Honey and honey malt

[Immocles]

hey folks, quick question.

I’m planning on making a small batch honey brown ale and I’m curious if it’s overkill to use both honey and honey malt. I don’t have my grain bill handy, but for a 1.25ish gallon batch I think I was planning about 2oz of both. Is that too much honey sweet potential or no? Thanks

 

[Lefou]

Won't comment on that particular malt as I've never used it for brewing but will give you a heads-up on honey.
If you use honey as an adjunct ingredient to ferment it will add a bit of color and alcohol potential. In the amount you're planning it will generally add a few gravity points and tend to dry the beer because it will almost certainly ferment out.
Honey is a mix of glucose and fructose and highly fermentable by the yeast. Different types of honey can add a bit of aroma or flavor components best added immediately after the boil or heat sanitized to the carboy.
I sometimes use 4-8oz of clover honey in a 4.5-5gal batch for a bit of drying in some of my lighter beers. Honey is noticed in lighter lagers moreso than more malty or heavier ales so keep that in mind.

 

[dmtaylor]

Great idea to use both. You are on the right path. Cheers.

 

[ong]

hey folks, quick question.

I’m planning on making a small batch honey brown ale and I’m curious if it’s overkill to use both honey and honey malt. I don’t have my grain bill handy, but for a 1.25ish gallon batch I think I was planning about 2oz of both. Is that too much honey sweet potential or no? Thanks

I really doubt you’d taste 2 oz of honey in a 1.25 gallon batch (it will just add a teeny bit of ABV). 2 oz of honey malt will add some noticeable sweetness (I try to keep under half a lb for 5 gallons, usually more like a quarter lb).

 

[Immocles]

I really doubt you’d taste 2 oz of honey in a 1.25 gallon batch (it will just add a teeny bit of ABV). 2 oz of honey malt will add some noticeable sweetness (I try to keep under half a lb for 5 gallons, usually more like a quarter lb).

I have read that a little goes a long way, so I was hoping to start small enough. Very unsure on the actual honey though.

Won't comment on that particular malt as I've never used it for brewing but will give you a heads-up on honey.
If you use honey as an adjunct ingredient to ferment it will add a bit of color and alcohol potential. In the amount you're planning it will generally add a few gravity points and tend to dry the beer because it will almost certainly ferment out.
Honey is a mix of glucose and fructose and highly fermentable by the yeast. Different types of honey can add a bit of aroma or flavor components best added immediately after the boil or heat sanitized to the carboy.
I sometimes use 4-8oz of clover honey in a 4.5-5gal batch for a bit of drying in some of my lighter beers. Honey is noticed in lighter lagers moreso than more malty or heavier ales so keep that in mind.

I was planning on adding it towards the very end of the boil, maybe 5 (or less) minutes remaining? I was banking on flavor and some slight alcohol boost. Didn't realize the dryness factor.

Great idea to use both. You are on the right path. Cheers.

Thanks, good to hear it is at least the right track hah.


Unfortunately, my order arrived today and the shop was out of most of my specialty darker malts. So my honey brown ale is going to have to turn a bit lighter and brighter. Still got the honey malt though!


Thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated

 

[ong]

A little honey malt does go a long way. A little honey goes a short way. Haha.

 

[Immocles]

Hah alright. Good way to remember

 

[Dog House Brew]

I tend to use honey malt at 2-4% it gets sweet fast.
If I’m looking for anything from honey, I’ll add it to the fermenter as fermentation just begins to slow. When added to the kettle, I just use cane sugar.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

For a small batch you might only want to use 1 oz of honey malt for flavor and a little sweetness.

 

[Hobby brewer]

I just bottled a small batch of wheat beer (1 1/2 gallon) that I added 4oz of honey malt to, made a nice flavor IMO. I say go for it

 

[Immocles]

Planned changed so I had to shelf this idea for a time, but its definitely still on the list

 

[Immocles]

So I managed to get around to brewing this honey brown ale. Instead of doing 1G, I ended up scaling the recipe to 3G. I brewed two weeks ago, fermentation was active and steady. I started taking gravity samples after 8 days, and it tastes fine to me, but I'm not catching as much sweetness or 'honey' flavor as I had originally hoped for. My work shift got called off for the night so I thought, hey, Why not bottle this bad boy tonight? I originally planned on priming with honey, but after doing some reading, I kinda scared myself out of the idea and am just going the table sugar route.
Basically, after being long winded, I have a choice to make: Should I bottle now ( or tomorrow, my only open days this week) or is it possible to dump a few more ounces of pure honey into the fermenter for a couple days, then put it into my cold room downstairs to bottle sometime next week ( probably Wednesday )? I'm afraid this will just wake the yeasties back up and end up just drying out the ale?
I enjoy the taste as is, its just not completely where I wanted it to be. Thats not to say I can't just bottle and enjoy this as is, then tweak my recipe at a later date ( and isn't that part of the fun, anyway?)

 

[thehaze]

If you add honey now and add priming sugar as well, you might end up with more carbonation than you originally intended. If you are sure FG has been reached, you can easily bottle now. Honey flavour is pretty hard to nail, but if you are happy with the result now, you should bottle.

 

[Immocles]

Thanks, that’s kind of the route I’m thinking. Next time I’ll tweak my bill a bit.

 

[cefiro355]

I use both honey and around a pound of honey malt in a yearly honey farmhouse ale and it's one of my gotos.

 

[Immocles]

Judging from the samples, I’ll need to add more of one, or both. The brown malt or the chocolate malt is masking a lot of the sweetness. I’m hoping a couple months in the bottle tone that down a bit

 

[Immocles]

Out of boredom, here's an update. I still have a few bottles of this brew and am insanely impressed with how much it changed over time. I was a bit leery of it when it was new, and forced myself to be patient and open one bottle a month until I was happy with it. It had an intense ( in a good way , to my taste) roastiness by the time July rolled around, but prior to that it was a little hot tasting since I overshot my abv by about 2%. I drank several during this time...
I cracked one open the other night for the first time in awhile and I was shocked at how much the roast had subsided, and the honey flavors starting to creep back in and really smoothed it out. While I enjoyed them this summer, I do wish, in retrospect, I had kept a few more bottles to share during the holidays.

Now to find a way to somewhat replicate brew, but not take half a year to enjoy.

 

[rodwha]

I make a honey wheat that I’ve tried all sorts of things with wanting the absolute most honey flavor I can get. In 5.25 gal batches I use 2 lbs of honey and I add it at flameout. I also use 1/2 lb of honey malt. These are close to max amounts.