Honey Malt in place of crystal?

**terrapinj** · 03-30-2011, 02:10 AM

most recipes i've seen have crystal in the grain bill and I was thinking of using some honey malt ~ 1/2 lb in place of any crystal at all - this is for a partial mash IPA that will be hop bursted with centennial, columbus and citra

will 1/2lb provide enough residual sweetness?

Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.070 SG
Estimated Color: 9.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 78.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

6 lbs Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 51.06 %
2 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 17.02 %
2 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 17.02 %
8.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.26 %
4.0 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 2.13 %
1 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 8.51 %

0.50 oz Centennial [9.20 %] (60 min) Hops 12.9 IBU
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.40 %] (60 min) Hops 20.3 IBU
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.40 %] (20 min) Hops 6.1 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.20 %] (20 min) Hops 3.9 IBU
0.25 oz Citra [11.00 %] (20 min) Hops 4.7 IBU
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.40 %] (15 min) Hops 5.0 IBU
0.25 oz Citra [11.00 %] (15 min) Hops 3.8 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (15 min) Hops 3.5 IBU
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (15 min) Hops 4.9 IBU
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.40 %] (10 min) Hops 3.7 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.20 %] (10 min) Hops 2.3 IBU
0.25 oz Citra [11.00 %] (10 min) Hops 2.8 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.20 %] (5 min) Hops 1.3 IBU
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.40 %] (5 min) Hops 2.0 IBU
0.25 oz Citra [11.00 %] (5 min) Hops 1.5 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.20 %] (0 min) Hops -
0.25 oz Citra [11.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.40 %] (0 min) Hops -
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 Hops -
1.00 oz Citra [11.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -

1 Pkgs Pacman (Rogue) (Wyeast Labs #1764) [StarteYeast-Ale

**jtakacs** · 03-30-2011, 02:27 AM

do you own any hops that don't begin in "c"? lol...

my two favorite beers are IPA and sour red/browns ala flanders/flemish style and i dig honey malt in my IPA... just did one with nothing but 2-row and honey malt... to me it adds the mouthfeel and sweetness of crystal without as much color and no caramel taste. i don't want caramel in my ipa frankly...

its not in bottle yet, but pre-ferm it tasted awesome and you could certainly grab a honey-esque taste out of it.

**terrapinj** · 03-30-2011, 02:34 AM

lol

i just bottled a simcoe/amarillo ipa

about to bottle a Cali common with Northern Brewer

trying to use different hops for now to see what i like - i realize that with 3 hops it will be hard to tell what contributes what but the 3 sound like they would pair well together

thanks for the feedback on the honey malt

**JLem** · 03-30-2011, 02:44 AM

I've used honey malt in a lot of my beers. I agree that it imparts sweetness without the caramel character. Because of the sweetness, I tend to treat it like I would any crystal/caramel malt so I use it as a substitute for some (or all) of the crystal malt and not in addition to the crystal malt. So, if I want to limit the percentage of crystal malt in a beer (which I always do), I include honey malt in that calculation.

manortc · 03-30-2011, 12:02 PM

And just FYI, LME has crystal/caramel malts in it. I haven't used Honey malts, but from what I read, 1/2 to 1 lb is what you want to use for a 5 gal batch.

dcp27 · 03-30-2011, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manortc

And just FYI, LME has crystal/caramel malts in it. I haven't used Honey malts, but from what I read, 1/2 to 1 lb is what you want to use for a 5 gal batch.

in light and extra light LME its only carapils and a small amount.

like everyone else said, just treat the honey malt like any other crystal

CaptYesterday · 03-30-2011, 10:35 PM

8 oz in a 1.070 gravity batch will leave plenty of sweetness.

I used a half lb in an IPA that fermented from 1.075 down to 1.012 and it balanced out the bitterness pretty nicely in my opinion. Of course that's subjective. I submitted that IPA to a competition and a judge commented that I needed to work on my attenuation because there was too much residual sweetness.

Grantman1 · 03-31-2011, 01:35 AM

I've been wanting to include honey malt in my IPAs, particularly in a summer APA i'm putting together, and I too have been trying to figure out how much is the right amount for me. I know everyone's preference is different, but the consensus I've found seems to be anything over 1/2 lb per 5 gal batch is overpowering. I like a dry beer in general; what I'm looking for is a slight residual honey flavor and only a very small amount of sweetness for balance if I'm putting together a real hop bomb. Maybe start with 4oz and go from there?

**-TH-** · 08-23-2011, 03:04 AM

I'm wondering if there are any updates to how these beers turned out. I'm looking to make an IPA with honey malt. BTW I am noticing the less I use crystal malts, the more I like the results.

**JLem** · 08-23-2011, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -TH-

I'm wondering if there are any updates to how these beers turned out. I'm looking to make an IPA with honey malt. BTW I am noticing the less I use crystal malts, the more I like the results.

I am with you on the crystal malt - my favorite beers have been the ones where I have used less than 5% crystal malt. I recently brewed an American Amber with 10% crystal malt and, even though this style is supposed to have a nice caramel/crystal malt presence, I felt like it was too much.