Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Honey & Chamomile Wheat: What a way to end a long day

[Mojzis]

Can anyone tell me how long they left this one fermenting for? I thought the recipe in the book was a bit confusing on the suggested timeline. It says to allow to sit for 24 hours after fermentation is complete then to allow to cool and transfer to secondary for an additional 5 days. Im going to leave it in the primary for the duration and then bottle condition. Any suggestions on amount of time to leave in a primary only?

When its finished

Use a hydrometer to take readings. Myself I usually take a reading after 2 weeks. I bottle at 3 weeks usually. But again I take readings so I know when its done.

Readings should be done in succession. Take 2 readings 2-3 days apart after fermentation seems to be over. If the readings are the same, you can bottle. *Only if you don't have any stuck fermentation issues.

 

[GMJager]

Making the AG-BIAB version of this, tonight...

3lb 2-row
2.5lb wheat malt
0.5lb wheat flakes
1oz Hallertau-US (60 min)
1.33OZ Chamomile (60 min)
.66 tsp wheat flour (5 min)
1lb honey (5 min)
S-04 or WB-06

Haven't decided which yeast I'll use for this. The fact that I'll be fermenting in the high 60s makes me wary of the WB-06... don't want a banana-chamomile beer :S

Was this for a 5gal BIAB?

 

[Sshamash]

Considering making this in a few weeks. (all grain--5 gallon)

I have not had great experience with honey flavor coming from a flameout addition, what are the thoughts on adding .5# honey malt (and dropping down .5# of wheat) and adding 1# of honey shortly after high krausen?

Also, what is the use of the flour? I have never seen that present in a recipe.

Cheers,
Saul

 

[Mojzis]

The honey comes through great as the recipe is shown. I wouldn't change it.

The flour is to give the beer permanent haze as it is a wheat beer. Since you're not using hefe or wit yeast it tends to clear after a while.

 

[passedpawn]

Also, what is the use of the flour? I have never seen that present in a recipe.

I added flour to ensure it was cloudy. I didn't want this beer to end up clear, and I heard this trick on some podcast a while back. It definately ended up with a nice golden haze.

 

[TechMiller]

I ended up brewing this awhile back, I didn't use the flour, and added a touch more hops, and a very small aroma addition at flameout.

I like it quite a bit, however I think the next batch I am going to go with a little bit of honey malt, and a little less chamomile.

I am planning on doing this batch tomorrow, and will let you know how it turns out!

 

[The Soft Underbelly]

I brewed a partial mash version of the recipe on Saturday -

3.5 # of two row
2 # of wheat
2 # of Wheat DME @ 15 min
1.5 # if Honey @ 5 min

1 oz Vanguard (5.4%AA) @ 60 min
2 oz Chamomile @ 60 min

Re-hydrated Safeale-05

I completely blew the mashing by hitting the low to mid 160's so god know what this'll taste like, or how much sugar I extracted, but the smell of this thing was AMAZING!

Since I screwed up early in the process by mashing too hot I didn't take readings - maybe get a gravity reading when I bottle just to see how low it gets. Either way, I'm stoked to taste this. It was bubbling like a fiend all day yesterday and barely slowed this morning.

 

[BigRedHopHead]

Just tapped the keg. Made it as is no modifications and it is fantastic!! Balance is great, chamomole is spot on IMO. Can definitely taste the honey and has a sweet finish even though FG was 1.010. Outstanding recipe! Winner winner chicken dinner!

 

[passedpawn]

Just tapped the keg. Made it as is no modifications and it is fantastic!! Balance is great, chamomole is spot on IMO. Can definitely taste the honey and has a sweet finish even though FG was 1.010. Outstanding recipe! Winner winner chicken dinner!

Great! Those are the words I used to describe it too. How about a pic of your creation.

 

[Bradinator]

I was inspired by this recipe and made a similar brew which turned out fantastic. I have to agree with everyone else, that honey really stands out in this beer. It finished out at 1.010 and surprisingly it is still a very prominent flavour. The chamomile and honey work wonders together.

 

[marinosr]

Just brewed up something very similar to this recipe, trying to use up a bunch of ingredients I had laying around. I added dried clover in addition to chamomile, but the clover aroma got buried underneath the chamomile and hops. Next time I'm going to skip the aroma hop addition and maybe back off the bittering Cascades.

7# Pale 2-Row
4# Wheat
2# Clover honey @ flameout

3/4 oz Cluster @ 60m
4/5 oz Cascade @ 60m
1/2 oz Cascade @ 5m
1/4 oz Mt. Hood @ 5m

1/2 oz dry German chamomile @ 5m
1/2 oz dry red clover @ 5m

Wyeast 2565 (Kolsch)

OG: 1.061
IBUs (per Brewtarget): 31

 

[gfinockio]

Hey - just started this tonight for the heck of it. Followed the recipe from the "Extreme Brewing" book, but I actually used 1.25 lbs of honey instead...

... which brings me to a strange thing: my OG is 1.045? I thought with the extra honey it'd be higher?

