How does this Honey Wheat look?

kornbread · 04-10-2009, 03:54 PM

I'm wanting to make an American Wheat for our beach vacation this June. ( I can't wait!

)

I found an extract recipe for a "honey wheat" that looks pretty good. But, I wanted to do an All-Grain version.

After playing around with Beer Calculus:

OG: 1.048 (1.043 – 1.050)
FG: 1.012 (1.010 – 1.013)
- Based upon 80% efficiency
IBUs: 17.7
ABV: 4.8%
Cal: 175 per 12 Oz.

Grain Bill:
3 Lb 10 Oz. Marris Otter (British pale)
3 Lb 6 Oz. Wheat Malt
1 Lb. Munich Malt
11 Ozs Honey (Added @ Flameout)

Hops:
:45 0.5 Oz. Perle (8.0%)
:15 1.0 Oz. Mt Hood (4.2%)

Yeast: Nottingham

I'm going to keg this but I'm toying with the idea of bottling a couple of sixers with some Blueberry extract.

Any thoughts?
Improvements?
Advice?
Etc.

Thanks for looking.

Oldsock · 04-10-2009, 07:12 PM

It looks pretty good, but I would add a bit of honey malt to boost the honey flavor and give it some more residual sweetness. I would also consider adding the honey to the primary after it has a few days to ferment, the less heat/fermentation the honey goes through the more of its flavor will survive.

What sort of honey are you going to use? I would suggest getting it as local and dark as you can, the clover stuff from the supermarket doesn’t have much flavor to it. I went with 1.5 lbs of local orange blossom honey in a wheat a few weeks back and it is certainly headed in the right direction.

kornbread · 04-11-2009, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oldsock

It looks pretty good, but I would add a bit of honey malt to boost the honey flavor and give it some more residual sweetness.

I've never used honey malt. Any suggestions on the amount for a 5.5 Gal batch? I don't want to make it too sweet.

SnickASaurusRex · 04-11-2009, 03:19 AM

.5 lbs is great for a nice honey flavor. The problem with using just honey is that the flavors fade significantly. The honey malt just keeps on tasting like honey down to the last drop.

tfries · 04-11-2009, 03:47 AM

My wife makes Bob G's Honey wheat regularly. Nice refreshing summer beer. It is pretty close to the recipe you came up with.

She has also made Skotrats B52 which is a bigger version of a honey wheat. Do a search for that and you will find it.

Bob's Honey Wheat

kornbread · 04-11-2009, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tfries

My wife makes Bob G's Honey wheat regularly. Nice refreshing summer beer. It is pretty close to the recipe you came up with.

She has also made Skotrats B52 which is a bigger version of a honey wheat. Do a search for that and you will find it.

Bob's Honey Wheat

I noticed that both of the recipes that you mentioned call for a 90 Min. mash. (I was planning 60.) Does your wife do the 90 min mash/ 90 min boil?

If so, I'm wondering what the benefit of the longer times would be?

tfries · 04-11-2009, 04:03 PM

We used to always do a 90 minute mash. Lately we have started to do a 60 minute mash on our normal OG beers and have not really found any difference. I would still do a longer mash in a bigger OG beer, like around 1.095 and above.

kornbread · 05-10-2009, 02:16 PM

I brewed a ten gallon batch of the honey wheat yesterday. My LHBS didn't carry Honey Malt. He said that he'd only ever had a couple of people ask for it. So I substituted some 10L. If It turns out to be a good beer, and I decide to make it again, I'll order ingredients online next time. I'd really like to try the honey malt.

Anyhow, here's the final recipe that I ended up using:

10 Gal Batch:

7 Lbs. British Pearl Malt (The guy was sold out of Marris Otter. I've never used pearl before. I hope it's a good substitute.)
7 Lbs. Wheat malt
2 Lbs Munich
1 Lb. Crystal 10L
1.5 Lbs. of fresh local honey. (I added the honey at flame out before I turned the chiller on.

1.5 Oz perle (8.2%) @ :60
1.0 Oz Mt. Hood (4.0%) @ :15

Pitched with Nottingham (dry)

OG: 1.051

Wish me luck. (If it sucks, I've got to choke down 10 gallons of the stuff.)