pale ale with honey?

had a pale ale from a brewey in hawaii called kona brewing. the website shows the malts/grains they use and the hops. also says they use honey in the recipe. anyone have experience using honey in a pale ale, and if so....how much to use for a five gallon batch. also when is the addition........pre-boil....or post boil.

I believe they use Honey Malt, not honey. Honey malt contributes a malty/sweet flavour which reminds me of honey.

Here is a clone, which I think I partly (or fully) pulled from someone on this site. I plugged it into beersmith, so if this is someone's, I'm not meaning not to give credit, I just forgot to record it in my notes.

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.20 gal
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 9.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 37.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.75 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 79.55 %
1.50 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 13.64 %
0.50 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %
0.25 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.27 %
0.50 oz Galena [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 22.0 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (40 min) Hops 8.2 IBU
0.13 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 1.9 IBU
0.13 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (20 min) Hops 1.5 IBU
0.13 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 0.9 IBU
0.75 oz Mt. Hood [6.00 %] (5 min) Hops 3.0 IBU

Click to expand...

More beer(B3) sells a kit called "Honey Pale Ale", and it's damned good!

I believe that's BierMuncher's Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale clone, scaled down.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/kona-fire-rock-pale-ale-ag-clone-52220/ is the link

Does that sound like the right beer name, nchomebrew?


Seperately from cloning this, yes, honey is used in beer pretty routinely. The difference is that Honey, a sugar, will ferment out. It dries out the finish in your beer - which can sometimes be a good thing. It doesn't wind up tasting exactly like honey though, since the sugar ferments out. Meanwhile, Honey Malt is a mildly-kilned grain that imparts a very strong, sweet honey taste in your beer. The first time you use it, I would use less than .5 lbs. It can be safely used up to 1.5 lbs in a 5 gallon batch, but beware, that's approaching what some would describe as "cloyingly sweet".

Here're some resources:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/honey-beer-78681/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/killer-honey-bee-wheat-30829/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f67/midnight-oil-honey-ale-26696/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/why-not-boil-honey-76634/

BrewSapiens said:

More beer(B3) sells a kit called "Honey Pale Ale", and it's damned good!

Click to expand...

I agree with you on that! I just did it but I added 1 more lb of DME and then dry hopped some centenial. Turned out Fabulous!

if u want to use honey there is two ways i know of
1. cook the honey in 170deg water for 5min and add that to the wort after flame out
2. cook the honey in 170deg water for 5min and let cool to 70deg and add to your primary at the peak of fermentation(like after 1 week of fermenting)

Also only use honey as 10% of your sugar content so 1 lb of honey is prob 10% for a 5gal batch

honey can be really dry so dont use too much

It is a waste of honey to put it in a pale ale, IMO. You simply cannot taste it.

The only reason to put honey in there would be to tell the ladies it's a honey beer, which will make them want to drink it more. At least, my wife will always pick the "honey" beer first if she has a choice even if there is no discernible honey flavor.

if u do it right the smell of it will come through

Brew it right, they will come. Like bee's to the queen.What?Um err...
I have a hard time believing that adding something somewhat different will not impart anything significant,saying its a wast of honey is bull, unless its expensive honey add it after fermentation.If you want a dryer pale ale add some cheaper honey to the boil.there is such a thing as dry pale ales and it is usually common with alot of them.
People say the same thing about pumpkin about it not doing anything, even if you mash with a good amount its going to add something to it.
If you made a beer with 1/3 or so of pumpkin and one with just base grains im shure you would find a difference in it.
Brew a beer with honey then one with none,see the differnece.There will be one.

I did a couple APA/IPA and added honey to the hops>(drizzed the hops before bagging) then added to the keg. A couple days later the honey was really coming thur in the beer, Mmm good stuff indeed.

Leighton’s Orange Blossom Honey goes great with citrus hops.