 

[Mojzis]

Hey - just started this tonight for the heck of it. Followed the recipe from the "Extreme Brewing" book, but I actually used 1.25 lbs of honey instead... ... which brings me to a strange thing: my OG is 1.045? I thought with the extra honey it'd be higher?

All grain or extract?
Also different honeys have different amounts of sugars. There's some amount of variance there.

 

[gfinockio]

All grain or extract?
Also different honeys have different amounts of sugars. There's some amount of variance there.

Wheat extract. It sure is bubblin' pretty good today. Doesn't have that same beer smell as my first two batches of pale ale, though. I'm always so nervous!

I guess worst case scenario is that it is a very light beer?

 

[Mojzis]

I'm sure it will turn out great. Lower og shouldn't matter.

 

[passedpawn]

Good luck! Can't imagine how you missed your OG with extract and honey. Don't worry about it though. It'll be great.

 

[gfinockio]

Well hopefully it turns out okay. I took a whiff through the airlock today, and it smells much better (more "beer" smell!)... I'm intrigued on the chamomile flavour... I sure hope it works!

 

[gfinockio]

Just bottled the recipe last night - final gravity was 1.01. So who knows...

 

[kingboomer]

I have GOT to try this one. Subbed.


-Kingboomer

 

[gfinockio]

Just opened my first couple of bottles of this - taste is great, didn't carbonate quite as much as I would have liked, though... so it's a tad bit flat.

 

[keithmont]

I am brewing this beer this weekend. Quick question, did you filter out the chamomile or leave it to steep in the fermenter?

 

[passedpawn]

When I made it, I did NOT transfer the chamomile to the fermentor.

 

[lorvan]

Hoping this will be my next brew... it looks great! My current setup restricts me to 2 gal batches, here's what I've come up with... What do you think?

Boil Size: 2.84 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 2.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.048 SG
Estimated FG: 1.007 SG
Estimated Color: 2.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 27.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 78.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 87.8 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

1 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 46.2 %
1 lbs 2.0 oz Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) 34.6 %
0.50 oz Willamette [5.50 %] (Boil 60.0 mins) 27.8 IBUs (Because that's what I have)
1.00 oz Chamomile (Boil 60.0 mins)
0.50 tsp Flour (Wheat) (Boil 5.0 mins)
10.0 oz Honey (1.0 SRM) (Boil 0.0 mins) 19.2 %
SafAle English Ale S-04

 

[Broham1]

Just popped this into the fermentor. The house smells great! Followed the OP, except I used wildflower honey, honey malt, and Ringwood yeast.

So excited!

 

[passedpawn]

Just popped this into the fermentor. The house smells great! Followed the OP, except I used wildflower honey, honey malt, and Ringwood yeast.

So excited!

Hope you like it. I stuck most of these in the cabinet after making it so long ago, and slowly drank them over 3 years. The last one was just about as good as the first one.

The chamomile and honey flavor stuck around for that long. I hear that the honey doesn't add flavor, but in my experience that is not true. Let me know how it goes for you.

BTW, I spent a few days in your fair city last month. I think I drank at every little brewery in town. Great town. Yaletown and 33 Acres were my favorites. Cheers!

 

[drumuglyknuckles]

thanks for this. was just going to look up suggestions for chamomile wheat and this was right on the front page. iäll be doing a version of this in a few days.

 

[Broham1]

Hope you like it. I stuck most of these in the cabinet after making it so long ago, and slowly drank them over 3 years. The last one was just about as good as the first one.

The chamomile and honey flavor stuck around for that long. I hear that the honey doesn't add flavor, but in my experience that is not true. Let me know how it goes for you.

BTW, I spent a few days in your fair city last month. I think I drank at every little brewery in town. Great town. Yaletown and 33 Acres were my favorites. Cheers!

I bottled this a week ago and the taste at bottling was PHENOMENAL! I was blown away by how well the flavors balanced! The aroma wasn't much to speak of, but that usually comes out with carbonation, anyway.

I'll post back after a true tasting.

 

[sm_batch]

going to do a 5Gal batch of this really soon with local raw honey as soon as we finish growing the chamomile.... been looking forward to this since april!

 

[aron2382]

When is the honey added? During boil, fermentation???

 

[aron2382]

And mash times? Please

 

[passedpawn]

When is the honey added? During boil, fermentation???

last 5 minutes of boil

And mash times? Please

60m

I updated post #1 to indicated these

 

[Weezy]

Nice recipe, passedpawn. Thanks for posting it. I'm glad it got bumped cuz I hadn't seen it. I'll be giving it a go.

My favorite tea is a chamomile with spearmint, sweetened with a pinch of honey. �� I might put a couple leaves in a pour of this, to try it.

 

[z-bob]

Adding this to my backlog, scaled down to 4 gallons. Looks like a great summer beer.

What do you think about using Willamette instead of Cascade? Also might substitute wheat flakes for a little of the wheat malt (about 3% of the grist.)

