Strong braggot success!

[MeadFan]

Somewhere in another topic in this subforum, I said I'd hold off my plans for a braggot until I finally got JAO right. Well, I forgot to tell my brother. He began making it, calls me, and in three minutes I was there yelling and scrambling ingredients. It's based off of JoeM's English Barleywine Braggot, but here's what I used:

Wyeast Labs 1056 American Ale yeast (starter works best)
10 oz. 40L Crystal Malt
6 oz. Caramunich malt
3 oz. Roasted Barley
3 lbs. Light LME
3.3 lbs. Light DME
8 oz. Bavarian Wheat DME
2 oz. Whole Fuggle Hops (20 min)
2 oz. Whole Northern Brew Hops (20 min)
1 oz. Whole Cascade Hops (20 min final)
5.5 lbs. Honey (I don't care what kind, just not Buckwheat)

I have experience in beer brewing, so a braggot was no different except for the honey. Accidentally scorched the malt, but it didn't matter much. It smells and tastes like Old No. 38 Stout. Great smell but a bitter taste, just the way I like it! It's not done fermenting of course, SG was about 1.063 and it's 1.020 since the morning of the 28th. I also had no choice but to make the wort in an aluminum kettle. :sad1:

My question: With the addition of honey, does it get better with age? Or, is it as good as it gets once it finishes fermenting?

 

[Oskaar]

What was your OG on this.

Interesting choice of hops Fuggles and Cascade eh? I get the Northern Brewer for the bittering. Do you find that the Cascade overpowers the Fuggles in the mix? Generally I don't use Fuggles and Cascade together since the cascade tends to dominate just about everything else (which is not a bad thing to us hopheads) With Cascade I end up mostly with Centennial or Chinook and sometimes Amarillo (I like that grapefruit citrus and nice aromatic character)

Oh well, I'm really curious to see how this turns out.

Good luck,

Oskaar

 

[MeadFan]

Hah, you got me at another typo. OG was the 1.063, and the 1.020 was the current. Bad habit of calling SG as "starting" gravity.

I'm not too keen on my knowledge of hops. I've always used the three C's (Cascade, Chinook, Centiennial). I know Cascade well enough to say I can't sense Fuggles anywhere, so that'd be a yes on dominating. Just didn't want to deviate any further from JoeM's recipe. If I made it again, I'd substitute Cascade with something fruitier.

Right now, I'm surprised it tastes very "beery", nobody would know it was a braggot unless I told them. Oh well. Still tastes good! I'd be happy to send a bottle if the final result was pleasing.

 

[Angus]

5.5 lbs. Honey (I don't care what kind, just not Buckwheat)

What was your final selection of honey?

Angus

 

[MeadFan]

I used wildflower. If I had all the honey at my disposal, I would've gone with something very light like sunflower.

 

[MeadFan]

Update on my braggot.

Besides the lees eerily smelling like vomit, bottling went smoother than I had brooded over. The color is super dark because light barely shines through. It's irresponsibly and amazingly bitter, and leaves a bitter aftertaste even after a few minutes. Smell is deceptively good.

This is not my kind of brew to be honest. My relatives can't wait to down this stuff, though. I think I made a stout mead. :tard:

 

[ucflumberjack]

maybe ill try to make a similar braggot as i love stout, i think ill use more and stronger flavored honey though....