Help me brew it

[Hayden512]

So at the Founders cellar raid last year I had a one time beer they did called barrel aged honey stuff. Really one of the best dessert beers I've ever had. Very sweet so I can see how it would be off putting to some but I thought it was amazing. It was a light honey ale aged in bourbon oak barrels for a year. I wanted to get some help on the base recipe before the barrel aging.

Came in at 10.5%. It's categorized as a wheat under beer advocate. The beer was super clear golden color. The smell was all honey. Taste wise it was massive honey to the point where it was almost mead but it had a slightly malty backbone and floral hop presence. Heavy bodied and low medium carb. No bitterness whatsoever.

With this I was thinking some combo of a sweeter base malt such as golden promise with some wheat in it as well. Hallertauer hops at 60 and 15 for the light floral note.

My biggest concern is I have no idea how much honey to use in order to get the flavor this beer had. I figure it's got to be a huge amount but I don't know at what point the amount would be too much.

Any help would be awesome!

 

[catdaddy66]

In order to get more honey flavor and aroma I would reason that it was added to the primary as the beer was fermenting. When boiled in wort it losses a majority of these characteristics. I love honey character in some beers! If it weren't so expensive I would brew with it much more often than I do (1-2x's each year!). I use anywhere from .5-1.5#'s of the sweet stuff.

Good luck!

 

[Hayden512]

@catdaddy66

Does the honey need to be sanitized or can it go straight into the fermentor?

I was thinking about going almost braggot levels (toward 40 %)

 

[catdaddy66]

Honey does not spoil. It has natural antibiotic qualities. The jar it's in and your hands will need sanitizing, as will whatever you stir with, but not the honey.

Honey is still used in wound care in some societies as it prevents infection. Crazy, right??