Hi! First post here.
I decided to try my first braggot about two weeks ago. I have brewed a number of beers, some fruit wines, and a few variations on a ginger/vanilla/cinnamon metheglin. I have recently got back into brewing, but didn't want to make huge batches. So, I am putting my 6 gallon carboys aside, and started several 1 gallon "experimental" batches.
One of these batches is a braggot with the following ingredients/methods:
(***originally a 1 gallon recipe-more to follow)
1 lb extra light DME
2.4 lb local (From near Salina, KS) honey
1 tsp urea yeast nutrient
0.5 tsp "yeast energizer"
Walmart "Spring" water
0.5 oz Cascade hops (plus another 0.5 to dry hop later in theory)
Safale US-05 Dry yeast packet
I am trying to avoid too much bitterness, and I also believe in the "no (or minimal) heat mead philosophy". So I boiled the DME in some water for 40 minutes and added all the hops at 30 minutes. Cooled the mix and added to the honey. Pitched whole packet of yeast.
It took off well and bubbled consistently for about 10 days. I did not take an O.G. reading. Theoretical O.G. 1.1265. I have since realized that I did not really want to make a 12.4% ABV final result. I found a thread about "high gravity brewing" in which brews are made at high gravity and then diluted down to some lower gravity. So, I racked to another jug and split the one gallon equally into two one gallon jugs. Added more spring water (without boiling - decided to risk the resulting oxidation) to bring both jugs to one gallon each. Oddly, the original jug has kept bubbling for some time, but he new jug has not been. I now think that the more dense material was not stirred up enough in the first jug, and probably had the bulk of the remaining sugars.
The last couple of days a few patches of small bubbles have made a "spotty" appearance to the top of the braggot.
1.) Should I be concerned about infection?
2.) Has anyone done any dilutions of this magnitude (around 50%)?
3.0 Any thoughts on when/how long to dry hop?
I decided to try my first braggot about two weeks ago. I have brewed a number of beers, some fruit wines, and a few variations on a ginger/vanilla/cinnamon metheglin. I have recently got back into brewing, but didn't want to make huge batches. So, I am putting my 6 gallon carboys aside, and started several 1 gallon "experimental" batches.
One of these batches is a braggot with the following ingredients/methods:
(***originally a 1 gallon recipe-more to follow)
1 lb extra light DME
2.4 lb local (From near Salina, KS) honey
1 tsp urea yeast nutrient
0.5 tsp "yeast energizer"
Walmart "Spring" water
0.5 oz Cascade hops (plus another 0.5 to dry hop later in theory)
Safale US-05 Dry yeast packet
I am trying to avoid too much bitterness, and I also believe in the "no (or minimal) heat mead philosophy". So I boiled the DME in some water for 40 minutes and added all the hops at 30 minutes. Cooled the mix and added to the honey. Pitched whole packet of yeast.
It took off well and bubbled consistently for about 10 days. I did not take an O.G. reading. Theoretical O.G. 1.1265. I have since realized that I did not really want to make a 12.4% ABV final result. I found a thread about "high gravity brewing" in which brews are made at high gravity and then diluted down to some lower gravity. So, I racked to another jug and split the one gallon equally into two one gallon jugs. Added more spring water (without boiling - decided to risk the resulting oxidation) to bring both jugs to one gallon each. Oddly, the original jug has kept bubbling for some time, but he new jug has not been. I now think that the more dense material was not stirred up enough in the first jug, and probably had the bulk of the remaining sugars.
The last couple of days a few patches of small bubbles have made a "spotty" appearance to the top of the braggot.
1.) Should I be concerned about infection?
2.) Has anyone done any dilutions of this magnitude (around 50%)?
3.0 Any thoughts on when/how long to dry hop?
