"Classic" ESB with some honey

[urg8rb8]

I have the following Classic ESB kit from MWS:

6# Pale LME
8oz Caramel 40L
2oz Chocolate
2oz Roasted Barley

2oz US Golding @60mins
1.5oz Fuggle @2mins


But.. i'm interested in throwing in some tupelo honey. How much should I use? I'm thinking 1 or 2 pounds. And when should I add it? End of boil? In the primary a few days after fermentation started? Also, with the added sweetness from the honey, should I rearrange the hop schedule to make it slightly more bitter to balance it out?

 

[brokebucket]

since nobody else responded, I will: Adding honey is the equivelent of adding sugar, all the "sweetness" will be fermented out and none will be left in the taste of the beer. The honey flavoring will be there, but it wont have the sugar any more.

If you want honey flavor, I think you would get the best result by adding honey malt....which is along the lines of the crystal malts.

If you want to add honey just because you want honey in the beer, I would start out by adding a pound, then increasing the amount down the road if you like what you are tasting.

Adding at the end of the boil to mix it in and pasteurize would be fine.

All that being said, i have never added it to my beer, so if somebody else tells you different, I would listen to them.

 

[ericbw]

I use honey in several recipes. A pound is enough in 5 gallons. Usually I do equiv to 1/2 pound to a pound. I think less is better unless you're trying to raise ABV. The White House ale is pretty much an ESB with honey, and it has 1 pound. I think that's too much and will lower it when I brew it again.

 

[urg8rb8]

since nobody else responded, I will: Adding honey is the equivelent of adding sugar, all the "sweetness" will be fermented out and none will be left in the taste of the beer. The honey flavoring will be there, but it wont have the sugar any more.

If you want honey flavor, I think you would get the best result by adding honey malt....which is along the lines of the crystal malts.

If you want to add honey just because you want honey in the beer, I would start out by adding a pound, then increasing the amount down the road if you like what you are tasting.

Adding at the end of the boil to mix it in and pasteurize would be fine.

All that being said, i have never added it to my beer, so if somebody else tells you different, I would listen to them.

If I go with the Honey Malt, I'd probably have to add more bittering hops to offset the extra sweetness the Honey Malt will add?

 

[urg8rb8]

I use honey in several recipes. A pound is enough in 5 gallons. Usually I do equiv to 1/2 pound to a pound. I think less is better unless you're trying to raise ABV. The White House ale is pretty much an ESB with honey, and it has 1 pound. I think that's too much and will lower it when I brew it again.

I looked at the reviews for the White House Honey Ale on the AHB site and it didn't get great reviews. Maybe I'll go with the 1/2 lb of honey. I'm just trying to specifically add tupelo honey because of the tupelo flavor.

 

[ericbw]

I looked at the reviews for the White House Honey Ale on the AHB site and it didn't get great reviews. Maybe I'll go with the 1/2 lb of honey. I'm just trying to specifically add tupelo honey because of the tupelo flavor.

The honey makes it a little hot. It's ok but not stellar.

 

[brokebucket]

If it were me and I already had the kit, I would make it AS IS (no honey, no other malts).

If you are hell bent on putting the honey in, I would do so sparingly....no more than a pound, but I would go lower.....like a half pound. I would not screw around with adding anything else (hops, grains, etc.)

If you really want to do something with the honey, why dont you make another beer using the honey? Then you can find a recipe that features the honey instead of cramming it in to another recipe that wasnt designed for it.

my .02

 

[urg8rb8]

If it were me and I already had the kit, I would make it AS IS (no honey, no other malts).

If you are hell bent on putting the honey in, I would do so sparingly....no more than a pound, but I would go lower.....like a half pound. I would not screw around with adding anything else (hops, grains, etc.)

If you really want to do something with the honey, why dont you make another beer using the honey? Then you can find a recipe that features the honey instead of cramming it in to another recipe that wasnt designed for it.

my .02

OK. How about if I split the batch into two 2.5 gallons. One as is and the other with .25 lbs of honey?

 

[ericbw]

Add the honey, just go easy. Don't let anyone scare you off from the idea.