Good balance in honey ale?

[tomaso]

This is my recipe for a Strong Honey Ale. Don't know what style to categorise it as so I put English Barley Wine in Beersmith.
I want the taste and aroma of the honey to be quite noticable but not overpowering. Here's my idea of how to balance it. I know the honey is almost pure sugar but I'm sure it will leave some sweetness, right?
Mash temp is 70C and Est FG 1.020
Any feedback appreciated. Thanks for your help!

The sweet side:750g of dark, strong tasting honey at flameout i.e. 9,7% of total bill; boil of 90mins for kettle caramelization. 250g Carapils for some more sweetness and head;

The balance: To balance the sweetness of these three I have 35IBUs (don't want the beer to be bitter, just balanced), the high crystal and chocolate malt and an ABV around 9%. Do you think this is a good balance?

Most of the Chinnook are late additions. Will it overpower the honey aroma?

 

[casualbrewer]

I would replace some of your specialty malt with honey malt. In a beer that big I would use a pound. That will add some additional honey like sweetness.

 

[tomaso]

I would replace some of your specialty malt with honey malt. In a beer that big I would use a pound. That will add some additional honey like sweetness.

Good advice, thanks. But unfortunately I can't get any honey malt soon and am brewing today
Will try next time

 

[dmtaylor]

You need about twice as much honey, and like 1 full kg of Carapils. Remove some base malt to compensate. That will get you closer to what you want. The honey will ferment out completely, but will slow the fermentation considerably. Expect fermentation to take 5-6 weeks before it is finished.

Yes, the Chinook will overpower the honey flavor. Take the quantities down or eliminate the last two additions.

Good luck.

 

[Murphys_Law]

I made a honey wheat this summer and used 3 pounds of honey (1.36kg) but didn't add until ferm was nearly complete. You stand a chance of the honey completely fermenting out and losing the profile you're after if you add at flame out. Also, from what Ive read the intense heat can hurt the flavor as well.

I warmed the honey to just around 90F so it would pour and added to my primary.

 

[tomaso]

You need about twice as much honey, and like 1 full kg of Carapils. Remove some base malt to compensate. That will get you closer to what you want. The honey will ferment out completely, but will slow the fermentation considerably. Expect fermentation to take 5-6 weeks before it is finished.

Yes, the Chinook will overpower the honey flavor. Take the quantities down or eliminate the last two additions.

Good luck.

Brewed it yesterday and went with 1kg at flameout. I'll see how it plays out and if it's not satisfactory I'll follow your advice for the next one. I might add another 05,kg of pasteurized honey at high krausen. Do you think that either way the fermentation would take longer than 3 weeks?

I made a honey wheat this summer and used 3 pounds of honey (1.36kg) but didn't add until ferm was nearly complete. You stand a chance of the honey completely fermenting out and losing the profile you're after if you add at flame out. Also, from what Ive read the intense heat can hurt the flavor as well.

I warmed the honey to just around 90F so it would pour and added to my primary.

you didn't pasteurize your honey? How long did your fermentation take; longer than usual?

 

[dmtaylor]

Brewed it yesterday and went with 1kg at flameout. I'll see how it plays out and if it's not satisfactory I'll follow your advice for the next one. I might add another 05,kg of pasteurized honey at high krausen. Do you think that either way the fermentation would take longer than 3 weeks?

I can't say for certain. Odds are perhaps 50/50 that it might get done in 3 weeks. Otherwise maybe 4 weeks. I think that's the right ballpark. What yeast are you using?

 

[tomaso]

I can't say for certain. Odds are perhaps 50/50 that it might get done in 3 weeks. Otherwise maybe 4 weeks. I think that's the right ballpark. What yeast are you using?

OK, good to know. I'm using saf-05; starting at 18C and will go up a bit in a few days

 

[Lefou]

Using a yeast with less attenuation than US-05 may gain you some extra gravity points. I like Fermentis US-04 as a substitute English-style yeast sometimes, or you could use Danstar Nottingham, too.

If you use store-bought, off the shelf honey like I do, then there's no need to add it during the boil to sterilize. It's usually pasteurized unless it states otherwise on the label ... leastways, it is in the US.

 

[tomaso]

Using a yeast with less attenuation than US-05 may gain you some extra gravity points. I like Fermentis US-04 as a substitute English-style yeast sometimes, or you could use Danstar Nottingham, too.

If you use store-bought, off the shelf honey like I do, then there's no need to add it during the boil to sterilize. It's usually pasteurized unless it states otherwise on the label ... leastways, it is in the US.

Thanks for the advice but it's too late, already fermenting away on Saf-05 ; besides, I belong to those who don't like the flavour that Saf-04 gives the beer

The honey we used is directly from the hives of my girlfriend's family so as raw as it gets

 

[tomaso]

Day 15 and the sample has fermented out (almost) completely. It tastes nice but the honey is only very slightly noticable.
The reasons for this, even though we've added 1kg/13% honey are in my opinion

.)Dumped the honey into the kettle at flame out and think some of it (maybe 20-30%) got lost on the bottom of the kettle; next time will dissolve it first in some of the wort and then pour the mixture back into the kettle

.)overdoing it with crystal malt; added 7,7% of bill in total

Let's see how it tastes after having been in the bottle for a month or two...

Thanks for all of your help