Hi guys I just did my second beer and it was a honey pale ale. My first batch turned out amazing and garnered a lot of compliments from some very experienced brewers. I'm questioning this next batch though because I'm not completely satisfied with the result.
I haven't been using a secondary fermenter but I plan to do so on my next brew. Currently I throw the boiled wort into an ice bath to cool it and then after it reaches 70 degrees I siphon it into a carboy and pitch the yeast and add the airlock.
This batch I purchased some high quality orange blossom honey and I added it in the last 5 minutes of the boil. After about 10 days in the carboy the krausen had disappeared from the carboy and I decided to take a sample. The gravity was spot on so I decided to bottle it.
After about 2 1/2 weeks in bottles now I have been tasting the beer as it ages. Its almost crystal clear, there is very little sediment in the bottles, good carbonation but I'm concerned because it gives off an overwhelming honey aroma which kind of effects the overall flavor that you get out of the beer. It's sweeter than I would like it to be and I'm not sure if thats because of the aroma or if its from residual sugars. It's around 6.5% in abv and you can definitely taste the alcohol and the hop bitterness I just don't feel like its balanced. To anyone that has brewed with honey before; does the flavor mellow out a bit? I'm concerned that I had pulled it too soon and I know racking to secondary definitely has its benefits but from what I understand its for clarity purposes.
I would just like to get an idea as to whether I can expect improvements as the beer ages or if I can just chalk this one up as a bad batch.
I haven't been using a secondary fermenter but I plan to do so on my next brew. Currently I throw the boiled wort into an ice bath to cool it and then after it reaches 70 degrees I siphon it into a carboy and pitch the yeast and add the airlock.
This batch I purchased some high quality orange blossom honey and I added it in the last 5 minutes of the boil. After about 10 days in the carboy the krausen had disappeared from the carboy and I decided to take a sample. The gravity was spot on so I decided to bottle it.
After about 2 1/2 weeks in bottles now I have been tasting the beer as it ages. Its almost crystal clear, there is very little sediment in the bottles, good carbonation but I'm concerned because it gives off an overwhelming honey aroma which kind of effects the overall flavor that you get out of the beer. It's sweeter than I would like it to be and I'm not sure if thats because of the aroma or if its from residual sugars. It's around 6.5% in abv and you can definitely taste the alcohol and the hop bitterness I just don't feel like its balanced. To anyone that has brewed with honey before; does the flavor mellow out a bit? I'm concerned that I had pulled it too soon and I know racking to secondary definitely has its benefits but from what I understand its for clarity purposes.
I would just like to get an idea as to whether I can expect improvements as the beer ages or if I can just chalk this one up as a bad batch.