Advice on using honey malt

[msa8967]

I bought 1 lb of honey malt grain with my last shipment and have thought about using it in my all-grain wheat beer recipe. I am not sure of how much to use with my 5 gallon recipe, 4 oz - 8 oz? I want the honey malt to complement the grain bill but not greatly change it. Looking to make a refreshing wheat ale for my non-homebre friends to try drinking.

4 lb Pilsner 2 row
4 lb wheat
1 lb crystal 20L

1 oz Williamette 45 min
0.5 oz Cascade 15 min.

Wyeast American Wheat Ale 1010
OG 1.051
FG 1.012

Any opinions or suggestions ?

Thanks,

Mick

 

[DustinHickey]

Wish I could help. Just used honey malt for the first time last weekend and haven't had the opertunity to test it yet. I went crazy with it though.

5 lb pale
4 lb honey
2 lb flaked barley

Hopped as if an IPA

Gona put it on nitro trough a stout tap for a crazy version of a Honey IPA stout???

Sweet...

(hope i didnt use too much honey malt)

If I were you I would check the rebel brewer website. They carry this malt and usually let you know how much to use for different affects.

 

[Freezeblade]

Wish I could help. Just used honey malt for the first time last weekend and haven't had the opertunity to test it yet. I went crazy with it though.

5 lb pale
4 lb honey
2 lb flaked barley

Hopped as if an IPA

Gona put it on nitro trough a stout tap for a crazy version of a Honey IPA stout???

Sweet...

(hope i didnt use too much honey malt)

If I were you I would check the rebel brewer website. They carry this malt and usually let you know how much to use for different affects.

Holy crap. 4#? honey malt behaves like a crystal malt, I wouldn't put it as any more than 15% of a grain bill. 4# is going to be super duper uber sweet.

 

[mullenite]

I treat Honey Malt like a Crystal Malt. I try to keep my total Crystal and Honey (combined, not each) under 10% for most beers, some beers can use more but it is a sweet malt so be careful.

 

[BeantownR6]

for what its worth this has been my malt bill for the past 2 heffs ive made

Wheat Malt, Ger Grain 5.000 lb
Pale Malt (2 Row) US Grain 3.500 lb
Wheat, Flaked Grain 16.000 oz
Honey Malt Grain 4.000 oz
Vienna Malt Grain 16.000 oz

the first time was was orage peel

2nd time i upped the honey to 8 oz and used lemon peel

both came out fantastic, but i think i liked the first one a little more.

keep the honey malt under a pound, a little goes along way.

 

[msa8967]

I like the look of your recipe. I have made some wheat beers using both bitter orange peel and sweet orange peel added with corriander but I have not yet tried using lemon peel (zest). How much should I use of lemon with a recipe like this and at what point during the boil is it added?

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

[ghpeel]

Honey malt has diastatic power, so its not exactly a crystal malt (I think?). It supposedly has more than enough to convert itself. I've read you can use it for up to 25% of your grain bill.

 

[BeantownR6]

I like the look of your recipe. I have made some wheat beers using both bitter orange peel and sweet orange peel added with corriander but I have not yet tried using lemon peel (zest). How much should I use of lemon with a recipe like this and at what point during the boil is it added?

Thanks everyone for your input.

i used 4 lemons or 4 oranges. used a cheese grater. dont grind off the white part. i think with the oranges i did at 5 min and lemon at 10 min. i don't know if it makes much differance. i can really tasted the lemon in beer.

 

[ksbrain]

5 lb pale
4 lb honey
2 lb flaked barley

Hopped as if an IPA

I can't wait to hear how this one comes out. I've been curious about honey malt, but never personally experimented with it.

 

[JLem]

Honey malt has diastatic power, so its not exactly a crystal malt (I think?). It supposedly has more than enough to convert itself. I've read you can use it for up to 25% of your grain bill.

true - it is not a crystal malt - but in terms of providing sweetness to the beer, I think of them as the same. Like mullenite above, I keep my combined crystal and honey malt below a certain percentage and if I up the honey malt, I cut some of the crystal (and vice versa).

To the OP: if the recipe you posted is something you've used before and you like it, I would just replace some portion (even all, I suppose) of the crystal malt with some honey malt, but keep the total crystal + honey malt equal to 1 lb. This seems like a lot to me, especially in wheat beer, but then again I do not care for a lot of residual sweetness in my beers. If this is not a recipe you've tried before I would drop the total crystal + honey malt down to 0.5 lb max.

 

[msa8967]

I have made this recipe once before and it came out well but I think I will take your advice and keep the total of the crystal and honey malt to 1 lb or less. I have not added lemon zest to this yet and want to try this but not alter too many things at once. My swmbo enjoys Lienne's Summer Shanty style beer and I would like to have something ready for the second have of August.

Thanks,

Mick

 

[mullenite]

The D.P. of Honey Malt is 50. Just because it can be used as a base malt doesn't mean it should ;-)

Maybe I should do a 1 gallon Honey Malt SMaSH.