Pale Braggot
Mead meets beer: malt extract and a touch of hops under the honey. Bready, floral, and drinkable young.
Pale Braggot is a semi-dry braggot made with clover honey and Safale US-05 yeast, fermented from an original gravity of 1.088 to 1.015 for about 9.6% ABV. It is drinkable in 2–4 months.
- Original gravity
- 1.088
- Final gravity
- 1.015
- ABV
- 9.6%
- Drinkable in
- 2–4 months
Ingredients
Amounts are for a 1-gallon batch.
| 1.25 lb | Clover honey |
| 1 lb | Light dry malt extract |
| 0.25 oz | Saaz hopsOr any low-bitterness noble hop. |
| to volume | WaterTo 1 gallon total. |
| 2.5 g | Safale US-05 yeastA clean ale yeast. |
| 1.5 g | Fermaid-OTwo additions are enough with malt in the mix. |
Method
Boil the maltBoil the malt extract in half a gallon of water for 15 minutes with the hops.
Add honey off the heatTurn off the heat, stir in the honey, then cool and top up to 1 gallon.
FermentPitch at 62–66 °F. Add nutrients at 24 and 48 hours.
FinishBottle still, or prime with 0.25 oz corn sugar per gallon for a lightly sparkling braggot.
Brewer's note. Darker extracts (amber or Munich) push it toward a malty, almost barleywine-like braggot.
Recipe by White Shed Meadery, Chehalis, Washington. ABV is estimated from gravity: (OG − FG) × 131.25. Scale every ingredient in proportion for larger batches.