Honey flavoured beer HELP NEEDED

Hi all, this may be a tricky one but please don't hate, i am a can brewer (only been brewing for a bit over a year). I was recently given about 5.4kg (12lb) of honey from a relative who wants me to brew a beer with his honey, obviously he wants to taste his honey in it.
I have read a lot of forum pieces saying yeast eats the honey flavour so simply adding it to the brew like a fermentable is pointless. How do i brew a beer so the flavour of the honey is the hero? Ive not actually read any helpful techniques. I can brew up to 30l at a time if that helps. What brew/extract can, yeast and hops etc shouldi use and What temp to ferment also, i can control temp.
Need help with this one please.

Steep some honey malt.

Pkrd said:

Steep some honey malt.

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Instead or as well as using my honey that i already have? I want to accentuate the flavour of the honey i was given, not use a substitute if i can help it. Kind of defeats the whole goal

Use it to make a braggot or a mead.

Yes, I had a friend give me some honey, well actually about the same amount as yours and used some to make a 3 gallon of blood orange mead with, which came out fabulous and also used it to make to make an Irish Red Ale. I might use the rest to make a Braggot.

I recommend adding honey at almost end of boil and or adding some honey a few days into fermentation

21Maff said:

Instead or as well as using my honey that i already have? I want to accentuate the flavour of the honey i was given, not use a substitute if i can help it. Kind of defeats the whole goal

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You'll want to use some of the honey because it was a gift but you won't get much honey flavor from it so you steep some honey malt to help it out. I'd suggest a pound to a pound and a half for a 5 gallon batch.

I just made a honey weizen and I was curious about the same thing. I used 1 lb of honey added at flame out and I mashed with a .5 lb of honey malt. This is the general recommendation that I received to have actual honey flavor in your beer.

ALSO - since you have so much honey. I think you should make a batch of mead. I've never made mead, so I have no suggestions, but I know that if I had that much honey I'd try it.

Use Potassium Sorbate to kill fermentation then add honey.

I just tried a honey kolsch from Rogue brewery today. It has a faint honey taste. Maybe contact them to see how they use it. Late in the fermentation would be my guess, but I am sure it will take off again with all that sugar.

Like others have said, you can use some honey malt to get a honey-esque flavor into the beer. The honey itself should be treated like any other simple sugar. It will ferment out completely. You could do a braggot like others have suggested. I like darker beer so the braggot I did was based on a dry stout in the 1.04 neighborhood, let fermentation go for 4 days then added in my honey. I did 49/51 wort and honey percentages for my ferment able sugar and used an ale yeast, came out nice. A little thin, but the flavor was complex an not very overwhelming. I don't have my notes on hand, but I do know I used a smaller total then what you had. Also, I aimed to make a high abv braggot, but you could so something that isn't nearly as strong.
I saw someone also suggested using Potassium Sorbate to kill the yeast before adding the honey. That would work to get more of the honey flavor in, but you're also killing the yeast you need to bottle condition/carb. If you can force carb with a keg, the PS route is your best bet, followed by the braggot and/or honey malt.

I was going to say mead as well,

but using honey will add a honey flavor to it. as long as it's real honey, not pasteurized. adding it to the boil will help sanitation wise, even though honey is very sanitary on it's own.

Think of it this way:
The honey kolsh in my fermenter right now used less than 1 lb for a 5 gallon batch
but a hop slam clone 5 gallon batch uses 2 lbs of honey

and the taste of honey in Hop Slam (I am lucky enough to get some every year) is very prevalent.

So do a 5 gallon (19L?) batch of your favorite IP and add 2 lbs, worse case you will end up with, well, with beer.