Braggot Mead

Greetings all! The wife has the camera with her so no photos on this post.

Last week I started planning a Braggot Mead which is malt and honey, so think beer and honey with wine yeast.

So on with the recipe first!

500g Bush Honey
500g Rose Garden Honey
800g Pale Malt Grain
200g Light Crystal Grain
8 Cloves
2 Tea Bags
6 Liters filtered water
1 Demijohn
2 Pots
1 tea spoon Wine yeast
1 tea spoon Yeast Nutrient

So! I thought, I have all this left over grain and all this left over honey why not do a Braggot! It sounds cool Braggot. Go ahead give it a roll off the tong. BraaaaGOT!

So! I diverted from the normal school of thought that you boil the honey! Most mead recipes seem to come from beer makers and the boil is essential for killing off all bacteria and the work it does with the proteins. However! Like my other posts about mead I prescribe to the 68 degrees for 22 minutes for the honey to kill of the organisms that live in honey, but this deviates from beer making; So I combined the procedures into one limbo dance of justice and peace.

1. Poor your 5L of water into the first pot and bring to 75C.

2. Dump your grains in - I use a Brew Bag (google it)

3. Check the temp is about 65, insulate the pot if you can with towles etc. Check ever 15 minutes until 90 minutes have passed.

4. Heat the remaining 1L of water in the 2nd pot and sparge with the last 1L of water (Poor the water over the grains)into the first pot.

5. Bring to a rolling boil

6. Add cloves

7. 60 minutes later remove from heat and measure the temperature carefully! When it reaches 68C add the honey

8. Insulate and check every 3-5 minutes for 22 minutes.

9. While you are checking the Braggot wort - make up a tea cup of yeast, yeast nutrient and filtered water and let warm near pot. This gets the yeast party started early!

10. After 22 minutes aerate the wort. I don't own a aerator yet so I did the trick of pouring the wort between the two pots back and forth over and over and over and over till my arms fell off.

11. Add to demijohn and cool the wort down to 24-25C

12. Add your yeast party and top with an air lock!

13. Mark your calendar for 8 weeks, put it in the brew fridge and forget about it

This mead should be a spicy and full body wine. It might not fit the Australian climate but until it's brewed and aged we will never know!