Help with a Honey Brown Ale Recipe

[edco76]

My wife's favorite beer is a local brew called Truck Stop Honey Brown Ale by Back Forty Beer Co. in Gadsden Alabama.

http://backfortybeer.com/the_liquid/truck_stop_honey

Here is what I know about it

ALCOHOL CONTENT BY VOLUME: 6%
HOPS: Apollo and Willamette
MALTS: Honey, Crystal, Chocolate & Two Row malts
HONEY: Alabama Wildflower (Hokes Bluff, AL)

I am a beginner however and need an extract recipe.

I know you can only help so much on a beer you've never drank or probably even heard of but I dont mind some trial and error on this since its pretty popular locally. I just want to make sure I can drink it and then go from there.

I'm thinking something along these lines

6lb Light DME
1lb Honey
8oz Chocolate
8oz Crystal
2oz Honey Malt

Safale S-05

1oz Willamete (5 minutes)
.5oz Apollo (60 min)

The apollos have me stumped. They say that is what they use but it seems to take my IBUs too high in Brew Target no matter what...

Anyway, I know its not a lot to go on but like I said, I don't mind brewing it several times. Just looking for a baseline.


****UPDATE***
Emailed the brewer he gave me the recipe. BUT its AG

MALTS
8 1/2# 2-row
3/4# Honey Malt
1/2# C-20
1/4# Chocolate Malt

HOPS
0.14 oz Apollo @ 75
0.35 oz Willamette @ 10

OTHER
3/4# Honey @ 5

Mash @ 155
Boil 75 minutes
Ferment at 68ºf with a neutral american strain ie.. Safale US-05

 

[Carusoat]

8 oz of Honey malt seems like overkill. That malt is very strong and sweet. I'd guess it's more like 1 or 2 oz. (Assuming this is a 5 gal batch)

 

[joyceman]

Looks good but I'd switch up my hops. Apollo to bitter and Willamette to finish. Ive never used Apollo late, but Ive heard the flavor can be odd, ranging from fruity to oniony. Given what youre looking for Willamette seems like a better choice. Apollo has some bigg AA numbers, so its a great bittering option.

The site doesnt give IBUs, but assuming its a moderately bitter beer, go with .5 to .75 Apollo at 60.

 

[edco76]

8 oz of Honey malt seems like overkill. That malt is very strong and sweet. I'd guess it's more like 1 or 2 oz. (Assuming this is a 5 gal batch)

Gotcha. I had never even heard of it and didnt see it in any recipes so I was just guessing.

 

[edco76]

Looks good but I'd switch up my hops. Apollo to bitter and Willamette to finish. Ive never used Apollo late, but Ive heard the flavor can be odd, ranging from fruity to oniony. Given what youre looking for Willamette seems like a better choice. Apollo has some bigg AA numbers, so its a great bittering option.

The site doesnt give IBUs, but assuming its a moderately bitter beer, go with .5 to .75 Apollo at 60.

Ok.

I don't know what order they use so I tried it both ways and apollo late gave a lower IBU. Still high for the style though and the beer doesnt come off as being "hoppy" at all IMO.

.5oz apollo @ 60
1oz Willamette @ 5

gives me 47 IBU

Reversed I get 33

 

[m00ps]

I agree with both of those above. Honey malt is pretty pronounced. I've never gone over 6oz and that was pretty strong. Add in real honey and you gotta be careful

And I would definitely think Apollo is the bittering hop (Unless for some reason that brown ale has a assertive citrusyh taste to it). Willamette is a very typical hop for US brown ales. Probably a half oz at 60min like he mentioned.

If you want to maximize honey flavor, try adding the actual honey a day ro so into fermentation. It preserves the aromatics better i've found

 

[edco76]

I agree with both of those above. Honey malt is pretty pronounced. I've never gone over 6oz and that was pretty strong. Add in real honey and you gotta be careful

And I would definitely think Apollo is the bittering hop (Unless for some reason that brown ale has a assertive citrusyh taste to it). Willamette is a very typical hop for US brown ales. Probably a half oz at 60min like he mentioned.

