Low on Malt, Honey Substitute?

[BEE-52]

So I'm gearing up for another brew day and, long story short, I haven't quite got as much malt as I need and there isn't an easy way to pick up more for awhile.

Buddy of mine says to substitute the missing portion with an equal amount of honey as long as I don't mind the final product being somewhat different than intended, but shouldn't turn out bad.

Should I listen to Buddy and experiment, or wait a bit and get what I need for the recipe?

For the record, I don't mind doing something different but I also don't want to ruin anything.

 

[BEE-52]

Also, only need about 1.5 lbs malt to substitute.

 

[Bheher]

13 ounces of honey is about the same sugar content as 1.5 lbs of malt.

You could do the replacement, but it depends on the kind of beer you are brewing. Can you post the recipe?

 

[Calder]

13 ounces of honey is about the same sugar content as 1.5 lbs of malt.

I don't know where you get that number from:

To get the same gravity points (sugar content):

- 1 lb of honey is roughly equal to 1 lb of liquid extract.

- 1.25 lbs of honey is roughly equal to 1 lb of dry extract.

Even with grain, assuming 75% conversion efficiency, 13 ozs of honey is roughly equal to 1 lb of grain.


For the OP. 1.5 lbs of honey is a lot. If you post your recipe, someone will help you with a suggestion of what to do.

Why use honey? You can just use plain sugar.

 

[FRS]

Go for it, as long as you aren't shooting for a beer that finishes sweet. In beers I want a dryer finish I often incorporate up to 10% honey, invert sugar or table sugar. I can't say I've noticed much difference in flavor between these sugar sources when added in the boil; though honey can impart a small amount of flavor if you don't boil it.

 

[zachattack]

"malt" is a pretty broad term. Do you not have enough pale malt? Malt extract? Wheat malt? Chocolate malt? Black patent malt? Etc. I agree that you should post your recipe.

 

[DaveHunter5]

Replacing with honey will raise your gravity and add different flavors to your beer. If you don't want to change the flavors of your beer, you could simply not add it and have a lower more sessionable beer. Unless the OG is important for you for more alcohol.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Another viable alternative is brown sugar.

 

[JimRausch]

1lb. honey will add about 8 points to your OG. I add honey fairly often to my beers. Sometimes in the initial recipe, sometimes because I undershot my planned OG.
Flavor-wise, if added to boil it's equivalent to plain sugar.(ie. drys it out without adding flavor). If added late ferment or at bottling, you might get some honey flavor.
Whether substituting honey for malt will affect your flavor really does depend on your recipe.