Strawberry Honey Blonde Ale

[KennyS1134]

Hello! In the past, when I was really new to brewing I thought I could handle AG, but had terrible results. I took a break, and really worked on getting extract down. Now that I feel confident with extract, and working out my own technique, I'm gonna venture back into an AG.

Another home brewer gave me this recipe for a Strawberry Honey Blonde Ale. I don't think it's missing any key ingredients, but I don't wanna bug him too much, so I figured I'd ask here.

What stage of the boil do you add the honey? Would it benefit in the beginning, middle or end?

I just ordered some brewing software -Promash and Beersmith (has not been delivered yet), which will hopefully help me hit my temps and gravity properly. I was hoping someone could check my numbers, just to make sure I'm the ball. I'm still in my planning stage, and hoping to brew this next week.

This site is such a great tool, and I greatly appreciate all the help and guidance. I'll be sure to pay it forward some day! Thanks!
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7lbs of Pale malt
2lbs White wheat
0.5lbs of Crystal 10L
2.5 lbs of Honey
5 lbs of Strawberries

Boil:
1oz Williamette Hops for 60 mins
1/2 oz of Tettnanger for 15 mins
1/2 oz of Tettnanger for 5 mins

2lbs of chopped frozen strawberries at the end of boil.

Yeast: WLP001 fermenting at 70 degrees until 73-80% attenuation.

After initial fermentation is done, I'll rack the brew onto 3lbs of chopped frozen (and thawed) strawberries.

 

[Grinnan5150]

In the past when I have used honey in my beer I boiled it for the full 60 minutes with good results

 

[KennyS1134]

Works for me, thanks.

 

[RGingerelli]

For the most honey flavor you need to add it to the boil in either the last few minutes or at flame out. I add the honey right before I shut down the burner because I want to make sure anything in the honey that could cause infection is boiled/killed. I have also heard of some brewers adding honey to the secondary and having great results/flavor, the only issue here is infection. Hope this helps a little bit.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I have not had any noticable flavor from adding honey, as it is pretty much fully fermentable. I use 1 LB or so of honey malt if I want honey flavor. To answer your question directly, my recipies called for honey for the last 15 minutes of the boil.

 

[weirdboy]

Yeah in my experience honey malt will generally give you more honey flavor than actual honey, unless you are making a braggot with TONS of honey in it. However also in my experience, if you are making this for the ladies, and those ladies aren't expert tasters, just saying the words "honey blonde" is enough for them to taste the honey usually, even if there isn't any honey, or honey malt, in the beer.

If I were adding honey, I would do it at flameout or even better after primary fermentation starts winding down for maximum flavor and best attenuation from the yeast.


Also in my experience, when I have added strawberries in the boil, or made a puree that I pasteurized, the flavors I get from that are markedly different from adding the strawberries post primary fermentation. The "cooked" strawberries tend to taste more tomato-like, or maybe more like strawberry jam.

 

[KennyS1134]

Ugh....I've been trying to get Beersmith2 to work on my mac via the program crossover. I"ll work on it tomorrow, when I'm not completely drained. I was going to post my calculations, but since I can't, would anyone be willing to calculate these for me. I'm afraid I'll screw up, and ruin my delicious beer, and it would be nice to have an experienced brewers summary to double check mine with. Here is the recipe:

Strawberry Honey Blonde Ale:
7lbs of Pale malt (2 row)
2.5 lbs of honey
2 lbs of white wheat
0.5 lbs of caramel 10L

1oz Williamette Hops for 60mins
1/2 oz Tettnanger for 15 mins
1/2 oz Tettnanger for 5mins

2lbs of chopped strawberries at the end of boil.

Yeast WLP001

After initial, rack onto 3 lbs of strawberries

 

[sweetcell]

I was going to post my calculations, but since I can't, would anyone be willing to calculate these for me.

i was bored, so i put your numbers into hopville: http://hopville.com/recipe/1129090/fruit-beer-recipes/strawberry-honey-blonde-ale

according to the above, you're about to brew an imperial strawberry blond - 7.3% ABV :rockin:

(i'm assuming a 5 gal batch, do lemme know if i got anything wrong)

 

[WarBac]

In the past when I have used honey in my beer I boiled it for the full 60 minutes with good results

Totally agree.

 

[KennyS1134]

Sweeeet, thanks Sweetcell! My patience is running out on the brewing software. I've tried Brewtarget 1.2.4, which doesn't have my full ingredient list, nor does it give me any temps for my mash and sparge water. Beersmith2 still won't run either, which seems to be the best software. I'd rather have this be the part of my brewing process that is painful, instead of something going wrong on "sacred brew day." It's gonna be a long day.