Braggot Problems..maybe

[jpog]

Hi guys,

So I attempted to make a Braggot...man, thats alot of work. Anyways, I only boiled the DME for like 10 min...because I got rushed in the end. Anyways, for the first day the braggot had a really nice dark carmel color too it but now it looks like a yucky light brown/tan color..the same color as the DME when in powder form. Will this cause any problems? It looks disgusting.

I boiled the hops right, steeped the 10L crystal (milled) malt right...but I obviously rushed the boil on the DME..from what I read this only effects color not taste..unless you overboil the DME...am I correct? Is there anything I can do to color it differently?

[TAKeyser]

Not sure what kind of DME (Plisner, Extra Light, Light, Amber, dark, etc) but it isn't uncommon for it to lighten up as fermentation progresses.

In my opinion (this is my opinion not definitive fact), extracts technically do not need to be boiled as they have already gone through that process in making it an extract. That said I always add 1/3 to 1/2 of my extract in the beginning and it is there for the whole boil and than I add any remaining extract during the last 10-15 minutes.

Also not sure of your process since you mention boiling hops before steeping or adding DME but the process usually looks something like this:

Steep specialty grains
Add part of extract and bittering hops, boil for 60 minutes
with 15 minutes left of boil add favoring hops and rest of extract as well ass whirlfloc/Irish moss if using
with 2 minutes remaining add Aroma Hops (some people add when they take off of the heat)
Cool as quickly as possible.

[jpog]

Thanks Takeyser for the quick reply.

I think the DME I used was a Light Amber? I have it on my receipt..it's suppose the be they type for a New Castle type of beer.

So I modified the process which probably complicated things alot but at the time seemed easier..: )...because I wasn't sure how to remove the hops from a syrupy malt and I am only making a 1 gallon back so I didn't have tons of water.

I Steep the grains first in 1/4 gallon water...then I filtered this into another pott. I then boiled the hops 1/2 a gallon of water using the adding bitter first/flavor second/aroma...I then filtered this into the pot that had the steep grains water which was covered. I then took this water and boiled it for 10 min or so and added the DME.


So how do I change the color..just some food dye? I could add more or a darker DME..cause I have a little extra room.
I didn't to everything together because I couldn't figure out how to filter out the hops from a syrupy mess.

Does this make any sense? Did I screw up?

[TAKeyser]

When I do my New Castle Clone I use a Light DME.

Your Process of doing everything in separate pots probably resulted in a lower hop utilization than you could have gotten.

A little more detailed description of the process would be:

Steep specialty grains (Crysta Malt in your case) in 148-155 degree water for 20 minutes. While you are doing this heat a smaller pot of water to 170 degrees.

After the steep lift your grain bag out of the liquid and pour the water from the smaller pot over the bag to rinse sugars into the larger pot (this is your sparge). Discard grain bag.

Boil your water from the steep. Once boiling remove from heat and add a portion of the extract and your bittering hops. Put back on heat and return to boil. Once boil begins again start your 60 minute timer.

With 15 minutes remaining in boil add remaining extract, flavour hops and Whirlfloc tablet/Irish Moss

With 5 minutes or less remaining in boil add aroma hops

when boil is over remove from heat and cool as quickly as possible. When cool put into carboy either by racking off the trub (the hops and crap at the bottom of your pot) or by carefully pouring through a fine straining funnel (beer makers usually end up by a brew pot with a false ottom and spigot to do this transfer).

For a Braggot add your honey, mix it all together, and pitch your yeast

[Chevette Girl]

Thanks for detailing the process, makes it sound a lot less intimidating for a beer newbee

[TAKeyser]

It's not that hard until you get to All-grain brewing

[akueck]

You can buy a grain-based coloring agent. Just add a little and bam!

The color will in general lighten up during fermentation, nothing to worry about there. It might look muddy now, but when the yeast drops out it will be much prettier.

[jpog]

Thanks so much TAKeyser and akueck, you guys are so knowledgable and so much help....

[TAKeyser]

No problem and your Braggot will be fine so don't worry about not sticking exactly to the normal process. Like I said the only thing that I can see that may happen is that you may not get all you could have out of the Hops by just boiling them in water. That being said when I make Hopped Mead I make a hop tea with just the Hops and water and than add the Honey to it and it works fine.