Honey Brown Ale not Honey Enough?

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efreem01

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Hey all,

I brewed a mini-mash Honey Brown Ale kit from Austin Homebrew about three weeks ago. On saturday makes two full weeks in the secondary and i'm going to bottle it. A few days ago while taking a gravity reading (~1.016) i noticed that most of the honey taste has either been boiled off or fermented out. From reading legacy posts on HBT, i think this is a problem with the delicate flavor of honey.

Anyways, to try and recapture more of a honey taste i was considering priming this batch with Honey. Figuring out how much honey to use isn't a problem with all the carb calculators on the net. Do you think this would reclaim some of that honey flavor that was lost?

This is my first brew with liquid yeast as well. Until this batch i've only used danstar windsor ale yeast. I'm starting to get comfortable enough with brewing to experiment.
 
From what I've read the best way to get honey flavor in a beer is with honey malt as honey ferments too completely. Priming with honey can't hurt but I wouldn't expect too much more honey flavor with the finished product.
Craig
 
I had the same feeling as you when I made a honey ale. Priming with honey doesn't add any more honey flavour and it takes forever to carbonate fully. As was mentioned, honey malt is the best bet for honey flavour and then just prime normally with dextrose. I would still add honey to your recipe though as it adds a nice smell that the malt just doesn't give you (in my experience anyway).
 
I have extensive knowledge on this subject!

Honey ferments out pretty much completely, and leaves very little honey character--especially if you boil it or add it to the fermenter.

I've found that honey is accentuated if you use honey malt and honey together. I made a pretty strong honey pale ale that indeed had a honey taste to it, even behind all of the hops. Go very light on teh honey malt! No more than a half pound!

I also caramelized the honey slightly before I added it to the boil, and I added it very late in the boil as well. That seems to accentuate it a little bit.
 
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