Chocolate malt only in a braggot?

[Onihige]

I've been thinking of making a mini batch (ca 2 liter, max) of braggot using only chocolate malt.

Probably one part chocolate wort and two parts mead. Then back sweeten it a whole lot, to counterbalance the bitterness.

Thinking it'll either come out horrible, or friggin' awesome. But I haven't stepped into all grain brewing on my beers yet, so I don't have much experience using grains - so any suggestion?

I also have Swedish smoked malt and an unknown crystal malt. Though, the smoked malt is way too overpowering. 100 grams in a 23 liter partial mash became almost undrinkable.

 

[commonsenseman]

If I were you, I'd add some base malt to that recipe. I bet it will be very thin & very bitter with 1/3 coming from Chocolate Malt. Also, I believe to convert chocolate you'd need the enzymes from a base malt anyway. So it would probably add next to no fermentable sugars without something there to convert it.

For a 2 liter batch size, I'd look at something like .5lbs Marris Otter Malt & 1oz Chocolate Malt. That should be about 29 gravity points from the malt.

If you don't have the resources/knowledge to do it all-grain, just steep the Chocolate, then boil with about 1/3lb of Light Dry Malt Extract to achieve the same gravity.

Just my suggestion, but as always do what you want & be sure to post the results!

 

[Onihige]

I currently don't have any base malts, or any DME. And I'm not really looking for fermentables in the chocolate malt, just the taste. Your advice is sound, so I'll might try it later. Or... maybe borrow some... man, even for a small experimental batch I can't decide what I want to do...

 

[biochemedic]

If you do a cold steep process with the chocolate malt, you should be able to extract a lot of the color and flavor with a minimum of bitterness...

I know I'm probably picking straws here, but I'd hesitate to call it a braggot without actual fermentables coming from the malt. Commonsenseman is correct -- you would need base malt as an enzyme source to mash/get fermentables from chocolate malt.

Regardless, I'd say give it a go...experimenting and trying new ideas is a big part of why many of us homebrew!

 

[bubbachunk]

If mashed at ~160 there is potential possible as a desert wine (fg=1.030). I would also want the abv to be ~13% myself to balance the sweetness there. Also some coco powder or nibs in the secondary could really make it pop.

Basically, thanks for the awesome idea!

Edit: Lastly a vanilla bean or two, depending on batch size, to round out the chocolate flavor and help with bitterness

 

[Onihige]

I just started it! Ca 50 gram dark DME, ca 50 gram chocolate malt and ca 3-400 gram of honey. Adjusted with additional honey (hence the ca value of the honey) and water until I hit an OG of 104. Great idea with the cocoa and vanilla bean, although I have no idea where to get vanilla beans... Will return with a picture later, my smartphone is being repaired so I have to get my hands on a regular digital camera.

Also, how about doing this with burnt honey? For the next experiment, maybe. I'm running out of honey though. xD