Honey Malt to usage in a Pale Ale...What Percentage to use? (Never brewed with Honey Malt before)

[CASPERBREWS]

For those that are familiar with brewing with Honey Malt...I'm creating a Sweet Session Pale Ale recipe... Here is my grain build so far and I'm still designing my recipe...I'm curious since I haven't brewed with a Honey Malt before and I'm trying to brew a Session Pale Ale kind of like NEIPA but less percentage of Oats and Wheat used... Here is my current grain build for my recipe I'm curious if I'm going overboard on the Honey Malt if I should scale that back and increase either Pilsen or Golden Promise...? I guess any input from anyone here that has brewed with the Honey Malt before would be most helpful! This is for a 5 gallon batch as well...

Sweet Session Pale Ale​

American Pale Ale

4.5% / 12.1 °P

Vitals​

Original Gravity: 1.049

Final Gravity (Fixed): 1.015

IBU (Tinseth): 30

BU/GU: 0.61

Color: 6.8 SRM

Mash​

Strike Temp — 156.6 °F

Temperature — 151 °F — 60 min

Malts (9 lb 10.1 oz)​

3 lb 2.8 oz (33%) — Thomas Fawcett Pale Malt, Golden Promise — Grain — 2.8 °L

3 lb 1.7 oz (32.3%) — Briess Pilsen Malt — Grain — 1.2 °L

1 lb 3.8 oz (12.8%) — Briess American Honey Malt — Grain — 25 °L

13.4 oz (8.7%) — Briess Oats, Flaked — Grain — 1.6 °L

13.1 oz (8.5%) — Briess Wheat White Malt — Grain — 2.3 °L

7.4 oz (4.8%) — Briess Carapils — Grain — 1.5 °L

 

[hotbeer]

Isn't that a pretty heavy percentage of Honey malt for something you are calling a APA.

And are you overestimating your efficiency to get to 1.049 OG?

Though I'm really just here to see what others say. I'm not anything great at this. But those are my thoughts in question form.

 

[CASPERBREWS]

Isn't that a pretty heavy percentage of Honey malt for something you are calling a APA.

And are you overestimating your efficiency to get to 1.049 OG?

Though I'm really just here to see what others say. I'm not anything great at this. But those are my thoughts in question form.


Oh, I missed that you hijacked a thread of another. Hopefully people will notice your question and not just reply to quite old discussion of others.

Per another forum I see APA can use Honey Malt usage can be anywhere from 1%-91% of the grain build...I plan on whirlpooling hops and dry hopping my APA still deciding on what Hops I plan to use...

https://www.brewersfriend.com/fermentables/honey-malt/

 

[mac_1103]

Per another forum I see APA can use Honey Malt usage can be anywhere from 1%-91% of the grain build...

All that means is that somebody once uploaded a recipe with 91% honey malt and called it an APA. Doesn't mean that it's to style (but who cares?) or a good recipe (I think we all care, right?).

 

[IslandLizard]

All that means is that somebody once uploaded a recipe with 91% honey malt and called it an APA. Doesn't mean that it's to style (but who cares?) or a good recipe (I think we all care, right?).

He may have gotten that crazy high percentage (91%) from Brewer's Friend. Most of the maximum amounts listed in that table are very inaccurate (way-way too high).
https://www.brewersfriend.com/fermentables/honey-malt/

Although Brewer's Friend is a very good and resourceful site, some of the information can be inaccurate. Always apply common sense when numbers seem to be illogical.

 

[CASPERBREWS]

All that means is that somebody once uploaded a recipe with 91% honey malt and called it an APA. Doesn't mean that it's to style (but who cares?) or a good recipe (I think we all care, right?).

I've never used Honey Malt while brewing so there's a lot I don't know about it...Opinions of others do matter to me especially those with more experience...Yes ultimately the goal is to have a good beer when it's all said and done...The joys of being able to Home Brew you can co-mingle styles this is something I'm trying to create using ideas from NEIPA and adding my own spin to it...Per Brew Father recipe builder ABV, OG, FG, SRM, IBU, BU/GU checks all the boxes of an APA...At the end of the day I don't care about the style it's not being enter to a competition...My question was how much Honey Malt should I use in the grains for my recipe and if anyone has used honey malt in the past and thoughts and experiences of using it..?

 

[lumpher]

I think .75 to 1 pound of Honey Malt would be about the max I'd use. More than that might be too much, but that's just my preference. If you want a hint of it go with 5%; if you want to taste it go with 10%. 1.049 isn't out of range for that recipe. Off the top of my head I'd expect about that.

 

[hotbeer]

I still tend to go to the websites of the various maltsters and look at their suggestions for percentages when I'm using a malt of theirs. Recipes on sites aren't reviewed to ensure they are what the author claims.

Of course you can do as much as you wish, but you might be moving your beer style to something that might not properly be a APA to others. Or it might just not be adding that much more to the notes of that particular style of beer or covering up things you may have wanted to shine also.

 

[CASPERBREWS]

I think .75 to 1 pound of Honey Malt would be about the max I'd use. More than that might be too much, but that's just my preference. If you want a hint of it go with 5%; if you want to taste it go with 10%. 1.049 isn't out of range for that recipe. Off the top of my head I'd expect about that.

So out of those grains which one would you increase if I lower the the Honey Malt to .75 or 1 pound? Just curious on what you'd do if you were building the recipe?

