Hoppy Honey Wheat Pale Ale

Hello everyone. So, I've been brewing for a few months now and I finally decided I wanted to try my hand at a recipe. A local brewery makes a really good Honey IPA that hits around 100 IBU that my wife and I both really like. I decided I wanted to get a similar flavor, but I'm going to make it a Honey Wheat Pale Ale. I emailed the brewery to see what hops they use and they told me they do 3 charges of Cascade, Centennial, and Ahtanum during the boil, and then they dry hop with Cascade. Being new to creating my own recipe, I'm struggling with my hop schedule. I'm also curious what type of yeast you would use for something like this. What I'm really going for is a floral / citrus flavor and smell with a sweet honey flavor that cuts through the bitterness. Thanks for any help you can provide.


Recipe Specifications
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Recipe Type: Extract
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.068 SG
Estimated Color: 9.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 90.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 1 5.3 %
1 lbs Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 12 10.5 %
6 lbs Wheat Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 3 63.2 %
1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 14.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 9 13.8 IBUs
1.50 oz Ahtanum [6.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 16.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 11 1.8 IBUs
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
2 lbs Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 2 21.1 %
1.00 oz Ahtanum [6.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 8.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 7.6 IBUs
1.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 27.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Ahtanum [6.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 10 1.1 IBUs

Directions
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Bring water to 155 and steep Honey Malt for 20 minutes
Bring water to boil and add Wheat Liquid Extract (60 minutes)
Add 1.5 oz Cascade, Centennial, Ahtanum (60 minutes)
Add 1.0 oz Cascade, Centennial Ahtanum (30 minutes)
Add 2lbs Wheat Dry Extract (15 minutes)
Add 1lb Honey (15 minutes)
Add .5 oz Ahtanum, Centennial (5 minutes)

Ferment 14 days at 65
Dry hop 7 days

Sorry, I don't have much to add in terms of the hop schedule.

For the honey though: I've brewed a hoppy ale-style braggot before, and I've used orange blossom honey to compliment the hops; it worked out very well. You might also consider upping the amount of honey you're putting in, because 1 lb in 5 gal is probably not gonna come through much; I'd add at least 5 lbs, if not 10, but I'm a mead-man myself, so your objectives for the project may be different.

Thanks for the reply!

From what I understand, honey pretty much ferments out and doesn't leave a strong flavor, so that's why I was thinking of using just 1lb of it, but maybe I'll up it to 2. I'm hoping that the late addition of the honey mixed with the honey malt will bring out that sweet flavor that undercuts the bitterness. I'm really trying not to drive my OG much higher than 1.070 so that's one reason I didn't increase the honey too much. Maybe I will use less dry wheat extract and increase the amount of honey.

I will go with your recommendation of orange blossom honey. I've heard a few other places that it gives a pretty good flavor.

JHoward said:

Maybe I will use less dry wheat extract and increase the amount of honey.

Click to expand...

If you want some honey character but don't want more alcohol, this is what you should do. Since the honey does completely ferment, you'll need at least a lb per gallon to get any appreciable presence of it in the final product. After some aging, though, the honey will come through very well.

You also should put the honey in the brewpot. Boiling honey only drives off the nice volatiles that make the honey special (especially if you're using a varietal). I've brewed a lot of mead and several braggots, and I've never heated the honey, and other than my first batch I've also never chemically-treated any of my brews. I have never had an issue w contamination.

Thanks for the insight. I think I will follow your advice. I'm hoping that someone can still give me some direction on my hop schedule here so I don't completely botch it up.