many wheat beers employ citrus, so i would either use Orange Blossom Honey, or i would use clover honey, and sweet orange rind. With either i may use a lemon Tea. I would probably use the same proportions of 2lbs honey and 1/2 lb of Wheat DME. I am aiming for a much lighter in color but almost as strong in Alcohol beer when compared to the Heavy Braggot.

The Red Braggot would use wildflower honey, chared or carmelized Amber malt Extract and probably a light boil on some flaked rye. I dont do anything with boils, so i dont know how much rye to use for a 1 gallon batch. I am looking for a deep red color and some rye flavors because i am calling this beer something to do with Erik the Red. I will probably use Warrior Hops as a bittering agent added into the secondary along with some toasted Oak chips.

The Spiced Mead will probably use Cinnimon, Nutmeg, Cloves, Ginger, and Allspice to flavor it. It might be hopped or it might not depending on the profile the spices create and what everyone else says. Overall im looking for a Winterwarmer style of braggot if that makes sense. I will probably try to use Buckwheat honey, and Amber Dry malt Extract.

Tell me what you guys thing of these ideas, i have a while before i start them because i have the next 3 months or so planned atm
 
Braggot recipes I have seen DO require the "wort" to be boiled. Not an expert by any means on braggots.
 
Most require the wort, but because of apparatus i cant do a wort; and my 2 previous wortless braggots turned out great so im not worried about that step. I think (from my use of amalyase) if i did a wort it would turnout too dry because there would be far less residual sweetness in comparison to the Alcohol content. Thanks for the input!
 
So does anyone have experience with a wheat braggot or a Rye braggot? Anyone with experience in Wheat or Rye beer would be helpful.

Thanks guys
 
I think all three sound tasty and fairly balanced in what you'd want in a flavor profile. I wouldn't make any changes, but I've always been leery on spices. Sometimes it's just too damn hard to get it right and it's always subjective. I added a quarter tsp of orange zest and grains of paradise to a 5 gal brag got and it tasted like a lemon wrapped pepper mill. I did a wort and threw them in the last 15 min but I wouldn't do that again.

May I ask what yeast you're planning on?
 
I brew 10 gallon batches of beer and usually after I sparge I have some extra wort left over. I made a simple Hefeweizen and used the extra wort to make a 1 gallon batch of a Hefe Braggot that was great.

I boiled 1 gallon of the Hefe wort and hopped with .25 oz of Tettnang hops at 60 mins. Then cooled it and added 2 lbs of clover honey. Fermented it with k1-V1116 and then dry-hopped with 1 oz of Tettnang.

As I said it turned out fantastic. But I see you don't boil and hops must be boiled to extract flavor and bitterness. I assume you are getting some hop aroma but wonder if because you are putting them in primary if a good portion of the aroma is getting driven off during fermentation?
 
I will probably be using Ec-1118, Redstar Champagne, or MAYBE ICV D-47. Because i am primarily a mead maker i dont have any true beer yeast. With the boil, i might try doing a very hot tea and steeping the hop pellets in there. I will also probably add a couple pellets into the secondary for aroma so aroma wont be completely driven away.

Does anyone have an idea on how dark the Wheat braggot would come out? I know Orange honey is generally as light as clover and the wheat extract will probably be LME or AME if available. (Im calling it The White Viking so if it isnt white, thats a bit of a problem)
 
Quick question to anyone with experience in Rye, since i want to use the rye as a way to color and flavor the Red Braggot, im not as concerned about its use to increase alcohol content. If i use flaked rye, directly added to the primary (washed but not boiled), would it contribute to the flavor/ color of the braggot?
 
So i have done a great braggot in the past, but im thinking about doing a batch of just various braggots. I will probably attempt to recreate my Heavy Braggot called Jotunheim, which is a simple braggot using no boil with 2lbs of wildflower honey, and 1/2lb of Dark Dry Malt Extract then about 1/4 oz of Cascade hops added in the primary. It was jsut a wonderful, Dark Braggot that was very amber colored and nicely sweet without being anything close to cloying.

Hrahn1995,

Greetings! I am particularly interested in your "boil-less" method for the Heavy Braggot. Can you flesh out some of the particulars, like how do you use the hops and could you use a Liquid extract instead? For instance, when would you add the hops in the primary? Just plop in 1/4 oz., or add in a steeping bag, do I add/transfer to the secondary, should I boil just the hops or add it to the must, or should I at least soak them in vodka to sanitize them?

Thanks!--JW
 
JW,

So lets start with the fact the the only reason i do the boil-less method is because i am a bit confined space-wise, so i dont have apparatus to do it. To do the boil-less method you use just hot tap water, Im on Well water in MD so the water is really nice and has no off flavors due to metals or other strange minerals. You add your DME to the bottom of your primary, then add water so it dissolves and aerates sufficiently. Then i added the honey and dissolved it as well. I made a microwave tea out of the hops for the primary by steeping them in the very hot- boiling water for about 5 minutes and added that to the primary. At the secondary i added a couple fresh pellets of the hops to give some aroma because most of it was blown off in the primary.