 

[lumpher]

I'm definitely not a NEIPA expert, but I'd leave everything else as is, and bump up the Pilsen to 3.5 and Honey Malt down to 1 lb since you specify you want a sweet beer.

 

[Boleslaus]

So out of those grains which one would you increase if I lower the the Honey Malt to .75 or 1 pound? Just curious on what you'd do if you were building the recipe?

I would agree with sticking under 10% for sure. I think Honey Malt is one of those that you can cross a threshold into "woah that's way too much" pretty easily. If it were me I would start at 12 oz. and add more next time I brew if it wasn't enough. As for where to make up the additional gravity points it depends what you're going for in the finished beer. You could scale every other grain up proportionally to not alter your balance too much, you could increase just the Golden Promise for a bit drier finish, or you could scale up the Flaked Oats for a more NEIPA mouthfeel.

 

[mac_1103]

Just FYI, here are the results of a "titles only" search of the forums for honey malt. At least one member reported on brewing 100% honey malt beers here - said it makes "a nice sweet brown ale."

 

[Jmspears]

I just used 5% in a session hazy and it turned out really well. Definitely wasn’t over done. Still turned out pretty dry with just a touch of sweetness. I think 10% would be fine. I’d be hesitant to go over that for this particular style. I’d think you really want the hops to be the star.

 

[CASPERBREWS]

I just used 5% in a session hazy and it turned out really well. Definitely wasn’t over done. Still turned out pretty dry with just a touch of sweetness. I think 10% would be fine. I’d be hesitant to go over that for this particular style. I’d think you really want the hops to be the star.

So based on the grains I'm using if I lowered Honey Malt to 5% or 10% what grain percentage would you increase?

 

[day_trippr]

I would simply raise the base malt by the 5%.

fwiw, I recommend keeping below 5% on the Honey malt lest the result turn out cloying. In practice I'm down around 3%...

Cheers!

 

[Jmspears]

So based on the grains I'm using if I lowered Honey Malt to 5% or 10% what grain percentage would you increase?

I would personally probably increase the flaked oats or Pilsner to make up the gravity points.

 

[hottpeper13]

I make a 1.044 Kolsch that finishes at 1.011 and at 3% it's just there and way drinkable. At 5%, even when finishing at 1.011 the beer was cloyingly sweet and I had to blend it. Maybe in a beer with more flavor you could use more. I would start small and repeat until you have what you're looking for.

 

[Willy]

I'm definitely not a NEIPA expert, but I'd leave everything else as is, and bump up the Pilsen to 3.5 and Honey Malt down to 1 lb since you specify you want a sweet beer.

Yup. My advice too. Just add more pilsner (or pale ale if you like ). For 5 lb batches, I use less than .5-.75 lb as a max. For me -Most uses are less than a 1/2 lb.

 

[redrocker652002]

I just did a blonde ale, and I think I only used about 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound in it. Now, with that said, something happened in the transfer and it was not drinkable, but in all the recipes I have looked at, I have never seen anything using more than about 5% I think.

 

[IslandLizard]

Honey Malt is NOT a crystal or caramalt malt. It' was inspired by "Brühmalz."
There are also Melanoidin Malts, and Aromatic Malts, all creations of different flavorful malts.

Gambrinus, the original maltster that created Honey Malt, lists the maximum usage at 10%.
https://gambrinusmalting.com/gambrinus-honey-malt/

 

[HM-2]

fwiw, I recommend keeping below 5% on the Honey malt lest the result turn out cloying. In practice I'm down around 3%...

3% is, IMO, the sweet spot.

 

[Willy]

3% is, IMO, the sweet spot.

Yup. A little goes a long way.
It is the Lebowski rug that brings it all together man.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I use 4oz/5gal and never look back

 

[hottpeper13]

Got one on tap now, love it! 4 oz rules, it and acidulated are the most costly, so 4 oz of the later also.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I use 10% honey malt in my Niagara wheat beer as well as 6% maple syrup and it works well.

 

[WesBrew]

For reference I use 7% honey malt in a 5%abv honey blond ale. It’s a nice touch of honey flavor without having to hunt for it, or overwhelm the beer.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

There's two beers on my rotation that I use honey malt - Honey Nut Beer-ios and Honey blonde. Even the Cheerios one only has one pound of Honey malt. I would dial that back to. 5 -. 75 lb. for starters.

 

[redrocker652002]

There's two beers on my rotation that I use honey malt - Honey Nut Beer-ios and Honey blonde. Even the Cheerios one only has one pound of Honey malt. I would dial that back to. 5 -. 75 lb. for starters.

The Beerios sounds pretty good. Would you be able to PM me the recipe you use? If not, no worries. Don't mean to hijack the thread.

On topic, I looked at my Blonde recipe and it had 4oz of Honey Malt, which ended up to be about 4% of the recipe.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

The Beerios sounds pretty good. Would you be able to PM me the recipe you use? If not, no worries. Don't mean to hijack the thread.

On topic, I looked at my Blonde recipe and it had 4oz of Honey Malt, which ended up to be about 4% of the recipe.

I don't really give that one out. I can say to just use some HNC and a bunch of honey malt in your favorite base. Good luck!

 

[Kickass]

I don't really give that one out.

Ruthless!