If you want to maximize honey flavor, try adding the actual honey a day ro so into fermentation. It preserves the aromatics better i've found

Gotcha, I amended the recipe to 2oz honey malt and swapped the hops. Lowered the apollo to .5oz.

Still getting 46 IBUs tho which seems high but its just a number I suppose. Ive had beers before that didnt seem to match the numbers I saw.


As for adding the honey late, is there any precautions with sanitation? Can I just spray the container and dump it? Honey is thick so will I need to stir it up to mix it?

 

[m00ps]

As long as the container is sealed, I have just been opening and pouring right into the fermentor (no sanitizing needed). For adding on the hot side, you'll be fine either way due to the heat.

As for mixing, the fermentor addition kicks up enough extra yeast activity that it all mixes in. For a late boil, you may need to have a sanitized spoon to stir to ensure you dont leave honey at the bottom of your kettle

I dont fret about IBUs. Theres just too many other factors that go into the perceived bitterness such as malt profile, %cohumelone, how well stored the hops are, etc. I doubt youll end up with a super hoppy brown ale.

 

[edco76]

I also emailed the brewery cause hey, why the hell not. I've given them several hundred dollars, they could give me some beer tips right?

 

[edco76]

I'll be a monkeys uncle! The guy replied already with recipe!

Only one problem........I guess I didnt make it clear enough I was an extract brewer so I need some conversion help.


MALTS
8 1/2# 2-row
3/4# Honey Malt
1/2# C-20
1/4# Chocolate Malt

HOPS
0.14 oz Apollo @ 75
0.35 oz Willamette @ 10

OTHER
3/4# Honey @ 5

Mash @ 155
Boil 75 minutes
Ferment at 68ºf with a neutral american strain ie.. Safale US-05

 

[joyceman]

Just sub in 6.25 lbs LME (probably just go 6 for convenience sake) or 5 lbs DME.

 

[BrotherBock]

If the brewer says use 3/4 lb of honey malt. Then use 3/4 lb. I'm gonna disagree with the others that say it'll be too much. Some people seem pretty sensitive to honey malt. I LOVE it. That's where all your honey flavor is going to come from. The honey itself is going to help dry the beer out so that it won't seem too sweet. Very little if any honey flavor carries through from using actual honey. The aromas and flavor compounds are delicate and easily destroyed with heat.

I've used honey malt a lot and "too much" is only defined by what it is in relation to.

I say go for what the recipe is. Don't overthink or try to change what's correct. The brewer knows what he's doing. For extract version, steep everything for 30 min at about 152-154 degrees and replace the 8.5 pound of 2 row with about 5.5 pounds of DME or 6.5 pounds of LME

 

[m00ps]

yeah, you got lucky on the easy conversion. There's little enough specialty malts to be able to steep them in a normal kitchen pot and there's no stuff like Munich or Rye that would be hard to find in extract.

 

[edco76]

If the brewer says use 3/4 lb of honey malt. Then use 3/4 lb. I'm gonna disagree with the others that say it'll be too much. Some people seem pretty sensitive to honey malt. I LOVE it. That's where all your honey flavor is going to come from. The honey itself is going to help dry the beer out so that it won't seem too sweet. Very little if any honey flavor carries through from using actual honey. The aromas and flavor compounds are delicate and easily destroyed with heat.

I've used honey malt a lot and "too much" is only defined by what it is in relation to.

I say go for what the recipe is. Don't overthink or try to change what's correct. The brewer knows what he's doing. For extract version, steep everything for 30 min at about 152-154 degrees and replace the 8.5 pound of 2 row with about 5.5 pounds of DME or 6.5 pounds of LME

Yeah. I plan on just doing what he says, how he says it. If I want to change something next time, I will

 

[BrotherBock]

Yeah. I plan on just doing what he says, how he says it. If I want to change something next time, I will

That's a good plan. The only thing I will say in regards to changing is perhaps the bittering addition. Brewersfriend gives an IBU (rager) of 14.19 (assuming 20% AA on the apollo). That seems low to me, even for a brown. I know proportional scaling of hops from big to little batches does not always come out the same. So if the brewer just cut it all proportionally some hops may need to be adjusted slightly.

