106 replies to this topic

[armagh]

Hi, I'm a bit confused... ( yeah thats another story )

 

Anyway I thought a group brew was we ALL brew and use the same recipe. Am I delusional?

 

No, you're not delusional.  You're among a geographically disparate group of iconoclasts.  Blueberry/blackberry season is on where I live.  Strawberries are long gone and peaches are up next.  Given the choice, I will always opt for whole fruit over juices/concentrates.  If cherries grew here, I'd use them when the came around, but they don't so I'm SOL.

[StankDelicious]

I'm in on this one. Never made a braggot before.

 

Gonna give the Chocolate Aphrodisiac, Wrathwilde a shot too.

[StankDelicious]

I liked it when Hightest ran these things. He'd show up and say "we're doing a group brew, here's the recipe."

Then get to dictating, mister.

[armagh]

I liked it when Hightest ran these things. He'd show up and say "we're doing a group brew, here's the recipe."

50/50, and you're misremembering.  There were extended conversations about the recipe formulation prior to sign-off by participants in all the HT group brews in which I participated.  The value in HT's efforts were the tracking of individual results for all to witness, which made it a learning experience for those involved.  Some twerp saying "this is what we're going to do" isn't going to fly.

[eldernerd]

50/50, and you're misremembering.  There were extended conversations about the recipe formulation prior to sign-off by participants in all the HT group brews in which I participated.  The value in HT's efforts were the tracking of individual results for all to witness, which made it a learning experience for those involved.  Some twerp saying "this is what we're going to do" isn't going to fly.

Learning experience and something great to drink... Win Win for everyone.

Edited by eldernerd, 18 June 2013 - 04:50 PM.

[eldernerd]

twerp also twirp  (twûrp)

n. Slang

A person regarded as insignificant and contemptible.

 

To whom are you refering?

[Mya]

Triple 7 Braggot?

 

7 pounds of Fruit, Honey, Malt each?

[neddles]

Triple 7 Braggot?

 

7 pounds of Fruit, Honey, Malt each?

Thats as good a starting point as any.

 

I have no experience with braggot, making or drinking, so I wouldn't really know where to go with it. Carbonated or still? Hopped or not? Do we need to achieve a minimum ABV so that we can secondary on some fruit without sulfating or is campden a given in this situation? What fruit goes well with saison yeast? Have we settled on saison yeast? Maybe a base recipe we all stick to and each brewer goes freestyle on the fruit based on preference and availability of fresh fruit.

 

Maybe armagh's recipe is a good place to start. Im pretty sure he's made stuff like this before no?

 

I never had the deep blue braggot. How was it?

[armagh]

twerp also twirp  (twûrp)

n. Slang

A person regarded as insignificant and contemptible.

 

To whom are you refering?

No one.

[armagh]

Thats as good a starting point as any.

 

I have no experience with braggot, making or drinking, so I wouldn't really know where to go with it. Carbonated or still? Hopped or not? Do we need to achieve a minimum ABV so that we can secondary on some fruit without sulfating or is campden a given in this situation? What fruit goes well with saison yeast? Have we settled on saison yeast? Maybe a base recipe we all stick to and each brewer goes freestyle on the fruit based on preference and availability of fresh fruit.

 

Maybe armagh's recipe is a good place to start. Im pretty sure he's made stuff like this before no?

 

I never had the deep blue braggot. How was it?

I believe a number of posters here did a group brew involving HT's deep blue braggot.  I wasn't involved in that particular one (recipe is on the recipe page), but a braggot usually gets made every other year or so at my house.  The idea of using WY3711 (no WLP equivalent) sprang from a metheglyn I made.

[Genesee Ted]

One comment regarding hops in a braggot:  they age out.  

 

A small bittering charge perhaps and maybe a flavor addition, but aroma and dry hops especially will fade quickly and sometimes even add oxidized off flavors over time.  

 

This is not to say that you can't use hops obviously, just something to consider.  

[armagh]

Seem to have gone a little overboard at the U-pick place.  Sitting on 12 lbs blueberries, 10 lbs blackberries.  Thinking about going with 8 lbs of each and ending up with a two-berry braggot.  I believe that is going to leave me a little light on the malt side, so I need to adjust.

[Genesee Ted]

Dude throw 'em all in!

[armagh]

Dude throw 'em all in!

There's that balance thing: fruit/malt/honey.  That much fruit might drown out everything else, no?  Thinking more along the lines of 8-10 lbs malt and a little lighter on the honey.

[Genesee Ted]

I hear you.  I haven't ever had a mel with too much fruit though.  Personally, I am limited to how much cash I am willing to expend on a batch vs how much of the final product ends up "for the homies" mixed up with all that fruit at the bottom of the fermenter.  

[armagh]

 I haven't ever had a mel with too much fruit though.  Personally, I am limited to how much cash I am willing to expend on a batch vs how much of the final product ends up "for the homies" mixed up with all that fruit at the bottom of the fermenter.  

Making braggot, so it can't be completely about the fruit.  As far as volume loss, when it comes time to rack the wort/must off the fruit, I take the leftover fruit, pour it into a mesh strained bag and suspend it in a sanitized fermenting bucket for a while.  Can yield a fair bit of juice to add back to the racked must/wort.

[Mya]

There's that balance thing: fruit/malt/honey.  That much fruit might drown out everything else, no?  Thinking more along the lines of 8-10 lbs malt and a little lighter on the honey.

the balance was what was behind my triple 7 suggestion, other than just the catchy name

[armagh]

the balance was what was behind my triple 7 suggestion, other than just the catchy name

I figured that's what you meant.  I reread the BJCP guilelines on Braggot and it does address balance of the elements.  I suppose because of the fruit addition this would technically be an open category mead, but if the underlying variant is Braggot, I figured I should at least start there.  Ah well, off to the NC mountains tomorrow.  I'll wrestle with this on return.

[eldernerd]

Hi everyone, I picked 18 lbs of blueberries yesterday and froze them, blackberrers are not for a few more weeks here. I'm rather curious as to what brew the group will select. Being this my first group brew.

 

EWW Your ideas and suggestions  would help this Mead NewBee a lot. hey after all you had this great Idea to make a brew we all could be proud of.

[eldernerd]

I'm actually planning to do a peach ginger melomel soon. I happen to have peaches in the freezer but I'm guessing nobody else is going to have any.

See how a few months changes things. I picked some peaches today! 

 

I'm thinking of trying the peach ginger recipe from Kens book.

 

Still have no idea if this group brew is on...  kinda like a stuck fermentation.

 

Soon the summer fruits will only exist in our freezers! And like good freezer keepers we rotate our stock often.

Is ANYONE still interested?