# Braggot plans cooking..



## Downwards (May 11, 2013)

So I've never really made a beer before, all this is new to me. (Actually I did used to make beer when I was 19, but it wasn't very good- extract only stuff that gave us alcohol : But, I've been thinking lately to try a braggot because I like wine better and thought it would be a good segway to grains. We have a great local beer hobby shop and I visited it tonight. Came home with some grains- 3 lbs of Belgian special B and 1 lb of rye. Plus 4 oz of Cascade hops in pellet form. 
This is what I'm planning, but I'll bet there are some brewers here who can help me tweak this plan. 

Grains in a steeping bag in 5 gallons of water. Cook to 170 and shut off, steep for 30 minutes. Remove grains and drain them, add hops and cook longer (how long is appropriate here?) 
From there I depart from beer making. 

I'm thinking to cook a gallon of honey bochet style- but darker than I did last time when I was scared, lol. Add it to my wort-must to 1.080-1.085. Then I would let it cool to 90 F and pitch lalvin 71B. 

Sound good? Do I have any bad ideas here on the wort side (this is very likely..) 

Anything to add or suggest? 

Thanks for looking.


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## GameRoomInc (May 11, 2013)

Hey Downwards! Have you tried searching around for other recipes and see what they've done with their grains? I think there are some good recipes over on a site called Cat's Meow 3 (just google it). I've been wanting to try a braggot for awhile but for now I'm just sitting on a recipe I put together. My only suggestion would be that if you want the beer component to shine, pitch an ale yeast first, let that do it's work, and then pitch the wine yeast. Sorry for the long post! Hood luck!


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## fatbloke (May 12, 2013)

Just had a look at some of the mead recipes at Cat's Meow 3.

The ones I looked through were rather dated in method/technique, many going on about heating the honey/water mix - which I suspect is a hang over from the days when it was the water that needed sanitising, rather than the honey.

doesn't matter whether the method/technique is old/dated, there was plenty of good combination ideas there. Worth the effort of having a browse through.

Top marks for the idea of looking there for inspiration......


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## fatbloke (May 12, 2013)

Downwards said:


> So I've never really made a beer before, all this is new to me. (Actually I did used to make beer when I was 19, but it wasn't very good- extract only stuff that gave us alcohol : But, I've been thinking lately to try a braggot because I like wine better and thought it would be a good segway to grains. We have a great local beer hobby shop and I visited it tonight. Came home with some grains- 3 lbs of Belgian special B and 1 lb of rye. Plus 4 oz of Cascade hops in pellet form.
> This is what I'm planning, but I'll bet there are some brewers here who can help me tweak this plan.
> 
> Grains in a steeping bag in 5 gallons of water. Cook to 170 and shut off, steep for 30 minutes. Remove grains and drain them, add hops and cook longer (how long is appropriate here?)
> ...


Just remember that with braggots, they're strange beasts.

Some make them in a more beer like way, others more like a wine/mead and just add some DME/MME/LME for the taste and not for the possible alcohol conversion.

There's a bit of discussion over at homebrewtalk about when it's a braggot and when it's a honey beer. I think from memory, the crux of the argument ended with it being braggot if more than 50% of the fermentables comes from honey, whereas if more than 50% comes from the grains then it's a honey beer.

YMMV........


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## Downwards (May 13, 2013)

Talked to my brother in law yesterday at a mother's day get together. He's a hobbyist brewer. He thinks it sounds fine except that I should reduce that heat to about 150 as that is the temperature range that the enzymes in the grain work best at. Still don't have my honey yet, but will start this soon. 

Lots of good information there at the cat's meow for how to use grains. Thanks for the tip!
http://brewery.org/cm3/recs/06_toc.html


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## GameRoomInc (May 13, 2013)

You're correct about the dating on the site fatbloke. I like it cuz it gives you a place to start as far as the grain bill and hops are concerned. Downwards, another thing to keep in mind is that many of the properties of the hops will have completely vanished (I think primarily the aromas) if you plan on aging more than a few months. I think I recall the number being 6 months.


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## Downwards (May 14, 2013)

In the primary now. I'm waiting for it to cool enough to pitch yeast. 

This stuff is dark! Looks like a Guinness, but a little more red hued I suppose. Guess that means it's lighter. 
I did use some hops, but only 2/3 in the boiling process for bittering. I will add the rest in the carboy when fermentation is done. Hope it will be there long enough to taste in the bottle. 

OG is 1.088

Yeast now pitched! I actually decided to add my last (fifth) gallon- or most of it anyway. This brought the SG to 1.078 or so. Actually, typing this has reminded me to go check it again and get a temperature reading with it for calculating what the true reading is..


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## GameRoomInc (May 15, 2013)

Sounds like your braggot is fixin to be delicious! I see many braggots made with lighter malt but not so many with darker. I hope you can keep us posted on this batch all the way through tasting.


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## Downwards (May 15, 2013)

I didn't mention this, but I actually did bochet about 2 cups of the 10 pounds of honey as well. I didn't want it to overpower the malt, so I only did a small portion. Got it NICE and dark this time. I actually believe that my crawfish boiling rig I used last time was the problem. The heat was so high (I think) that I'd be smoking just what was on the bottom of the pot. Making me think I'd gotten it darker than it was. Live and learn!


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## Downwards (May 29, 2013)

Braggot has gone bone dry. Finished faster than my bochet even which is still taking it's time. Seems like the grain really must add lots of nutrient. 

I'm now simply debating whether to do this still or to try and carbonate it. I haven't used sorbate just in case. When I taste it, it is VERY beer like, and so it is hard to tell whether it tastes good still. It just screams FLAT BEER!!


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## fatbloke (Jun 2, 2013)

Downwards said:


> Braggot has gone bone dry. Finished faster than my bochet even which is still taking it's time. Seems like the grain really must add lots of nutrient.
> 
> I'm now simply debating whether to do this still or to try and carbonate it. I haven't used sorbate just in case. When I taste it, it is VERY beer like, and so it is hard to tell whether it tastes good still. It just screams FLAT BEER!!


Well if you carbonate it, then I'd suggest serving it like a beer, but you could easily sorbate it, then back sweeten a little with honey, then honey notes should leave the drinker in no doubt that it's a mead/wine type drink that has beer like qualities.

Your brew so up to you........

How dry is dry though ? If the starting gravity was 1.088, then if it's at 1.000 or thereabouts, you'd be looking at a shade under 12% ABV, definitely in wine territory, any lower is stronger isn't it......


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## Downwards (Jun 3, 2013)

It's all the way dry. Highest mark on my hydrometer, .999 or whatever it is up there. I think that backsweetening won't happen with this one, just because it's the first mead variant I've ever been able to get all the way dry. I think I will let it rest a bit though before I just to any conclusions. If I wait long enough the hops may fade (as someone in the thread here alluded to) and then maybe it won't be so beer like.. On the other hand, if it doesn't change I'll likely carb and bottle half like a beer, and then back-sweeten and bottle half like a wine? 

When I say it is beer like, I definitely don't mean in ABV. Just malty and hoppy- those flavors make me think of one thing.


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