You've had the beer. If it seems more bitter than 14 IBUs I'd up it a lil. .25oz puts you at 23.5 IBUs

 

[edco76]

That's a good plan. The only thing I will say in regards to changing is perhaps the bittering addition. Brewersfriend gives an IBU (rager) of 14.19 (assuming 20% AA on the apollo). That seems low to me, even for a brown. I know proportional scaling of hops from big to little batches does not always come out the same. So if the brewer just cut it all proportionally some hops may need to be adjusted slightly.

You've had the beer. If it seems more bitter than 14 IBUs I'd up it a lil. .25oz puts you at 23.5 IBUs

Yeah, I had actually already planned on doing that. Upping the apollo .25 and the willamette to .5. Just to keep it simple and I noticed the IBU seemed low.

4g just seems like a really small amount of hops no matter the AA.




Anyone know if you can freeze hop pellets? Or what sort of shelf life you get out of them?

 

[m00ps]

Yeah, I had actually already planned on doing that. Upping the apollo .25 and the willamette to .5. Just to keep it simple and I noticed the IBU seemed low.

4g just seems like a really small amount of hops no matter the AA.




Anyone know if you can freeze hop pellets? Or what sort of shelf life you get out of them?

Yeah, most vendors freeze their pellets to prolong shelf life (+1 year)

From what I understand, not letting air get to them is #1 for preserving hops, then preventing light from hitting them, then keeping them cold. I only can do the first two because my fridge is too full of beer...

 

[edco76]

Got the stuff to get this going yesterday.


Except my LHBS forgot to put in the yeast.

I guess the 50 beers on tap may have effected my attention to detail lol

 

[edco76]

Finally brewed this yesterday!

Went well and smelled FANTASTIC! Had to sub Nuggets for the Apollo hops because LHBS didnt have any.

Wort tasted great!

Came out dark though? Not really sure why.

 

[lazarwolf]

I would probably try inputting 6 lbs of golden lme, and see what it looks like. I would adjust the specialty grains accordingly.

I make a 2nd runnings honey brown about every other time I brew. Be cautious with the honey malt, if you get it right, it will be perfect. Too much, won't taste like honey at all.

Always brew your experiments on the computer first. This site, and beer smith, brewe toad, and brewers friend are all great.

If the brew bug has bit you, you'll be switching to all grain soon any way. Please don't think any one is anti extract, most of us still use it as an ingredient. But know that an extract is limited by the decisions of the maltster who made the extract.

 

[hifidelity]

Finally brewed this yesterday!

Went well and smelled FANTASTIC! Had to sub Nuggets for the Apollo hops because LHBS didnt have any.

Wort tasted great!

Came out dark though? Not really sure why.

How did this beer turn out? I'm local to Back 40, and Truck Stop Honey is a great beer and I'd love to know if this recipe is close to the original.

 

[hifidelity]

I'll be a monkeys uncle! The guy replied already with recipe!

Only one problem........I guess I didnt make it clear enough I was an extract brewer so I need some conversion help.


MALTS
8 1/2# 2-row
3/4# Honey Malt
1/2# C-20
1/4# Chocolate Malt

HOPS
0.14 oz Apollo @ 75
0.35 oz Willamette @ 10

OTHER
3/4# Honey @ 5

Mash @ 155
Boil 75 minutes
Ferment at 68ºf with a neutral american strain ie.. Safale US-05

I brewed this recipe a couple weeks ago (only subbing Magnum for bittering since my LHBS didn't have Apollo) and thought I had an infected batch when I tasted the first hydrometer sample after 7 days in primary. I tested/tasted it a couple days after that and the sour taste had mellowed a bit so I decided not to dump it and sample it in a few days. I tasted it today (after 13 days in primary) and the sourness was all but gone completely in the flavor, but aroma still had a bit of a twang. I figure I'll let it go for another week or two and see if it mellows out completely.

