Toasted oat cream Braggot

[blekk]

Hi all

Looking at doing a very simple braggot micro batch and just want some feedback.

37% Toasted rolled oats
37% Raw honey
7.4% Lactose
18.5% Chocolate rye malt

Galaxy hops
S-04

60min boil but not sure about the hop time addition yet, then adding the honey once wort has cooled to 35deg.

Looking for a nice coffee/choc profile with creamy mouth feel and some slight lingering sweetness (possible honey tones??). Any feedback would be great

Cheers.

 

[scomet]

G’day blekk, I have no (constructive) comment to make on your recipe. Braggot is a beer I have looked at often to brew, we ate the last 10kg of raw WA honey I purchased! Having just got another 10kg I’m very interested to hear you tasting notes, Good luck….. OK, I think its a lot of toasted?? oats, all chocolate rye I could see being cloying, BUT I have ZERO evidentiary knowledge in such matters :-}

 

[blekk]

Hi scomet. Agree pure rye would be horrible hence the reason for the amount of toasted oats to try and balance it. Im gluten intolerant which is the reason for absence of wheat altogether and playing with mead in the first place. It originally was just going to be a simple hopped mead but something with a bit more body is much more appealing!

Im planning on brewing it this weekend so Ill make sure I update it here.

 

[blekk]

So brew day went quite well apart from breaking my new hydrometer after cleaning it [emoji54] I made a few adjustments and additions as per below.

6L Batch
13% Roller oats (half toasted)
33% Munich I
10% Cararye
40% Raw honey
5% Lactose
3g/L Coffee grinds (brewed)
15g Galaxy hops
S-04

Strike temp - 70deg
Mash - 60min
Boil - 60min
10g 1st hop addition - 15min
Yest nutrient - 10min
Lactose addition - 10min
5g 2nd hop addition - flame out for 5min
Coffee addition - flame out for 5min
Honey addition - 35deg
Campden addition - 35deg
OG - 1.056

Upon finishing the Wort it had a nice biscuit smell with an initial hop bite that gave way to a mellow honey flavour. I know this will probably change during fermentation so it's going to be interesting once finished. Even the missus is interested to see how this turns out.

 

[blekk]

So I finally bottled the braggot yesterday. The brew slowed about 3 weeks ago at 1.031 (I use brix so 7.8), and I was thinking about racking into a secondary and adding some D47, but due to work commitments that didnt happen. The braggot sat on the S04 until an fg of 1.028 (7.2), making it around 3.6%. It did stall 0.01 off the projected 1.018 but Im still happy with the outcome and flavours so far which I think will only improve with carbonation. The flavours seem to have flipped compared when it went into the fermenter. Came out with a nice light initial honey tone which gives way to what I think is biscuit but my wife found slight chocolate notes. Hops are present but smoothed out compared to the pre ferment hoppy bite it had. Not sure if the lactose helped with mouth feel or not so will have to wait to report on that. I'll definitely be doing this again but with the D47 to see how that changes things.

 

[blekk]

Ok so the Braggot has had about 5 weeks conditioning in the bottle and I thought it was time to crack one and see how it is. Well I don't want to toot my own horn but I am gob smacked at how this has turned out! Even the boss remarked "this is your best brew yet!" So on to the tasting notes (**Disclaimer** Im not a professional taster and have tried my best to describe how it tastes to me with the bosses input).

Fist sniff gives a little fruit/floral and honey on the nose. Taking a sip we both could taste a slight citrus on the tounge with a creamy mouth feel. This is followed by a light honey and oatmeal flavour that coats the mouth and fades away to give the initial flavours of light fruit/floral and honey tones.

We both agreed that this will be a regular. If I was to change anything it would be to try it without the lactose, but I do think it adds to the lingering creamy mouth feel.