Big Dark Braggot

[Dunkelbrau]

Im looking to brew a dark braggot, not black, but not pale, ive got the colour roughly where i want it, but i was looking at advice on the recipe.

Im aiming for around 14% and have got the nutrient blend sorted for pitching, 24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours into ferment (SNA).

Since i have no idea how to copy paste the brew sheet from beersmith, ive just attached a selection screenshot of the recipe, i'll be adding the honey post boil, any thoughts on the addition of honey post chill? I'm planning to mash at around 66-67 for 90 minutes, batch sparge with mashout, and am hoping to end up with around 25 litres into the fermenter, boiling for 90 mins as well.

Im planning on letting something like this age for a while, maybe have a few litres in a keg, and bottle the rest for next winter to take out camping to drink in front of the fire.

 

[Airgead]

Looks like a good recipe. I usually mix in the honey post chill as I don't want to lost the volitiles. Still warm is good as it helps things disolve.

I'd question the use of 71B though. Wine yeasts con be a bit iffy for beer fermentations. They will chew through the honey fine but aren't bread to digest maltose or some of the other more complex sugars. They tend to stall after just eating the simple stuff. You may find that the FG is a lot higher than you were expecting. You may bet better results with a beer yeast. Most will tolerate up to 14% but if you are worried something like a wee heavy yeast or something Belgian would work well.

My braggots tend to be a lot lighter and even then need about 6 months to get good. I'd say something like that might need a year. Bottling and drinking by a campfire sounds like a fantastic plan.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Dunkelbrau]

Would you say wy1728 would be something to go for?

I'd have to pick something up today, I was just going to use what I have on hand.

I have us-05?

 

[biggo]

I brewed a Black Braggot for AHNC last year, seemed to go down well it was a modifidy version of the Hefty Braggot quite like yours.

I used a white wine yeast (Anchor VIN13) since I was going for a 12 - 14% braggot, it seemed to go down well and as mentioned above with a slight sweetness as some sugers cannot be fermented by Wine yeasts.

I plan to do this again soon but I will be using US-05.

 

[Airgead]

Never used the scottish ale strain myself. Most if my braggots are in the 10-12% range so I just go for a big pitch of a brittish ale or even a clean cal ale strain.

The data sheet for 1728 says 12% max so maybe not the best for this one.

Cheers
Dave

 

[boonchu]

I have used D 47 for my braggots and it seems to work well. Also I would look at doubling your IBUs to help bapance the honey.

 

[barls]

id go for pac man in it personally but each to their own.
ive used wlp 500 and a few other all work well just pick for the results you want.

 

[Dunkelbrau]

Ive been looking at the recipes around for braggots using 1728 and i think i will go with that, maybe i should adjust the recipe down a touch to account for less residual sweetness, im sure 12%ish will be big enough.

The reason for picking the 71B was the big alcohol and i have some on hand for a blackcurrant melomel im planning, i just bought a few packets for a bulk order discount, keep it in the fridge.

What about staggered honey additions using the WY1728 to ferment the beer, and once it floccs out pop in the rest of the honey and the 71b?

Cheers for the thoughts guys. I have picked up a packet of the 1728 today and some other bits i was missing (special b.)

 

[Dunkelbrau]

Figured I'd throw up some pictures as it's happening!


the mash


Recirculating


The grain pre milling!

Looking good, first runnings were 1.085

Sparging at the moment.

 

[Dunkelbrau]

All packed up.. Hit the 1.120 with 25L as expected!

I had a blockage in my plate chiller, ended up leaving extra wort behind.

Aerated, added nutrient and pitched yeast! Crazy day!

 

[HBHB]

With the stepped nutrients and given sufficient aeration/oxygenation and sufficient cells pitched, it'll be fine.

A lot of mine I use straight wort from a normal beer batch, take 3-5 litres and double the gravity with honey. Pitch ale yeasts mainly with a solid pitch rate and they come up pretty good.

When using the stepped nutrients etc, they condition a lot faster than meads & I'm usually drinking them at about week 8-10 weeks in the bottle.

Topaz, Cascade and Nelson Sauvin Hopped Amber @ 1.056 + Honey to 1.105 = :icon_drool2:

Martin

 

[Dunkelbrau]

That's a good idea, just mix in some honey and split the brew!

 

[Dunkelbrau]

Just an update for anyone who wants to hear the results (I will update once all done and tasted as well).

So far it's climbed to 9% and it's a sickly sweet 1.055ish, I can see the potential more now than at the OG!

 

[HBHB]

Um, 9% now @ 1.055.... What was the OG?

 

[Dunkelbrau]

Um, 9% now @ 1.055.... What was the OG?

A touch over 1.120, I'm aiming for 14% for a winter warmer.

I'm expecting it to stall at 11.5-12 and I'll pop some 71B in if it's still too sweet. See how it tastes in another week!