Honey Malt Questions

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Brulosopher

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Since I buy bulk, most of my beers are made with the same 12-15 grains, and that works pretty great. For the first time in 10 years of brewing, I purchased a couple pounds of Honey Malt to use in my Blonde Ale. I've got a couple questions for those who have used this malt before:

1. How much should I use to get a noticeable, though not overpowering flavor from that particular malt? I was thinking between 5-8% (about 8 oz per 5.5 gallons).

2. Would it be prudent to simply replace the C15 with the Honey malt? According to BeerSmith, Honey malt has no diastatic power and thus shouldn't contribute to fermentability; however, I read somewhere else that it has a diastatic power of 50%. At this point, I'm thinking I'll just replace the C15 and up my mash temp 2-3F.

Also, I'll be using WLP810 San Francisco Lager yeast in place of the WLP029, just because I want to see the differences. I've heard 810 tends more toward the malt, so I plan to increase my bitterness addition just slightly to account for that.

Cheers!
 
I can't speak of how Honey Malt effects body or head retention but I use 8oz of it in 11 gallons of American Wheat beer and it makes a noticeable difference in perceived "sweetness" to the final beer at that low rate.
 
I can't speak of how Honey Malt effects body or head retention but I use 8oz of it in 11 gallons of American Wheat beer and it makes a noticeable difference in perceived "sweetness" to the final beer at that low rate.

I agree. I rarely use it, but when I do I can notice it in very small amounts- like .25 pound in a 5 gallon batch.

A "honey beer" could probably use .5 pound up to 1 pound depending on how dominant you want the honey flavor. Since I don't have a sweet tooth at all, and actually dislike sweet tasting things, I would find .5 pound overpowering.
 
Thank you both. So perhaps it'd be best to go with 4 oz Honey malt and reduce the C10 to 4 oz from 8 oz?
 
Thank you both. So perhaps it'd be best to go with 4 oz Honey malt and reduce the C10 to 4 oz from 8 oz?

Would the honey malt and C10 be your only specialty malts in this recipe? I would definitely think you want to keep some Crystal in a blonde ale which is supposed to have some body to it.
 
Gambrinus makes honey malt. Use up to 10% in your grain bill. 5-8% should be fine. Replacing the Crystal with the honey would be a wise choice.

Diastatic Power is not measured in percentages. It is measured in Degrees Lintner. 50DP = 50 Degrees Lintner. To give you an idea of what that means 6-Row Brewers Malt has a DP of around 180. 2-Row Brewers Malt and Pilsner or Lager Malt has a DP of around 140. At what Degree a malt is self converting depends on various factors. The number given around the Internet and in some prominent books seem to disagree with each other - 37, 40, 50. It may contribute ever so slightly to fermentability. Probably on a level that you don't have to worry about it.
 
Jayhem said:
Would the honey malt and C10 be your only specialty malts in this recipe? I would definitely think you want to keep some Crystal in a blonde ale which is supposed to have some body to it.

With the proposed changes, it'd be 4 oz (3%) of CaraPils, C10, and Honey malt.
 
Brulosopher said:
With the proposed changes, it'd be 4 oz (3%) of CaraPils, C10, and Honey malt.

4 oz EACH, accounting for 9% of the grist.
 
PupThePup said:
Gambrinus makes honey malt. Use up to 10% in your grain bill. 5-8% should be fine. Replacing the Crystal with the honey would be a wise choice.

Diastatic Power is not measured in percentages. It is measured in Degrees Lintner. 50DP = 50 Degrees Lintner. To give you an idea of what that means 6-Row Brewers Malt has a DP of around 180. 2-Row Brewers Malt and Pilsner or Lager Malt has a DP of around 140. At what Degree a malt is self converting depends on various factors. The number given around the Internet and in some prominent books seem to disagree with each other - 37, 40, 50. It may contribute ever so slightly to fermentability. Probably on a level that you don't have to worry about it.

Great info, thanks! Now I'm ambivalent as to what I should do... ;)
 
You haven't listed your entire recipe, or said what style you are trying to make (or I just missed it in reading), but here's a Northern Brewer All Grain Kit recipes that uses honey malt (around 9.375% of the grain bill in that recipe).
 
PupThePup said:
You haven't listed your entire recipe, or said what style you are trying to make (or I just missed it in reading), but here's a Northern Brewer All Grain Kit recipes that uses honey malt (around 9.375% of the grain bill in that recipe).

I linked to my Blonde Ale in the first post; this is what the grist looks like with the changes:

8.25 lbs US Pale Malt
.75 lbs Wheat Malt
.25 lbs CaraPils
.25 lbs C10
.25 lbs Honey Malt

I'm now again considering dropping the C10 completely and upping the Honey to .5 lbs. mash this at 150F.
 
I linked to my Blonde Ale in the first post;

Yes, I see it now, thank you for posting it here. :eek:

The recipe looks good to me; maybe consider adding a .25lb of biscuit or brown malt along with the .5lb honey.
 
PupThePup said:
Yes, I see it now, thank you for posting it here. :eek:

The recipe looks good to me; maybe consider adding a .25lb of biscuit or brown malt along with the .5lb honey.