I'm gonna say that there was definitely residual sweetness, (1.012-1.015 maybe) but it wasnt cloyng because of the high alcohol content due to the use of EC-1118 wine yeast. that was probably the key to this brew's success along with the almost always dry fermenting honey. Im not sure how well this method will work for a regular beer because at the same time i did it with a barley wine, which came out good, but a bit cloying, and i am doing it now with an Elderberry Barleywine as well. There was a no boil winter warmer beer i did with only DDME and dextrose but i used Amylase which made it come out with only a little residual sugar. I also did an unhopped Graff with 1 Gallon of Cider and .5lb of DDME where i also used amylase. the result was once again a good, nicely malty but slightly acidic graff. The key to success with a "Boil-less" beer is probably the yeast used having a high attentuation, and having other sugars to balance out the inevitable high amount of unconverted sugars from the malt.

I hope this helped, and if you try a boil-less beer with this method tell me what you think!

Happy Brewing
 
I started the Wheat Braggot today. I used 2lbs of orange blossom honey, and 1/2lb of bavarian wheat malt. i have started fermenting it with a WLP 351 Bavarian Weizzen yeast then i plan on adding some ec-1118 to finish the fermentation to about 1.008. I also have some sweet orange rind in there sitting
 
Any update on the wheats progress? Did you get to start any of the others you were planning?
 
The wheat is going well, I think i should have increased the malt and decreased the honey because the maltyness is very light but noticeable. the sweet orange i put in there will probably take a while to smooth out in the aging process. I am also contemplating adding some cascade or czech saaz the last couple days before bottling.

I started the Alt braggot from a different post and its turning out great so far. everything is in the secondary and capped to keep the aromas in the container. i will probably rack them again in a week or 2.

I plan on starting the Braggot Bochet and the Red braggot after im done with this 4 gallon batch.
 
Just bottled the Wheat Braggot and will post pictures when its ready in about 6 months. gonna take a while to age but i think it will be very good. the citrus notes are nice, and so are the flavors from the bavarian wheat yeast.
 
Sorry for the delay.
I havent gotten to taste them since January but when I did, I tasted the Rye and the Bochet
  • The bochet was amazing. It fermented very cleanly and completely and wasnt particularly thick though I could tell it was of a higher alcohol content than most beers. The wormwood was a very good bittering agent because it is in the background and is more as an aftertaste than a front of the palette kind of bitterness.
  • The Rye on the other hand didnt ferment as cleanly as I had hoped and was a bit cloying. The toasted rye flavors did come through nicely. next time i would probably cut back on the honey by about 1/4 lb per gallon
  • The wheat, I wasnt able to try so when I am home in August I will make sure to give an update!
I don't see why an Imperial stout wouldn't be a very fun and or successful brew. I would probably go about 60 40, honey to malt. With the malts i would do a grain bill higher in the Munich, Chocolate and Roasted barley because the honey tends to be a lighter flavor (I would suggest using Clover rather than wildflower).

Happy Brewing
 
Sorry for the delay.
I havent gotten to taste them since January but when I did, I tasted the Rye and the Bochet
  • The bochet was amazing. It fermented very cleanly and completely and wasnt particularly thick though I could tell it was of a higher alcohol content than most beers. The wormwood was a very good bittering agent because it is in the background and is more as an aftertaste than a front of the palette kind of bitterness.
  • The Rye on the other hand didnt ferment as cleanly as I had hoped and was a bit cloying. The toasted rye flavors did come through nicely. next time i would probably cut back on the honey by about 1/4 lb per gallon
  • The wheat, I wasnt able to try so when I am home in August I will make sure to give an update!
I don't see why an Imperial stout wouldn't be a very fun and or successful brew. I would probably go about 60 40, honey to malt. With the malts i would do a grain bill higher in the Munich, Chocolate and Roasted barley because the honey tends to be a lighter flavor (I would suggest using Clover rather than wildflower).

Happy Brewing

Thanks for the update!

I didn't see the recipe for the bochet, any chance you could post it?
 
I dont have the exact recipe with me its in the notes somewhere, but if I remember right. It went something like this

2lbs Wildflower Honey
1/2 lb Dark Malt Extract
pinch of wormwood
yeast: I started with a beer yeast if I remember right and ended with EC-1118

Caramelize the honey for about 45-60 minutes on medium - medium low heat until it is very dark nearly opaque. Likewise caramelize the dark malt extract for about 20 minutes after adding about 1/4 cup of water to aid in dissolving and prevent burning. Stir constantly and be careful. Wait for it to cool slightly and slowly add water to the honey to prevent it from turning to a rock. (the bottom of the pan cannot be hot enough to immediately boil the water because it will sink straight to the bottom and then boil up and stick to you like napalm. I actually had a could light scars on my wrist from this happening.) I added these sugars to my primary along with enough luke-warm water to go to about .9 gallons (gave me some head room to prevent blowing out the airlock). Added the wormwood and shook violently until aerated and all the honey and malt were dissolved. I let it cool down to about room temp and added the 1st yeast, then after fermentation slowed (1 week-10 days) added the EC-1118.
Don't be deceived by the early clarity, because it is caramelized I noticed that it clears very quickly. Let it be in primary for 3 weeks to a month then move it over to secondary for another 3 weeks to a month then its up to your discretion when to bottle/ add priming sugar.

Happy Brewing
 
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