If my latest sample is any indicator this recipe is pretty much spot on. Thanks for sharing!

 

[edco76]

How did this beer turn out? I'm local to Back 40, and Truck Stop Honey is a great beer and I'd love to know if this recipe is close to the original.

Sorry, I havent been around much.

My batch turned out fantastic. It tasted almost identical to Truck Stop Honey but was a shade darker in color.

It was really good about 8 weeks in the bottle. I actually had one this weekend and it is still pretty damned good.

 

[hifidelity]

Update- I kegged this beer yesterday and force carbed it at 30 PSI for 30 hours. Poured a glass a few minutes ago, and while it's not fully carbed I can wholeheartedly say that this recipe is outstanding.

I have a can of the real thing in the fridge, and I plan on doing a side by side comparison in a few days when my version has had time to carb up completely.

 

[brew703]

I've never tried a Brown Ale before but I like honey and would like to give this one a try in a 1 gallon version (BIAB).

Reading through the posts, someone said the Honey Malt is a bit much at 3/4 lb. When I brew this, should I cut back or leave as is?

Also, the Back Forty web site shows Wildflower Honey. I do not have access to this type nor have I tried it but do have access to local fresh honey. Would this be ok to use and would it make a big noticeable difference in taste?

 

[hifidelity]

I've never tried a Brown Ale before but I like honey and would like to give this one a try in a 1 gallon version (BIAB).

Reading through the posts, someone said the Honey Malt is a bit much at 3/4 lb. When I brew this, should I cut back or leave as is?

Also, the Back Forty web site shows Wildflower Honey. I do not have access to this type nor have I tried it but do have access to local fresh honey. Would this be ok to use and would it make a big noticeable difference in taste?

I say leave the honey malt as is.

I used off the shelf honey in a bottle shaped like a bear. The honey doesn't add as much honey flavor as the honey malt does, so whether it's wildflower honey or not won't make much of a discernible difference...the honey is really just a fermentable sugar.

Go for it!

 

[brew703]

I say leave the honey malt as is.

I used off the shelf honey in a bottle shaped like a bear. The honey doesn't add as much honey flavor as the honey malt does, so whether it's wildflower honey or not won't make much of a discernible difference...the honey is really just a fermentable sugar.

Go for it!

Thank you!
Will put it on my list.

 

[m00ps]

My most popular recipe is a honeyed pale ale called Winnie the Pale Ale which uses honey malt and honey. Ive tinkered with the additions and ive found the best way to preserve the honey aromatics is to add it to the fermentor at day 3 or so of fermentation. This way, theres no boil to loose the aromatics and the fermentation isnt too vigorous to losse them through the airlock

 

[ChelisHubby]

If the guy Gave you the recipe and you like the beer he sells, I would brew it as he proposes and then if I felt the need I would change it!

 

[hifidelity]

I did a blind side by side tasting with this recipe (from a keg) and the real Truck Stop Honey from a can for my girlfriend tonight. I have to question the freshness of the can, though, because there were a lot of (rather unpleasant) flavors we both tasted that we had never experienced before. The real TSH had a "sweet tea with lemon from a can" flavor that was very off-putting. Not the good kind of sweet tea, either...this was Lipton Brisk sure enough.

As far as the side by side, though...this recipe is a little darker than the real thing, and has a garnet hue that makes it much nicer to look at than the cardboard brown TSH. It was hard to compare the flavor since the can was disappointing, but we both agreed that my brew was far superior to our sample can, but very close to what we remembered it tasting like when we had it on tap a few weeks ago. Maybe a little more chocolate... The girlfriend and I agreed that this is my best brew yet.

While it's not a huge deal in a beer this dark I am proud to say my brew was more clear than the original. I fined with whirlflock in the boil and racked on top of Biofine in the keg after cold crashing for 2 days.

Long story short- If you've had TSH brew this. It's as good as the real thing if not better. If you've never had TSH brew this. It's a darn fine honey brown ale recipe.