Adding honey

[meltroha]

As I stated, you will not get honey flavor from adding honey in the boil, you get the flavor from honey malt. I have experienced this, read about this and spoke to professional brewers about this. You can make up your own mind whether you believe me or not though.

 

[quincy07]

What sort of final volume are you going for quincy? Looks like a 2-3 gallon batch to me?
If you arn't using honey malt I would add your honey as late as possible. Right after your boil is off the heat, but between 160F and 220F. This gives it time to sterilize and/or pasteurize but not during boil so your aromatics will be reserved.

The cloyingly sweet flavor you get from adding too much honey malt, from my reading experience and personal use of it.
I have been using 4-12 oz of honey malt in various beers, including my last two brews, a Hefeweizen and a Honey Wheat.

This is for a 2.5 gallon batch. It was advised in my other thread to add 8 oz of honey malt, if I remember correctly. Would that be too much for that size batch?

 

[meltroha]

This is for a 2.5 gallon batch. It was advised in my other thread to add 8 oz of honey malt, if I remember correctly. Would that be too much for that size batch?

I would treat it the same way you would crystal malt, I like 6%-8%, don't exceed 10% total honey and crystal, unless you want it real sweet.

 

[quincy07]

I would treat it the same way you would crystal malt, I like 6%-8%, don't exceed 10% total honey and crystal, unless you want it real sweet.

This is going to be my 2nd brew, first was a mr beer kit, so I haven't dealt w any grains or hops yet. How would I calculate the percentage of grains? Is that a percentage of the total volume of beer, 2.5 gallons? Or a percentage of wort ingredients?

Sorry for the noob questions, I just want to understand what you're telling me rather than just smiling and nodding and saying uh huh.

 

[meltroha]

Np, man, we were all there. Is the percentage of total fermentables, lme, dme, grains, sugars, etc. if you have 10lbs. Of total fermentables, 10% would be 1lb.

 

[quincy07]

Np, man, we were all there. Is the percentage of total fermentables, lme, dme, grains, sugars, etc. if you have 10lbs. Of total fermentables, 10% would be 1lb.

So if I have 3.5 lb fermentables, as per the recipe i posted, for my 2.5 gallon batch. 10% would be .35 lb or 5.6 oz. Is that right?

 

[meltroha]

So if I have 3.5 lb fermentables, as per the recipe i posted, for my 2.5 gallon batch. 10% would be .35 lb or 5.6 oz. Is that right?

Exactly!

 

[quincy07]

Exactly!

Hey! I got one right! Lol.

Thanks for your help!

 

[meltroha]

Np, enjoy the hobby, cheers!

 

[Jayslay]

People debate whether a Half pound (8oz) is too much or not enough in a five gallon batch. Some batches of honey malt may have flavouring differences even within a malting house. More likely though is that people have different taste thresholds so you may want to start low and work up to 8 oz in a 2.5 G batch. I'm drinking a honey blonde with loads of honey comin through and loving it. Some may call it "cloyingly sweet". Different strokes for different folks. May latest experience is 4oz in a Hefeweizen and 8oz in a Honey Wheat, love it.