Plain ol' American Braggot

I promised that I'd post the recipe for the braggot that I put into the NHC, so here it is.

O.G. 1.098
F.G. 1.032

6 lbs Extra light DME
6 lbs Clover honey
1 lb Honey malt

1 oz Cascade 6.3% 60min
.5 oz cascade 6.3% 30 min
.5 oz cascade 6.3% 2 min

Wyeast 1272 American Ale II activator pack (no starter)
Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast (for bottling)

This was a partial boil. I heated 3 gals of spring water to 155F and then steeped the honey malt for 30 mins. After removing the grains add the DME and bring to a boil. Boil for 60 mins and hop as listed above. Add the honey with 15 min remaining in the boil. After the boil, chill wort/must to below 80F and rack into primary. Top off to 5 gals and pitch yeast. Ferment at ~74F for 25 days.

Rack to secondary and leave it condition for another 5 months also ~74F. In the secondary there were times that the temp got as low as 68F during the winter.

Rehydrate a 5 gram package of the Red Star champagne yeast and add that to the secondary at the end of the 5 months. I gave it a day or two before I bottled just incase fermentation took off again because of the high F.G. Because nothing happened I bottled it. It was in the bottles for about 3 or 4 months when the judges tasted it. I'd say that it'll fully peak after about 6 months in the bottles, but I'm saving some to age much longer than that.

Note: I boiled it for 60 mins, but I used an eletric turkey fryer to do it. Because of the direct heating from the element being in the wort/must, I think that some caramelization of the DME must have occured. So I'd suggest at least a 90 min boil after adding the DME, but still follow the hop schedule.

Well, I think that's everything. If anyone needs any more info, let me know.