Honey ales

[srb4128]

Has anyone brewed any honey ale extract kits? I am looking at the White House honey ale to brew for this spring. Any suggestions on these beers?

 

[Billium42o]

I just brewed this kit on Sunday as my second ever batch on my own. No real advice here, but it came with 4oz of hops and only called for 3. I decided to add the extra ounce for bittering. It also came with 1 lb of Honey and I bought and added an extra 1/2 lb for flavor and to see if I could boost the ABV a little... I must say, this batch smelled so awesome while brewing, I'm very excited to try the final product. Happy brewing!

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

I've brewed two Honey beers so far. One was the LHBS kit and the other was a bunch of leftovers with some advice from forum members.
In both kits I didn't used actual honey, just honey malt steeped for 30 mins. Next time I will actually put in some honey and see how it turns out.

 

[greenhaze]

I have brewed a honey Weizen kit from Midwest. I put two lbs of honey in at flame out. Let it ferment for three weeks. That was on 9/30/12. It took a long time for the beer to carbonate. I only started drinking it last week. It tasted great, nice honey notes. It has a kick to it around 6.5 abv.
Slainte

 

[AT-JeffT]

To get the most our of your honey don't add it to the boil. You will loose the volatile aromas. Pasturize (176F + it will pour easy) and add at high krausen.

Source

 

[emjay]

To get the most our of your honey don't add it to the boil. You will loose the volatile aromas. Pasturize (176F + it will pour easy) and add at high krausen.

Source

To get *the most* out of your honey, don't heat it at all, and wait until AFTER primary fermentation has finished before adding it (as CO2 production during fermentation effectively scrubs most of the flavor and aroma out).

 

[tshinefield]

I would have to agree somewhat with emjay above. I have added Honey at flame out and my beer had no honey flavor. I believe the fermentation process removes the honey flavor and leaves a dryness to the beer. I also added a half pound of pasteurized honey at high krausen and it left a hint of honey. The biggest bang is to add a quarter to half pound of pasteurized honey at bottling (instead of priming sugar) or kegging. That will give you a nice honey flavor. I did notice my beer was not as clear doing the post fermentation honey add, but sure did taste great...

 

[srb4128]

Thanks for all the tips!