Help constructing recipe

[Snyder]

Looking for some insight constructing a cheap go to recipe. I have a free supply of homegrown cascades. My LHBS has bulk light LME pretty cheap. My thought was an ale version of Papazian's honey lager recipe.

4.5 lbs Light LME
2 lbs Clover Honey
1.5 oz Cascade (boil)
.5 oz Cascade (finish)
Nottingham Yeast

Anything you would change? Also, should I be ok with 3 weeks in the primary, or will the honey take longer to ferment?

 

[bkirkland]

depends how much you add and when, i added three lbs to secondary and it kicked off for two more wks..

 

[bkirkland]

i would get a hydrometer.. or just wait for the bubbles stop..

 

[Snyder]

I planned on adding the honey at flame out. I always use a hydrometer, but just wanted a rough idea because I've never used this much honey in a recipe before.

 

[shuf]

This is the Rocky Raccoon recipe from the book, right? I made this over the winter and lagered it in my garage- beer turned out great. This was the first recipe that I brewed with honey and I added the honey during full boil, but after making a couple batches of mead I think that adding the honey when the wort hits 160ish or right before transfer to the primary really improves the honey characteristics. You can look up the information with a quick search of “no boil mead”. I’ve made a few more beers with honey, and I found that it did not increase the fermentation time when using an ale yeast- finished in primary in about a week and settled nicely after another week or so. If you’re going with the ale yeast, the only other thing I could see improving this recipe is steeping some specialty grains.

 

[Snyder]

Yeah that's the right recipe. I just upped the extract, and lowered the honey. Thanks for the input.

 

[Snyder]

Here's an update on my recipe: 4 days in the primary, smells great, but a little bit on the light side. Price wise, this was exactly what I wanted.

4.5 lbs light LME $9.00
2 lbs Clover Honey $6.65 (had to buy it in (2) 1.5 lb jars)
Hops Free
Safeale 05 $3.99
Corn Sugar $1.99 (bought 1lb)
Crown Caps Free (Already had some)

Total $16.00, but I had a $2.00 off coupon!!
I did however, had to buy a scale for the hops at target $4.00
So, $14.00 for 2 cases of beer is a good deal. I just hope it comes out good!

 

[Neonsilver]

Here's an update on my recipe: 4 days in the primary, smells great, but a little bit on the light side. Price wise, this was exactly what I wanted.

4.5 lbs light LME $9.00
2 lbs Clover Honey $6.65 (had to buy it in (2) 1.5 lb jars)
Hops Free
Safeale 05 $3.99
Corn Sugar $1.99 (bought 1lb)
Crown Caps Free (Already had some)

Total $16.00, but I had a $2.00 off coupon!!
I did however, had to buy a scale for the hops at target $4.00
So, $14.00 for 2 cases of beer is a good deal. I just hope it comes out good!

If this comes out too light you can always add some vienna or crystal 20 to steep. The one beer that I didn't steep anything I was a little disappointed in.

 

[shuf]

Wow, your LME is really inexpensive at $2/lb. Did you find that local? Just curious why you would use a lb of sugar if the LME is the same price.

Also, if you are looking for a better price on honey, I found that the bulk stores like Costco carry decent 6lb jugs of honey for $12. When did you end up adding the honey?

 

[Snyder]

Yeah, my local HB store has pretty good prices. Guess I never thought about honey being the same price as LME, I was just trying to keep pretty close to that recipe. Well, if this batch doesn't come out good enough, I might have to up the LME next time. The exact recipe called for adding the honey at the beginning. I just added it at flameout.