I'm still working on my recipe, and each time it gets better. This isn't a braggot, since there's no malt, but it isn't a metheglin because it uses beer yeast. At any rate, the batch I just brewed has a pretty good balance of sweet and bitter, so I thought I'd share the recipe. This brew does better with aging, as you might expect.
5 gal batch
7 lb honey
1 lime, sliced into wheels
3 oz East Kent Goldings @ 60
0.5 EKG @ 15
0.5 Cascade @ flameout
3 tsp yeast nutrients
1 tsp irish moss (@ 15 mins)
1 pack Nottingham yeast
3 tsp DAP
Boil water (~5 gal), and add lime wheels, 1 lb honey, and 60 min addition. Add Irish moss and 0.5 oz EKG at 15 mins, and 0.5 oz Cascade at flameout. Remove lime slices at flameout. Add remaining honey to fermenting vessel and rack wort on top. Mix and aerate thoroughly, then pitch yeast in whichever manner you prefer. For this recipe, I dump the dry yeast right in, and it works fine. Ferment at 65-68. The slower start helps to keep the aromatics of the hops and honey, despite the highly attenuating yeast.
I added the 3 tsp of DAP after fermentation began. You could probably use staggered additions if you wish.
In the interest of full disclosure, this recipe isn't perfect yet, so here are the changes I'm going to make with the next batch:
1 oz of higher alpha hops for bittering, in the 11%-13% AA range. the remaining additions I will keep the same. The volume of green material in the brew above was simply too high. I was afraid the beer was going to turn out colored green, from the way it looked for the longest time during fermentation. Fortunately, a racking and cold crashing has rendered it a beautiful golden color. It's a tad on the bitter side (but not unpleasant), but as it ages, the bitterness will mellow.
The honey flavor is fantastic. I used wildflower, but I'm sure using different varieties will have a substantial impact on the final flavor. So far, I've been working with the hops to get the sweet/bitter balance worked out. After that, I'll work on tweaking other aspects. The head retention is basically non-existent. I'm thinking about mashing or steeping 0.25 lb of flaked wheat, or maybe Crystal 20 to give the beer some body and a nice head. But I'll figure that out at some point. Head isn't as important to me as flavor and drinkability.
I brew a lot of beer, but I've brewed this more than anything else, but differently each time. This was the brew that got me into brewing from beekeeping in the first place.
5 gal batch
7 lb honey
1 lime, sliced into wheels
3 oz East Kent Goldings @ 60
0.5 EKG @ 15
0.5 Cascade @ flameout
3 tsp yeast nutrients
1 tsp irish moss (@ 15 mins)
1 pack Nottingham yeast
3 tsp DAP
Boil water (~5 gal), and add lime wheels, 1 lb honey, and 60 min addition. Add Irish moss and 0.5 oz EKG at 15 mins, and 0.5 oz Cascade at flameout. Remove lime slices at flameout. Add remaining honey to fermenting vessel and rack wort on top. Mix and aerate thoroughly, then pitch yeast in whichever manner you prefer. For this recipe, I dump the dry yeast right in, and it works fine. Ferment at 65-68. The slower start helps to keep the aromatics of the hops and honey, despite the highly attenuating yeast.
I added the 3 tsp of DAP after fermentation began. You could probably use staggered additions if you wish.
In the interest of full disclosure, this recipe isn't perfect yet, so here are the changes I'm going to make with the next batch:
1 oz of higher alpha hops for bittering, in the 11%-13% AA range. the remaining additions I will keep the same. The volume of green material in the brew above was simply too high. I was afraid the beer was going to turn out colored green, from the way it looked for the longest time during fermentation. Fortunately, a racking and cold crashing has rendered it a beautiful golden color. It's a tad on the bitter side (but not unpleasant), but as it ages, the bitterness will mellow.
The honey flavor is fantastic. I used wildflower, but I'm sure using different varieties will have a substantial impact on the final flavor. So far, I've been working with the hops to get the sweet/bitter balance worked out. After that, I'll work on tweaking other aspects. The head retention is basically non-existent. I'm thinking about mashing or steeping 0.25 lb of flaked wheat, or maybe Crystal 20 to give the beer some body and a nice head. But I'll figure that out at some point. Head isn't as important to me as flavor and drinkability.
I brew a lot of beer, but I've brewed this more than anything else, but differently each time. This was the brew that got me into brewing from beekeeping in the first place.
