Braggot Yeast Question

Awesome, and thanks for reporting back!

I've been putting off brewing due to the weather, but should be at it soon. I just recently found a local place about 20 mins from me for the honey and purchased some NJ blueberry honey. It was the same price as wildflower, so I figured I'd give it a try as a nod to the Flying Fish braggot (though they add actual blueberries).

 

Looks like my local only has wyeast 1388 as opposed to WLP 545. That will have to due. Says it as a chance of stalling at around 1.030, but I'm thinking with a handful of honey feedings it should keep rocking. The only problem I see is the tolerence is noted at only 12% by wyeast, so I would be pushing past that. Forunately, I see mead makers have taken to using it with good results past 12.

 

Reporting back, 1388 didn’t seem to have a problem pushing past it’s listed tolerance, this guy finished at 1.008 which puts it around 15% abv.

I wound up doing two doses of honey a few days apart as fermentation slowed each time. Originally pitched at 65, let it raise to 68 and held until after the last honey dose when things were slowing down. Raised to 72, holding until kegging (that long mostly because I didn’t want any suck back as it dropped down to my cellar temp)

After a month in the bucket this is still very rough, as to be expected I suppose. Defiantly some heat, but I’m totally getting some honey character. The aroma is a little off, but my wife still had no problem finishing the half pint sample, suppose that’s good.

Hoping after some months of aging this comes together.

 

Couple more months have gone by, definitely tasting less hot and smoothing out. I may have packaged too soon though. It seemed just a tad bit too carbonated and foamy at room temp, so I took a sample. Seems it may have ticked down to 1.005ish, so a little fermentation in the keg (which is sitting kegged in my basement). Not too worried about that, I think that will work itself out when I finally carb it up in the kegerator. I do plan on lettting it sit for a couple more months or so before that happens.

The only thing that is still off to me is the aroma. I can’t put my finger on it, maybe because I’m used to just beer, this being my first braggot. Maybe it’s some sort of honey fermentation aroma? Any mead or braggot brewers out there care to comment on aroma?

I still need to find a commercial braggot to compare it to.

 

Oh, and just realized I never posted the final recipe. Went with a more simple one per the advise of @EvenMoreJesus.

12 lb Pils
6 lb Blueberry Blossom Honey (two 3 lb feedings in fermentor)
2 lb Turbinado (added to kettle)
1 oz. Perle @ 30
wyeast 1388

 

Figured I would report back on this now that the beer is roughly eight months old. I finally bottled it in mid-September.

As noted, this baby rings in at like 15% and while I can't say it hides it as well as some other high gravity beers, it has definitely mellowed out and is drinking nicely. Is it strong? Yes. Can you tell? I think so, but not in an unpleasant way. Despite the low FG, I'm still perceiving a touch of sweetness and can taste some of that Belgian yeast character peeking through.

I'm pretty sure the "odd" aroma/flavor I noted earlier is simply the honey aromatics coming through. I actually went to a jar of honey and gave it a big whiff and was like - yep, that's it. So I guess it just comes down to me not being familiar with mead and braggots specifically (I still need to actually buy something to compare it to, I'm not sure I know what it should even taste like).

Also, the gelatin, which I have rarely bothered to use over the years, worked wonders. Even after being in the fridge for months, it was still slightly cloudy. I added some gelatin and by the time I bottled, it was crystal clear. 1388 is definately a low floc yeast, even with the cold storage.

What this is not, is anything like Flying Fish Blueberry Braggot, which started me down this path. To me, theirs is simply a BIG Belgian strong. I have no idea just what ratio of honey they use, but I have a feeling it is much less than a typical "braggot" might have. The brewer did tell me they add the honey in the boil - and at the beginning to boot - I bet they are losing a lot of honey aromatics and flavor doing it that way as well.

And on a funny note, my wife gave a bottle to a coworker who sampled it with his own wife. We found out they rate people’s homebrew on Untappd (which I don't actually use) and found the review for my beer. "Strong and terrible. Like sweet poison," she said. Not her thing, I suppose. That gave me a good laugh and a pretty good name for the beer - Sweet Poison Braggot

I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops over the following months.

 

No problem, and funny you mentioned that, because I recently read a rant over at r/hombrewing on Reddit about this very thing. It actually reminded me about this thread. Figured I better report back considering the changes and time that had past. I wonder how many trimes people just completely forget about their original posts? This is a hobby that can take a month or more for results after all.

 

Sounds very interesting. I assume blending like this would yield different results in some way as opposed to just adding the same amount of honey to the wheat wine during fermentation? Two different yeasts characteristics for starters, I suppose. How do you go about the blending?

Thinking when I brew this braggot again, I will add aother malt element to it. The honey flavors just seem very foward to me and my first thought was to add a tad more maltiness. Maybe a just a touch of light munich and maybe a little more bitterness.