Braggot Recpie Help

[Keifer]

Hey,

I got myself 5kg of decent honey and a 11.5 ltr glass fermenter and want to try some braggot, mainly because it doesn't take many years to mature. Here's the basic recipe:

BRAGGOT
This drink, much valued in the 14th century in England, is very easily made. It represents a link between mead and ale. To make it, take 450 g (1 Lb) malt extract, 450 g (1 Lb) heather honey and 4 1 (7 pt) of water and boil them together for 15 minutes, skimming the surface meanwhile. Add 10 g (1/4 oz) citric acid and yeast nutrients, and when cool ferment with an ale yeast. When fermentation has finished, rack and mature for three months as though it were a wine. This drink is drunk from beer glasses or pewter tankards and is best served slightly chilled.

1) Is that 4 litres of water? coz promash rekons 7 pints is 3.3 litres?
2) Where do i get the citric acid?
3) is us-56 ok for this?
4) how long might this take for fermentation to complete

Cheers,
Keith

 

[Stuster]

1. Yep, that's probably 4 litres. 7 US pints is 3.85 litres.
2. Supermarket. I think in the baking aisle.
3. Do you have anything that will attenuate less? US56 might leave it a bit dry.
4. Not sure, but not as long as meads.

One thing I have read though is not to boil the honey. If you are concerned about pasteurising it, you can just add it at flame out.

You might want to post on the Brewboard with this. They have a cider and mead forum with plenty of folks who have experience with braggots, cysers etc. You could just search for info there anyway.

 

[Tyred]

The amount of liquid is probably correct. It is likely that most measurements are in american units. Depends on where the recipe came from.

citric acid is available from supermarkets (cooking/baking section).

US-56 should be O.K.

Time for fermentation depends on temperatures. Probably 2-3 weeks.

Never made a braggot. Thought about it a few times tho. Mainly made mead. When the brew is nearly completion (bubbles through airlock is the method I use) rack and allow to sit for a least a month. Mead, while it may be drinkable early, apears to get better the older it gets. I'm still waiting for some of my meads to get to over a year old. They're nice now, but they do appear to get better with age. www.gotmead.com would have more information regarding this.

 

[berapnopod]

Hi Keith,
First of all, the recipe is probably British since 7 imperial pints = 4 litres.

Second, don't boil the honey for 15 minutes. No need to, and you'll lose some of the finer honey qualities by boiling them off. I suggest you do something like this: make your base beer and ferment. Add the honey to the primary after a few days, when the peak activity has just subsided.

Third, you mentioned at the top of your post you have 5kg of honey and an 11.5 litre carboy? I don't think you want to add all the honey in that volume, its just too much. For a standard strength (11%ABV) mead you will need about half that honey in that volume. If you're making a braggot, you're adding sugars from the malt as well, so cut back on the honey even more. Or get a bigger fermenter.

Note that with an ale yeast (US-56 is probably best since it is relatively alcohol tolerant and dry), even it will struggle to ferment out completely just because you have so much fermentables in there. Let me explain: If you make a braggot with the intention of getting about 7%ABV out of it, you will find US-56 will give you a dry result. That is because its quite a high attenuator and honey is nearly all fermentable sugars. But if you make a braggot of more typical strengths (eg 12%ABV), the ale yeast is likely to poop out on you before you get to that strength, and you'll end up with a sweeter braggot. You could always add a mead or wine yeast to finish off a high gravity braggot if the US-56 stalls. 'Tis all a balancing act.

Berp.