Amber Ale with honey

[ABarritt]

Hey so I want to brew an amber ale with some sort of honey character, anybody have any experience with this? I was really wanting to use it mainly for the bottle conditioning (in place of priming sugar), but am open to any suggestions.


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[tdbc2011]

I have used honey and honey malt. In my opinion, the honey malt produces more honey flavor.

 

[goodyx7]

I've used honey in the boil and for priming but never had the character from it. Most brewers will suggest honey malt for that.

 

[ABarritt]

Roger that fellas I appreciate the input


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[clickondan]

I've never tried this, but if wanted to get a nice honey flavor in a beer, this is how I would do it:

* Create a recipe that lets me put 3-4 lbs of honey in at flameout without ruining my OG
* Use the most strongly flavored honey I can find
* Use that honey instead of sugar when priming for bottling
* Use something like a pound of honey malt in a 5 gallon AG recipe
* Do all of this with a light beer that isn't overly hoppy. Both hops and malt will conceal any honey flavor you're left with.

If I wanted to risk the small chance of contamination, I would add my pounds of honey after flameout, probably about 120F and I would also add some to the fermenter after primary fermentation is complete.

 

[ABarritt]

Awesome idea, I do remember hearing that it take a quite a bit of honey to impose a honey taste, one question though...does honey malt come in extract? Unfortunately due to time and space constraints I'm only doing extract brewing (with some steeping of course).


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[m1batt1]

My LHBS has a honey wheat extract kit. I've made it three times now as I'm a big fan of honey. First time I used just the kit and followed directions. Tasted good but I really didn't notice honey. Second time I bought an extra pound of honey when I got the kit. It happened that I was brewing with a friend and his batch called for dry hopping after fermentation so that thought why not add the extra pound of honey after primary fermentation is done. I actually left the fermenter at his house and he added the honey later on simply heating it up a bit to make it flow better and poured it in the carboy. Results were awesome and I personnally thought the honey flavor came through nicely. Third time same as second except I had the fermenter with me and chose to pasteurize the honey first. Its not quite conditioned out yet but the honey flavor isn't as prominent as the second batch. So I'm thinking the extra heating I did cooked off some flavor and aroma. But hey live and learn.

So I would suggest secondary with honey(a good fragrant local might be good) and only heat enough to make it easy to pour and dissolve.



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[goodyx7]

It's been awhile but I due believe that I steeped honey malt in a bitters extract recipe.

 

[ABarritt]

Awesome goody that's exactly where I was eventually headed, I think I have a plan. I'll post recipe and eventual results. Thanks to all!!!


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[clickondan]

Yes you can steep honey malt for sure. For a 5 gallon batch I'd use 1lb along with whatever else you're going to steep. And I second the idea of adding honey after primary fermentation without boiling it first. That's probably going to be the most important step for a prominent honey flavor.

 

[Blastedbones]

unboiled honey COULD screw up ya brew.. it contains wild yeasts that can chew thru all the carbs in the beer ( brewing yeast leaves dextrins etc) making it alcoholic but tasteless.

 

[Paps]

I've made a honey-maple porter
(i'll post the recipe if i get good results from the bjcp people)
and i can tell you that the honey drastically thins out the moutfeel
of a beer.This may or may not be important to you but i figured i'd give you the information.

 

[hehawbrew]

I make a low ABV, easy drinking IPA that when I prime with honey, I can sometimes get a residual honey flavor. Not sure if it's bc it's a light IPA or if I drink them too fast for all the honey to convert.


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[ABarritt]

Hehaw, how much honey do you use to prime?


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[hehawbrew]

3 tablespoons for gallon batches and one cup for 5 gal.




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