Pages: 1 2
Braggot. the beer/mead hybrid
I was going to make a mead, got the honey and everything, but never got around to making it. Now I have a 6 lb jug of Briess Gold LME, and was thinking I can add that in, and make a braggot instead of the mead. The mead called for Red Star Pastuer Champagne yeast, and I also have a pack of S-33 dry yeast. was thinking maybe use the s-33 first to get a beer flavor profile, then add the Red Star later to ferment a few more points off. For hops I was just going to use what I have in my freezer, mostly leftovers from other batches.
about .5oz Chinook 11.4%
.75 oz ekg 5.9%
.5 oz Williamette 4.9&
1 oz williamette 4.5%
1 oz Hallertau 3.6%
1 oz tradition 4.0%
.5 oz tradition 4.0 %, a lot of this one is crumbled to dust.
I don't have any specialty grains on hand, but could get some, not sure what would go with this. Any help with specialty grains or hopping schedule would be appreciated, or just let me know if this is a terrible way to use up these ingredients.
I love the idea, but that doesnt make it a good idea lol. I would use both yeasts the way you planed and i would dry hop only. As far as specialty grain, iv alwase liked smoked malt in brews like this or something toasted like toasted barley. Keep me updated. I like doing inivated brews like this.
dry hop only? that sounds like it might come out too sweet. I wouldn't want a huge amount of bitterness, but enough to balance it, maybe 35-40 IBU? I've never used smoked malt. maybe I'd throw in a little bit of that. was thinking biscuit malt and special B malt. would those even work doing a steep with them?
Special B was the first thing that cam to mind. For steeping I think you'd need to steep some 2 row with it for the enzymes. I was also thinking crystal 120*?
1oz of your Wilamette 4.5 at 60min and your EKG at about 10 min? I'm still new enough to brewing to where I don't have the greatest hop mind. I usually copy other recipes for hop schedules... good luck doing that for this one.
biscuit sounds good! 
Be careful when you buy smoked malt. there is smoked malt and peat smoked malt. Two way different things; IMO. I hate peat smoked malt.
I like sweet beers, so I personally would only dry hop, but then again i know some hop heads, so its all preference. Either way I would leave out the Chinook and dry hop with the "dust" of tradition.
ok, here's what I've come up with:
6 lb gold lme
12 lb honey
.5 lb special b
.5 lb smoked malt
.75 oz EKG 60 min
.5 oz williamette 60 min
1 oz williamette 15 min
1 oz tradition dry hop
S-33 yeast
Beersmith gives me an og of 1.127, fg of 1.03. 45.8 IBU, but since the hops are old, they might have less Alpha Acid then originally, so the IBU could be off.
how does this look to everyone? I know the hops are a mix of everything, I could sub the 15 minute williamette addition with the Hallertau if that would go better with the tradition dry hop.
Thats going to be dry n hoppy. Is that what you want?
now that I think about it, would the dry hop really be useful? a beer this big will take quite a bit of aging, won't it? I'm thinking the dry hop might age out of it by the time it's ready to drink.
as far as it being dry and hoppy, I want some hoppyness. 1.031 doesn't sound very dry, but I guess the alcohol will make it seem drier. beersmith gives the alcohol at 12+%
Recipe looks dead Perfect to me. I think it looks like a great balance of beer and mead so I think without the dry hop the mead characteristics will take over. I'm guessing this will be hard to distinguish a malt profile so hops may be the only beer quality that shines.
I don't think this will be all that hoppy. This one will need some aging, and none of these hops are very high alpha acid hops. Considering the original gravity and the alcohol content there is a chance that the hops will be only noticeable. I might use the ekg as first wort and use the chinook for bittering.
the part that I'm worried about most is if the honey/lme ratio is good. I have twice as much honey as lme, so it might come out less beer like then I'm hoping for. and I'm wondering if half a pound of smoked malt and special b is the right amount to steep. The hops, I think will work ok. if I age the beer in the carboy, I can just leave it for several months, then add the dry hop a week before bottling if I decide to do that. May just decide to skip dry hopping, and add the hops I would have used then at 15 min.
Looking at different Braggot recipes I see everything from a 2-1 ratio of honey to malt to a 2-1 ratio of malt to honey, so you are sitting pretty close to the middle.
I don't think you will get much smoke flavor from a half pound of the smoked malt, maybe up it to a pound? Not sure if you will be using Briess or Weyerman for your smoked malt, but they should both be mashed. Maybe consider turning your steep into a minimash, and get the fermentables out of the smoked malt I think smoked malt is made from 6 row so there are enough enzymes for conversion in about the same time as you would steep. Might also want to consider a half pound of Carapils if you want any head on this.
Just my 2 cents worth.
+1 for the mini mash. Wheat will also help with head. Not sure which does the job better, wheat or carapils.
I am looking to finalize the recipe so I can order the ingredients and brew this next weekend. Upping the smoked malt to a pound, looks like I'll be using weyerman, as I'm ordering from morebeer this time and that's what they have. Their site says the flavor comes through well when steeped, and I don't really want to raise the gravity any higher doing a partial mash. so here's what I've got now:
12 lb honey
6 lb gold LME
1 lb smoked malt
.5 lb special b
.5 oz Chinook at 60 min
.75 oz EKG 60 min
.5 oz williamette 60 min
1 oz williamette 15 min
1 oz tradition 15 min
S-33 yeast, 2 packs
after the s-33 does all it can, I'll add the Red Star.
Beersmith gives me over 70 IBUs after adding the chinook. since ost of the hops are old, they've been sitting in my freezer for various amounts of time, I suspect the real IBUS will be lower.
I was just thinking with a minimash you would get your malt to honey ratio pretty close to 1/1, but you do have a boatload of fermentables in this already.
Pages: 1 2
Search Home Brewing Knowledge Base
Custom Search
|