Honey IPA, recipe rough draft

[beta pleated sheet]

Admittedly, this is my first attempt at writing a recipe from scratch. I've done my fair-share of tweaking, but this is really my first time flying solo, so to speak. My main concerns are amounts. Calculations came out a bit wonky, so most of it's educated guessing. Also, I've never brewed with honey before, but I do like the idea of using just a little of it. Feedback on that would be lovely.

Here it is:

3.3lbs light LME, 3lbs light DME
0.5lbs Munich malt
0.75lbs medium crystal malt
0.5lbs dark crystal malt
2oz chocolate malt
0.5lbs honey
2oz Cascade hops (60min)
2oz Cascade hops (30min)
2oz Golding hops (5min)
1oz Golding hops (dry hop)

yeast: London Ale WLP013

 

[HBDrinker008]

I would ditch the chocolate malt and maybe substitute the dark crystal with some light crystal. I myself am a recipe noob, but that is my .02

 

[z987k]

yeah I like my IPA's to be lighter in color. I'd ditch the chocolate malt. Also with the honey if you add that to the boil it's probably just going to ferment out leaving you with a higher % and dryer beer but no honey taste.

 

[sirsloop]

Agreed, ditch the chocolate and reduce the dark to like .25. I wouldn't waste your time with Cascade at 60 minutes. Its super low AA and not really a bittering hop. With the current shortage I think it'd almost be a shame to drop in 2oz before 30 minutes. Simcoe has a very similar flavor profile and is much better suited for bittering duty (~12% AA). I'd do (keeping it somewhat on track with the original recipe):

1oz Simcoe 60min
1oz Simcoe 45min
1oz Cascade 30min
1oz Cascade 15min
1oz Golding hops 5min
1oz Golding hops dry hop

You'll definitely get some mouthfeel out of the honey. I would use a light variety like clover or wildflower. Orange blossom could be interesting too if you are going to citrus notes.

 

[beta pleated sheet]

That's a very good point you bring up with the hop shortage and all, I'll definitely keep that in mind. Orange blossom honey sounds like a good idea too, the citrus really might bring an interesting mix to the party. Plus, I love orange blossom honey!

 

[derogg]

I would throw maybe half a pound of honey malt in the mash. If you use real honey, I would put it in at flame out or into the secondary. You can also prime your bottles with honey. Over all though honey ferments out completely and does not leave you with any honey flavor.

Leave the chocolate malt out.- Dirk

 

[Danek]

You might also want to take a quick look at this thread too - let us know how the beer turns out.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=47953

 

[CBBaron]

Honey ferments out to dryness and leaves a very light flavor in the beer. 0.5# is going to be completely lost in this beer.
If you want some honey flavor I would suggest eliminating the darker malts (chocolate and dark crystal) and adding some honey malt in addition to using 1-2# of honey. You'll probably want to keep the bitterness to the mild side of an IPA as this will ferment dryer than an all malt beer.

Craig

 

[Yooper]

Honey ferments out to dryness and leaves a very light flavor in the beer. 0.5# is going to be completely lost in this beer.
If you want some honey flavor I would suggest eliminating the darker malts (chocolate and dark crystal) and adding some honey malt in addition to using 1-2# of honey. You'll probably want to keep the bitterness to the mild side of an IPA as this will ferment dryer than an all malt beer.

Craig

#1 on that. Also, keep in mind that munich malt must be mashed. (You probably knew that, I'm just making sure that others do). I'd keep the medium crystal, maybe even bump it up to 1 pound if you want the residual sweetness, or consider the honey malt along with the munich malt and crystal. I'd use a pound or so of honey.