 

[passedpawn]

Adding this to my backlog, scaled down to 4 gallons. Looks like a great summer beer.

What do you think about using Willamette instead of Cascade? Also might substitute wheat flakes for a little of the wheat malt (about 3% of the grist.)

I think willamette would be great. The wheat and honey and cham add so much, the hops are really not a big player here.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I haven't read through this yet, but am subscribing to the thread so that I don't forget.

This is on my to-do list, hopefully before the end of summer!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Alrighty, now I have read through the entire thread, and I like it!

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Fermentis S-05 Dry Yeast
Yeast Starter: No
Batch Size (Gallons): 10
Original Gravity: 1.061
Final Gravity: 1.017
IBU: 24
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 4
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21 @ 65° F
Tasting Notes: Wow, honey and chamomile. Both are very

This beer is defined in Sam Calagione's excellent Extreme Brewing (Wildflower Wheat). Book is a joy to look at.

This beer turned out much better than I expected. I was almost certain the chamomile would ruin it. Or the honey would ferment out and have no more effect than if I had just used sugar. Wow was I wrong.

It starts with a fine heady pour, slightly hazy. I neither cold crashed nor gelatin'ed this beer as it was a wheat. It has a very pronounced aroma of chamomile and honey. While the chamomile is perfumey, I think it blends perfectly with the honey, and is a welcome adjunct to a wheat beer.

The taste also has some chamomile, but the honey is quite prominent too. I wasn't expecting this. From now on, I'll only add honey at flameout, as this seems to leave most of the aromatics and tastey components in there.

BTW, I used S-04 Dry Yeast. Mistake above is apparently unfixable.

Ingredients / Process:

10 gallon batch
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 47.62 %
8.00 lb Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 38.10 %
2.50 oz Cascade [5.40 %] (60 min) Hops 23.7 IBU
2.00 tsp Flour (wheat) (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
4.00 oz Chamomile (Boil 60.0 min) Misc
3.00 lb Honey (1.0 SRM) (Boil 5.0 min) Sugar 14.29 %
2 Pkgs Safale English Ale (Fermentis #S-04) Yeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion Mash, 154°F, 60 minutes. Leaving some body in this seemed to increase the perception of honey.

Honey was cheap clover honey from Walmart.

Add honey when 5 minutes left in boil.

I'll scale this down to a 1-gallon batch because that's what I brew, and will almost certainly enjoy it, I am sure. It appears to be exactly the thing for a hot, summer day.

@passedpawn - two questions, mostly out of curiosity and for confirmation:

a) Regarding the yeast (in bold above), if I read correctly, S04 is the correct yeast, and the S05 was a typo - correct?

b) Is there anything in the original recipe that you would change - hops, malts etc.?

This is one that I really want to try - I'd like to thank you for sharing it -

Ron

 

[passedpawn]

a) S-04 was what I used.
b) I looked at my beersmith notes and I commented that I should add 1oz of hops at 30m mark (that's for a 10g batch). That was years ago, so I can't explain. But I think my FG ended a little high when I made it. Your call on that. I think if you keep the OG down closer to 1.050 instead of 1.060 you won't need additional hops.

Thank Sam Calagione. I stole it from him.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Well then - I'll thank you for the reply, and thank Sam for the inspiration!

I'll post about it when I make it, and am grateful for the advice.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

For anyone who wants to make a 1-gallon batch, I converted this using Andrew's recipe above as a guideline and plugged it into Brewers Friend.

A couple of notes - for some reason, the ABV and IBUs came out a little off (6.14%ABV, nearly 30 IBUs!). I'm not going to worry about the ABV, but I did play a little with the hop schedule in order to get it down closer to the original. These were with estimated AAs for the hops, so I will tweak that when I actually have the hops that I am going to use and adjust if necessary.

Anyway, here it is -

Honey and Chamomile Wheat
Recipe credited to Sam Calagione - adapted by "passedpawn" @ HomeBrewTalk.com

OG - 1.063
FG - 1.016

ABV - 6.14
IBU - 24.32
SRM - 3.86

Fermentables -

1 pound American Pale 2-Row
0.8 Pounds German Wheat Malt
0.3 pounds Honey

Mash for 60 minutes at ~154 degrees

60-Minute Boil -

0.4 ounces Chamomile - 60 Minutes
0.15 ounces Cascade Hops - 60 minutes (estimated)
0.1 ounces Cascade Hops - 30 minutes (estimated)
0.2 teaspoons Wheat Flour - 5 minutes

Yeast - Safale/Fermentis S-04

I think that's it, subject to the notes above regarding ABV and IBUs. If anyone sees any glaring errors, please let me know, and I will make corrections - otherwise, I am really looking forward to this one.

 

[aangel]

Brewing this tomorrow on my zymatic. Adjusting the ratio to 50% pale malt, 35% wheat malt, 15% honey, and brewing to a pH of 5.4 and roughly the bru'n water yellow malty profile. 2.75gal batch, about 1 million cells/ml of S-05 using a stir starter.