Braggot Recipe In Progress

[ucflumberjack]

hello,
i want to start experimenting with braggot. i dont know that much about beer as i havnt brewed much of it, and i only know slightly more about mead becasue of you awesome people and that i have made slightly more of it.

my recipe is just based on what i have read about what each grain imparts into teh beer as far as flavor and color.

well so far heres my recipe(its going to be partial mash, or what i have come to understand as such):

grains/malts:
-1/2# special b (carmely flavor)
-1/4# of each of the following (body and nutty flavor, equal parts of each kind becasue i dont know the difference)
--crystal 10 lv
--crystal 40 lv
--crystal 60 lv
--crystal 120 lv
-1/4# chocolate (color, roasty flavor)

extract:
-6.6 pounds amber (color, is there a flavor difference?)

hops:
-1.5 ounces fuggles for bittering(possibly northern brewer)
-no aroma hops, read that it might kill the honey aromas

honey:
-7# DARK clover/wildflower honey(just depends on what i can get a hold of)

Yeast:
-wyeast irish ale activator smackpack(stage one)
-10 grams d47(stage two)

basically i was wondering if somebody with some experience might point out any major flaws, i know its MY recipe so you cant really know what flavor I want, but help as far as quantities and maybe an explanation of the crystal malt rating scale thing, and maybe corrections on my perceptions of the flavors of the grains, and finally a suggested steeping time for the grains

i know this one is pretty specific and kind of a ridiculous stab into the dark but any help wouls be very much appreciated.

p.s. the plan is to make it on my birthday( dec 1st) and then not drink it until next year(21st birthday)

thanks again,
Joey

 

[Angus]

Joey,

Using so many different Crystal malts will add some complexity, but you may find that the 120L will smother the lower Lovibond crystals. Most of the recipes I have seen only include one crystal malt with various other malts to add color, flavor, etc. In "How to Brew", Palmer describes the Crystal malt as follows:

Besides the lighter-colored base and toasted malts, there is another group of malts that don't need to be mashed and these are often referred to as "specialty malts". They are used for flavoring and have no diastatic power whatsoever. Some of these malts have undergone special heating processes in which the starches are converted to sugars by heat and moisture right inside the hull. As a result, these malts contain more complex sugars, some of which do not ferment, leaving a pleasant caramel-like sweetness. These pre-converted malts (called caramel or crystal malts) are available in different roasts or colors (denoted by the color unit Lovibond), each having a different degree of fermentability and characteristic sweetness (e.g. Crystal 40, Crystal 60).

He then goes on to provide fermentability values for the malts here.

My suggestion would be to reduce the crystal malt bill to one, perhaps the 60L, and see how that turns out.

Angus

 

[ucflumberjack]

ok, thanks very much.

grains/malts:
-1/2# special b (carmely flavor)
-1# crystal 60 lv
-1/4# chocolate (color, roasty flavor)

extract:
-6.6 pounds amber (color, is there a flavor difference?)

hops:
-1.5 ounces fuggles for bittering(possibly northern brewer)
-no aroma hops, read that it might kill the honey aromas

honey:
-7# DARK clover/wildflower honey(just depends on what i can get a hold of)

Yeast:
-wyeast irish ale activator smackpack(stage one)
-10 grams d47(stage two)

 

[akueck]

Just FYI, the Special B is between the 60L and chocolate in color and can also contribute a "raisiny" flavor. With all these dark malts, and amber extract, this will turn out pretty dark (black?). You probably don't even need to use amber extract as I personally doubt it will contribute any additional color beyond your specialty grains and the grains should also leave plenty of nonfermentables for body/sweetness. Light extract would be my suggestion, though it probably doesn't matter. I would also tilt towards the fuggles instead of northern brewer since they are a little more mild.

None of the grains you list need to be mashed, so you can steep them while the water is heating. I usually throw the grain bag into the pot, turn the heat on (not all the way to high) and let it get to about 160ºF. Then I take the grains out and rinse (briefly) with some warm (140-150º) water.

One last suggestion is that you put this recipe into some sort of beer calculator and get an estimate of the final gravity. You can even leave the honey out for this since most beer calculators only assume 70-80% attenuation and the honey + wine yeast will confuse it. This way you can try and estimate how much hops you want to add for the flavor balance you prefer. Higher final gravities can handle higher hopping rates. I have a beer that finished (too high) at 1.037, 10% ABV, with about 140 IBUs and the hops are basically not there.

I use the calculator at www.beertools.com and it seems pretty good.

Good luck dude.
Aaron

 

[ucflumberjack]

hmmm.... i think im just going to make a stout and then make a light braggot lol..... or maybe more amber braggot.....