Advice on a honey malt - partial mash beer

[bucketnative]

I am working up a recipe for a blondish ale taking a cue from the shape-shifting recipe guide in "Mastering Homebrew" by Randy Mosher. So far I have had good luck in using this table as a guideline for a Brown Ale (Crystal and Chocolate malt-based) and a Stout (using some guidance here as well).

I am looking to do a 2.5 - 3 gal recipe, and I use the grain/extract approach because, in a small apartment, it is much easier to handle.

So, I plan on the following:

0.75 lb Honey Malt
0.25 lb Crystal Malt (80L)
Steep for 45 minutes at 150 F.

3.3 lb Pale LME
1 oz Fuggles
Boil 60 minutes.

1 oz Kent Golding
30 minutes

1 oz Kent Golding
5 minutes

S04 - yeast.

I am hoping to bring the volume up to achieve an OG of about 1.054

Any comments on this?

 

[JustLooking]

Any comments on this?

Honey malt must be mashed. No diastatic power.

 

[bucketnative]

Honey malt must be mashed. No diastatic power.

What would you recommend for a mashing process, then? I am still learning all of this. It looks like honey malt has a DP of 50, which means that it should convert given the right time and temperature profile, correct? Should I back off the honey and add a pale malt base with more enzymes?

 

[m00ps]

Use 0.5-1lb of 6row in your mash for the enzymes. You can take out some LME to compensate, or just have a bit higher OG. Pale works too, 6row just has more enzymes. So i'd guess 1lb of pale malt would work too

12oz of honey malt is a bit much IMO. Its pretty potent. I use 4oz usually in my recipes. Maybe you could replace some of the honey malt with 6row for the enzymes too


Once you get to full all-grain, you dont need to worry about enzymes (99% of the time) because your base malt provides enough

 

[JustLooking]

It looks like honey malt has a DP of 50, which means that it should convert given the right time and temperature profile, correct?

May be malster specific, but I know that Gambrinus does not have any diastatic power.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Do we even need to convert honey malt? I treat it like a crystal/caramel malt rather than a source of starch for conversion. I BIAB so I don't have something to compare to, but it was my impression that honey malt is basically a crystal malt that can be used for steeping.

 

[FarmerTed]

Honey malt must be mashed. No diastatic power.

Are you sure it has to be mashed? This is what morebeer says about it:

15-20L Gambrinus. Add for a sweet, nutty and slightly toasted flavor. Good choice in Brown and Special Ales. Aroma is reminiscent of honey, hence the name. Effective flavor contribution from steeping.

I think it's probably like a crystal malt, and doesn't require conversion. One of the reviewers said that they used it fine in extract beers.

 

[JustLooking]

Honey malt is lightly kilned. It's not a crystal malt. Not mashing it can contribute to starch haze and cause problems with microbiological stability.

 

[bucketnative]

It looks like Mosher treats it as a steeped grain/extract recipe rather than a mashing process. His recipe calls for steeping the grains in a bag in the wort (dissolved LME and water) for 30 minutes. Then boiling, which is a bit backwards from other steeped grain/extract beers I have brewed... steep first, then add LME.

If I were to use a mini-mash procedure in a cooler, does the following sound reasonable? Mix 0.5 lb honey malt and 0.5 lb of 6-row pale malt in 0.5 gal water at 150 F and hold for 60 minutes. I could keep the grains in the grain bag, but use a cooler that I have to hold the mash at the correct temperature. I have the conversion chart for strike water temperature and grain temperature to achieve the final mashing temp. At the end of 60 minutes, I would then pull the grain bag, rest it on top of a large strainer over the brew kettle and poor the wort back through it, in addition to hot water to makeup the rest of the wort for boil. Then add the LME and continue as per above with hopping etc...

I think I will cut back on the ratio of honey malt, as noted above. I am really experimenting at this point to learn the effects of various malts, etc...