Apricot Braggot

[going down a hill]

I stumbled upon a recipe for an Apricot Braggot and I finaly have all the ingedients.

3kg Liquid Light Malt Extract
200g Munich Malt
500g Dextrose
2kg Honey ( not Eucalypt )
1.5kg Dried Apricots
200g Sultanas
50g Crystal Ginger
25g Hops
rind of 1 Lemon
5g Pectic Enzyme
1 level teasp Yeast Nutrient
1 tablet Irish Moss
1 sachet Champagne Yeast
1 sachet Safale T58 Yeast
water to bring to 25 litres

What I was wondering is what sort of hops should I use: Noble or US styles, I have some Saaz which would work well, but I also have Amarillo and Centennial left over from Neil's infamous recipe. I'm a little stuck - citrus and/or passionfruit and get a little fruity, or stay noble and get a little spicy? What are your thoughts?

Cheers

 

[HBHB]

Since we're nearly 2 years down the track.....how did this one go?

Martin

 

[brettprevans]

Well I dont see the need for both yeasts. Only 1 is needed depending on % alc
Id get rid of the dex. Not needed. Ise sugar or more honey or malt
Id use 2kg apricots
Agree that a soft honey is needed because apricot is delicate.
Nobel hops would be good to keep in the theme of subtlety. But then again braggots are only lightly hopped. So you could get away with just about anything. I used challanger in a plum braggot.

Pectin isnt needed as its not fresh fruit. Theres no live yeast on dry fruit as its been processed to hell.

 

[Mardoo]

Could the sulfur dioxide on the dried apricots be an issue for the yeast?

 

[brettprevans]

Could the sulfur dioxide on the dried apricots be an issue for the yeast?

minor issue. Nit worth worrying about

 

[Mardoo]

That's one worry down, few zillion to go ;0)

 

[going down a hill]

I would have to say that this is the least successful recipe I have brewed to date. CM2 is bang on with his summary, the dex was over the top and the champagne yeast wasn't a good move in this brew, the T58 or a mead yeast by themselves would of been a lot better. From memory the ginger and lemon are not present. I used orange blossom honey and ended up using the saaz hops, which was the right choice.

It has that too much sugar was added alcohol flavour, which is the main problem of this brew. As you can see it is still sitting in my bottle conditioning section of my signature for a reason.

It has been about 6 months since having one, I might put one in the fridge to see how it is but I'm not going to get my hopes up.