At a glance
- Style
- Braggot
- Alcohol
- About 8.7% ABV
- Finish
- Off-dry
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Honey
- Wildflower or clover
- Yeast
- Safale S-04
- Ready in
- 2 to 3 months
- Batch
- 1 gallon, scalable
Ingredients
Quantities are for one US gallon (3.8 liters). Pick a batch size and every amount updates; one packet of yeast covers up to six gallons. Not sure how much honey your own twist needs? Use the mead calculator.
- 1 lb Light dried malt extract (DME)
- 1 lb Honey, wildflower or clover (added after the boil)
- 0.25 oz East Kent Goldings hops (about 5% alpha acid) (bittering, 60 minutes)
- 0.25 oz East Kent Goldings hops (aroma, at flameout)
- 1.25 gallons Water (some boils off; top up to 1 gallon after chilling)
- 1 packet Safale S-04 ale yeast (about 5 g for 1 gallon; a full 11.5 g packet covers 5 gallons)
- 2 g Fermaid O yeast nutrient (split into 2 doses; the malt supplies most of the nitrogen)
- 1 oz Honey for priming
Equipment
- Stockpot of at least 2 gallons
- Hop bag or fine strainer
- Ice bath (sink or cooler) for chilling
- 2-gallon bucket with airlock
- Hydrometer
- Auto-siphon
- Ten 12 oz beer bottles, caps and a capper, or swing-top bottles
New to this? Our mead making kit checklist covers what each piece does and what you can skip.
Step-by-step method
-
Dissolve the extract
Bring 1.25 gallons of water to a boil, turn off the heat and stir in the DME until there are no lumps. Adding extract to rolling water makes it clump and boil over. Bring it back to a boil and watch closely: the wort foams up in the first few minutes (the hot break). Lower the heat until the foam drops back.
-
Bittering hops
Once the foam subsides, add the first 0.25 oz of East Kent Goldings in a hop bag and boil for 60 minutes. That gives roughly 20 IBU, enough to balance the malt and honey without tasting like a pale ale.
-
Honey and aroma hops at flameout
Turn off the heat, lift out the bittering hops and stir in the honey and the second 0.25 oz of hops. Let it stand 10 minutes. The wort is still far above 160°F (71°C), hot enough to sanitize the honey without boiling off its aroma.
-
Chill fast
Set the pot in an ice bath and stir until the wort is below 70°F (21°C), ideally within 30 to 45 minutes. Strain it into the sanitized bucket and top up with cold water to 1 gallon. The gravity should read about 1.078.
-
Pitch the yeast
Sprinkle about 5 g of S-04 on the surface, or rehydrate it in 50 ml of lukewarm water for 15 minutes first. Fit the airlock and keep it at 62 to 66°F (17 to 19°C). Warmer than that, English ale yeast gets fruity and a little solvent-like.
-
Light nutrients
Malt wort already carries the amino acids yeast need; only the honey half is short. Add 1 g of Fermaid O at 24 hours and 1 g at 48 hours, degassing gently first.
-
Let it finish
Fermentation takes about 2 weeks. When the gravity holds steady near 1.010 to 1.012 for three days, give it a few more days to clean up, then chill it for a few days if you can to settle the yeast.
-
Prime and bottle
Dissolve 1 oz of honey in a few tablespoons of hot water, cool it and stir it gently into the braggot as you rack it off the yeast. Bottle into beer bottles or swing-tops and cap.
-
Carbonate and age
Keep the bottles at 68 to 72°F (20 to 22°C) for 2 to 3 weeks, then refrigerate one to test. It is good at 2 to 3 months and often better at 6, as the honey and malt knit together.
Timeline
- Day 0Boil, add honey, chill, pitch
- Days 1 to 2Two small nutrient additions
- Weeks 2 to 3Fermentation finishes
- Week 3Prime and bottle
- Weeks 4 to 6Bottle conditioning
- Months 2 to 3Drink; better at 6 months
Why this recipe works
Extract instead of all-grain keeps it simple. Light DME gives a predictable 42 to 45 gravity points per pound per gallon with no mash; this recipe assumes 43. One pound of DME plus one pound of honey (35 points) gives about 1.078. Take a reading anyway: extracts and honeys vary.
Equal weights of honey and malt keep both recognizable. Honey ferments almost completely and adds aroma and dryness; malt leaves unfermentable dextrins that give body and the finishing gravity of about 1.012. Push the honey much higher and it drinks like a thin, cidery mead; push the malt higher and it is a honey beer.
The hops are there for balance, not character. About 20 IBU of an earthy, floral English hop sits well beside honey. Big citrusy American hops can bury the honey entirely, which is why they appear only as a variation.
S-04 is an English ale yeast that ferments quickly and cleanly at cool ale temperatures, drops out hard so the braggot clears fast, and leaves a little malt sweetness. Its alcohol tolerance comfortably covers a 9% braggot. Because the malt feeds the yeast, this is the one recipe on the site that needs only a light nutrient dose.
Variations
- Dark braggot: steep 2 oz of crushed crystal 60L and 1 oz of chocolate malt in the water at 150 to 160°F (66 to 71°C) for 30 minutes before adding the extract.
- Hoppy braggot: swap to Cascade for both additions and dry hop another 0.25 oz for 3 to 5 days before bottling.
- Buckwheat braggot: use buckwheat honey for a darker, earthy, molasses-edged version that stands up to the malt.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| It boiled over when the extract went in | Always add extract off the heat, and turn the heat down during the hot break. A spray bottle of water knocks down rising foam. |
| It tastes sharp or cidery | Usually too much honey for the malt, or a fermentation that ran warm. A few months in the bottle helps. Next time keep the 1:1 ratio and the temperature below 66°F. |
| Still flat after 3 weeks | The bottles are too cold. Move them to about 70°F (21°C) and give them another week or two. |
More mead recipes to try
- Session mead (hydromel) recipe: Half the honey, a clean ale yeast and a crisp finish. Drinkable in six weeks, excellent sparkling.
- Bochet (caramelized honey mead) recipe: Honey cooked to dark caramel before it ferments. Toffee, marshmallow and dark fruit.
- Viking-style mead recipe: Raw honey, tart northern berries, juniper and optional bog myrtle. Rustic, and honest about the history.
More specialty mead recipes: Acerglyn (maple mead).
Or browse all our mead recipes. If this is your first batch, start with the traditional mead recipe or the step-by-step guide to making honey wine.
Frequently asked questions
What is a braggot?
A fermented drink made from both honey and malted grain, usually with hops. The name comes from the Welsh bragod, and Chaucer mentions bragot alongside mead in The Canterbury Tales.
Is braggot a beer or a mead?
Both, which is the point. Competitions such as those judged under the BJCP guidelines treat it as a specialty mead, but it drinks like a strong beer with a honey backbone.
Can I make braggot without all-grain equipment?
Yes. Dried or liquid malt extract replaces the mash, so all you need is a stockpot, some hops and normal mead gear.
How long does braggot take to make?
About 2 to 3 months: 2 to 3 weeks fermenting, 2 to 3 weeks carbonating in the bottle, then a few weeks of conditioning. It keeps improving for about 6 months.
How strong is this braggot?
About 8.5 to 9% ABV once the priming honey has fermented, similar to a Belgian strong ale.