aging a braggot before bottling

Hi Guys!

We recently made a 2 gallon braggot containing the following-

boiled for 60 mins:
1.32 Pale malt extract
1 oz Cascade hops 5.7%


Added to:

4 lbs Clover honey
1 teaspoon go-ferm
1 teaspoon Fermaid-K
Lalvin d47 (rehydrated to spec)
Water topped up to 2 gallons.
Step fed with Fermaid-K

OG:1.090

4 days later, it's already fermented to 1.010 so we're nearing secondary racking. Our plan is to allow this to floc and then carbonate (with half cup honey) and bottle in standard beer bottles.

What would you all recommend as a time to allow it to age in the carboys prior to carbonating and aging? This is our first braggot and already tasting pretty good even this soon, so we'd like to bottle and drink sooner rather than later.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

Thanks for the tip. Say we age for 3-6 months, is it best to age in the carboy and then carbonate a few weeks before drinking? Or can we carbonate and bottle, and then age?

Hey guys,

on another note, this braggot has fermented down to 1.000 now, and there's all but no foam or activity to speak of now. The liquid seems entirely still in the fermenter now (which makes sense, since it's most likely reached it's max alcohol tolerance.

However, it's also taken on a real skunky odor very quickly. Like, over night quickly. Not the rotten egg sulphur smell, but almost like a boiled cabbage smell. My first though is this needs to be fed in some way, like adding boiled bread yeast. Is this a good idea at this stage?

Thanks!

Hey Bernardsmith,

thanks for your helpful answer. I'm a bit confused too by the low gravity, but my hydrometer's telling me what it's telling me!

So for the skunky, cabbage odour it's best to just sit back and let it age out you're figuring?

Ok, well this is embarrassing: I've done another gravity reading and it IS sitting at 1.010. Apologies as my eyesight isn't what it once was, and there was a bit of foam in my sample container when taking the last measurement... this explains why you were so flummoxed by the odd reading, so again sorry!

However, the smell remains a mystery. I'd describe it as a cross between the cabbage I describes before, or just a very pungent beer smell. Pungent enough that's it's unappealing. I've read a bit on Dimethyl Sulfides and it can be caused by not aerating enough during fermentation, but I did aerate at least twice per day for about 4 days, so not sure if that's the culprit. I'll have to monitor for awhile and see if it worsens.

Well, looks like this braggot is a goner. The strong smell has become and unbearable stench. Has definitely picked up some kind of infection. Into the sink it goes!

Well, back to the drawing board, although I wish I could tell where we went wrong with this one. Someone on a homebrewing site suggested perhaps it had TOO much aeration although I didn't think that could hurt it until primary fermentation had finished.

It's actually my first time with beer. I've done about 12 batches of mead so far with moderate to decent success. Happy to share the details as I'd like to try this again soon:

-Creating the must/wort> Boiled ingredients 60 mins (one potential issue here, my wife decided to cover the boil about half way in since we felt it was reducing too quickly. Not fully covered, but lid added, with about a 1 inch slot to let some steam out), when finished let it cool to room temperature for quite a while (this could have been part of the issue). Then stirred up honey, water and fermaid K. Added the wort to the honey, and topped up the mixture to 2 gallons. Then pitched the rehydrated yeast. Aerated for about 5 mins with long handled spoon (everything fulled sanitized with Star San. Soaked and then sprayed down just in case).

-Day 1> Washed and sprayed down long spoon with Star San, let it sit for about 3 mins, then rinsed it and aerated for about 3-4 mins. Lots of foam. Did this twice this day. Not a whole lot of yeast activity.

-Day 2>Added one more teaspoon of fermaid K, repeated aeration process twice. Once in the morning and once in evening.. Fermentation is quite healthy now. About half an inch of Krausen on top. Sprayed inner lid with Star San and replaced after 2 mins

-Day 3>Repeated aeration procedure twice daily. Once in the morning and once in evening. Very healthy fermentation and about an inch of krausen has built back up. Soaked turkey baster, hydrometer and sample container in Star San solution and took gravity reading. It's already at 1.020. Poured sample back into fermenter. Sprayed inner lid with Star San and replaced after 2 mins.

-Day 4>Repeated aeration procedure twice more this day. Same fermentation level. Because of speedy ferment, decided to repeat the gravity sampling, to discover it was at 1.010 (although earlier posts indicate I need glasses since I'd thought it was 1.000 but I digress). Poured sample back into fermenter. Sprayed inner lid with Star San and replaced after 2 mins.

-Day 5> Noticed no activity in airlock in the morning so popped off lid to investigate. Liquid absolutely still. No sign of fermentation and no krausen. Looks like it did before we'd even pitched the yeast and has some murky cloudiness. Biggest observation is the rotten vegetable/skunky smell hitting my nostrils. To the forums!

Hey bernardsmith,

thanks so much for such helpful responses. Starting to get a really good picture on where we may have gone wrong.

One quick note: We were in general following Ken Schraam's 'Don't Cry For Me Spargentina' braggot recipe, which seems to have left out quite a bit on fundamental brewing steps. However, it does specify to boil the extract and hops together. I hadn't realized you don't normally need to boil extract, so very helpful to know!

Not everytime, but occasionally. I know Star San is no rinse, but still feel a bit squirrly about adding suds into my mead. Does it introduce potential contamination by rinsing?

Good points on the Star San, and I've done enough research over the last couple days that I see no reason to rinse it off anymore.
Well, the poor ol' braggot went down the sink last night, and I've got the ingredients for a do-over all ready to go! I'll try a one gal batch this time, just in case. Darn honey is expensive!

We'll boil just the hops this time for 45 mins and add the malt in the last 15. We've got a couple bags of ice to fill the sink too, to cool the kettle down ASAP. Other than that, I guess the last big difference we'll try is to just aerate it once, after pitching, and let the Beer Gods take over after that.

A couple last minute questions for you fine folks:

1) Would you recommend nixing the staggered nutrient addition for this simple braggot?

2)Our last batch, during it's best days had such a thick krausen sitting on top; is it best to leave it be and not stir it into the batch? I've heard this can be problematic as well.

Thanks!