rebelred

Recipes 

Hi
I am wondering if in a ale kit if i substitute some of the sugars i need to add with honey..I am brewing a pale ale....how will it effect the fermentation / end taste...or am i better off using normal sugar( white or brown)...any ther tips of fermentables that one could get from a helath shop/ regular store ?

david_42

Recipes 

Honey is better than table sugar from a flavor standpoint, but more malt extract is best. Some stores have rice syrup, which is useful to maintain the ABV without changing the taste. There is a beverage called bracket or braggot, which is half malt/half honey. I haven't run into one, though.

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loopmd

Recipes 

I use honey regularly, usually adding 1 or 2 lbs per batch, in addition to everything in the kit. So I wouldn't substitute it for anything, rather to enhance the kit. Honey is extremely fermentable and it will jack up your a.b.v. It does not do too much in the sense of flavor as stated previously, it almost completely ferments into alcohol!

cheers, Loop

RichBrewer

Recipes 

If you want to brew a true pale ale you are better of substituting malt extract for the sugar. Your beer will be MUCH better.

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Cheers,
Rich

the_bird

Recipes 

Ok, asked this question elsewhere, didn't get much response.

What about pure maple syrup with a red ale? Not to replace anything, but to add some flavor. If anyone has any experience with this, I would *love* it if they would give me some insight on my other post (don't want to hijack this too much or create a duplicate post)...

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/making-red-ale-kit-little-more-interesting-10348/

Cheesefood

Recipes 

When we talk about sugars, we're not talking about the white or brown stuff you make cookies with. The sugars of which we speak are from malted grains. It's a different kind of sugar prepared in a diffent way.

Honey doesn't taste like honey when it's fermented. If you want a honey flavor, you're better off adding honey at bottling time but even then its risky since it could ferment and cause bombs.

Finally, a pale ale is a bad choice for honey. Use honey in maltier beers, not heavily hopped beers. I think a few people may agree with me on this point.

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