Hmm. I don't have any biscuit or brown, but plenty of Victory. I really like my original recipe and I'm wondering if your recommendation has to do with the fact Honey just melds well with that biscuity flavor? At this point I'm compelled to keep the recipe as similar as possible.
 
Hmm. I don't have any biscuit or brown, but plenty of Victory. I really like my original recipe and I'm wondering if your recommendation has to do with the fact Honey just melds well with that biscuity flavor? At this point I'm compelled to keep the recipe as similar as possible.

make 2 batches one with just adding the honey malt, one adding the victory for a biscuity note... seems like the logical choice, plus you get more beer.
 
Hogarthe said:
make 2 batches one with just adding the honey malt, one adding the victory for a biscuity note... seems like the logical choice, plus you get more beer.

Word. Except this is already one of two batches I'm brewing next week, no capacity for 15 gallon brew days... or is there? :D
 
You're over thinking this. Just drop the C-10 and do 5% honey. That way you won't be left second guessing yourself whether or not you should have used more or not. You'll know for sure, and it's not like it's going to totally ruin the beer. I used 5% in an Citra/MO SMaSH last summer that was great.
 
inhousebrew said:
You're over thinking this. Just drop the C-10 and do 5% honey. That way you won't be left second guessing yourself whether or not you should have used more or not. You'll know for sure, and it's not like it's going to totally ruin the beer. I used 5% in an Citra/MO SMaSH last summer that was great.

Me, over thinking? C'mon! Ha. Really, I just like to hear others' ideas, including yours... which is sorta what I'm settled on at this point. But I'm still (over)thinking about it ;)
 
I'm gonna go against the grain here, and say that I have used 1 lb of honey malt in my honey wheat with no noticible honey taste. Of course, I think my taste buds are dead, as I tend to up the flavor characteristics of *most* recipies I encounter.
 
I love honey malt. Makes a great addition to IPAs for some residual sweetness and body when you don't want any caramel flavors.

In a blonde, I'd say a 1/4 lb would be perfect.
 
I'm a big supporter of honey malt, but I think a little goes a long way. I used some in a double IPA (5% of grist) and I obtained a significant honey flavor and sweetness. So I would say proceed with caution and experiment some with it. In my particular beer I think 5% is a bit too much, but YMMV.
 
So here's where I'm at so far, after mulling over (err... overthinking?) all of the ideas from this thread:

Grist Bill
8.50 lbs Pale Malt (NW Pale)
1.00 lbs White Wheat Malt
0.50 lbs Honey Malt
0.25 lbs CaraPils

Hop Schedule
7 g (.25 oz) Galena (13%) - 55 min
7 g (.25 oz) Cascade (6.4%) - 25 min
10 g (.25 oz) CTZ (12.9%) - 10 min
7 g (.25 oz) Cascade (6.4%) - 5 min

Yeast
WLP810 San Francisco Lager Yeast

Process
Mash at 149F for 60 minutes.
Pitch yeast at 55F, let it rise to 58F over 2-4 days where it will stay for 7 more days, d-rest at 65F for 2 days, cold crash to 32F over 2 days, keg and carb for 5 days... drink.
 
My 2 cents,,,, I,ve used 10% of the grist as honey malt in beers with good results, that said I used no other specialty grains. An example would be 12 lbs pilsner malt and 20 oz of honey malt. Mash at 150, use an attenuative yeast like German ale 1007. Honey notes present but not overly sweet.
 
bighorn_brew said:
My 2 cents,,,, I,ve used 10% of the grist as honey malt in beers with good results, that said I used no other specialty grains. An example would be 12 lbs pilsner malt and 20 oz of honey malt. Mash at 150, use an attenuative yeast like German ale 1007. Honey notes present but not overly sweet.

I considered this, but ultimately want to adapt the original recipe. I think I'll do this next though. Cheers!
 
The keg is carb'd, recipe from 3 posts up, and I am very pleased. It could still use another week or so of conditioning, but this is going to be very good. Thanks to all of you for your help. Cheers!
 
Any feedback on how much the honey malt contributes to body and head retention.

I'm brewing a Blond Ginger Beer.

so far my malt bill looks like this

Pale Malt (5.0 EBC) Grain 1 90.5 %
0.34 kg Honey Malt (49.3 EBC) Grain 2 5.5 %
0.24 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (3.9 EBC) Grain 3 4.0 %

not sure if the cara pils is that necessary - if the honey malt is going to contribute.
 
I have a honey ginger blonde on tap now.
7.5 lbs pilsner
1 lb C40
.5 lb honey malt.
That is similar to your grains but I had more crystal. The honey malt does add a bit of sweetness but not too much. I think it adds more sweet aroma than sugar on the palate (if that makes sense). I used 2.5 oz of fresh ginger. The ginger is present but dulled somewhat by the big honey presence. I would suggest either using a lot of ginger or cutting the honey malt down around 3% if you want the ginger to stand out.
 
I use a bit of honey malt in my cream ale recipe. Like folks say, a little goes a long way.

Honey malt adds a bit more color than c10 or c20. Make sure you reduce your crystal enough so you get the color you want.
 
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