honey malt

[jstringer1983]

So im new to all grain (8 batches under my belt) and i have been working on the same 2 recipes since i started AG: a blonde ale and a pale ale. My question is, will honey malt add any body to my beer? The reason i ask is both are mashed at the same temp, 148f because i prefer light body beers, however the blonde is always lighter in body than the pale ale. Both are identical recipes except the blonde gets .5 crystal 20 on top of the 10lbs 2 row, where as the pale ale gets .5 honey malt on 10lbs 2 row. Everything else is identical. Any thoughts? Id like the pale ale to be as light as the blonde is all......

 

[jstringer1983]

Sorry i should add there is hop difference also, blonde gets 1oz willamette @60 and the pale ale gets .5 cascade @60, 30 and a 1oz dry hop with cascade

 

[Talgrath]

Honey Malt doesn't really add much in the way of body, if anything it's lighter than most malts in my experience. What OG and FG are each beer?

 

[LLBrewer]

Same yeast for both also?

 

[giraffe]

Honey malt is a domestic melanoidin malt with some light crystal characteristics. It may add a touch of body. I have doubts it would be that noticeable.

 

[jstringer1983]

So the blonde ale consistently comes in at a 1.049 og/ 1.010 fg, whereas the pale ale has varied a bit, but the last 2 batches have been 1.052 og/ 1.010fg. Both recipes get 2 hydrated packs of US-05, and both are in primary for 2 weeks in a temp controlled chamber @ 66f and kegged, same carb level also.

 

[Talgrath]

Hrrrm, you're overpitching your yeast by quite a bit there unless you're making 10 gallon batches, that's probably the reason. One rehydrated pack of US-05 should handle 5 gallons of beer up to 1.060. Use one pack per batch and see if that doesn't turn out better for you, the OG and FG look fine.

 

[jstringer1983]

Not to start a conversation up that has probably been beaten to death, but there have been instances where i wondered maybe i sould go back to pitching one 11.5g pack, but it seems there are 2 schools of thought, those who overpitch for safetys sake and those who dont. I know i overpitch but i sleep better at night, also my blonde ale is great and it gets a double shot as well. Not to rule that out but im not sure thats my issue. I may try a single pack as you said and see though, im curious now

 

[Talgrath]

Well, there's a difference between a slight overpitch and more than double. Technically a single packet of US-05 on a 1.049 OG beer is an overpitch still...but it's as slight of an overpitch as to be essentially unimportant. In fact, I have actually slightly underpitched with US-05 a couple of times, tossing a single pack into a beer 1.070-1.080 with no noticeable issues, so keep that in mind. With two packets of US-05 you're more than doubling what you need for either beer on a yeast that likes to finish light, dry and clear to start with on a beer that is 3 gravity lower than your pale, I'm not 100% sure that will fix the issue, but either way not massively overpitching will save you money and probably improve the flavor of your beers.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Rather than pitching all these dry packs, I suggest collecting a jar of slurry, and pitching to the next batch...very simple, saves a few bucks and the results just seem to work for me....quick starts, healthy ferments as well or better than the first dry pitch. Win win

 

[jstringer1983]

I was under the assumption that one pack was good but you still run a slight risk of an underpitch if there are any problems with the pack, so 2 is good insurance. If 2 packs is a gross overpitch maybe i will try just one pack this weekend. All of the pitch rate calculators ive tried seem to lead me in the direction of 2 packs but it could also be user error lol. As far as slurry collection ive wanted to move that way, but i rack my beers on full trub (all of my kettle, break material and all) so wont that make yeast collection difficult?

 

[wilserbrewer]

Not at all, I ferment the whole kettle and have been using yeast slurry for a few years.

 

[Talgrath]

I was under the assumption that one pack was good but you still run a slight risk of an underpitch if there are any problems with the pack, so 2 is good insurance. If 2 packs is a gross overpitch maybe i will try just one pack this weekend. All of the pitch rate calculators ive tried seem to lead me in the direction of 2 packs but it could also be user error lol. As far as slurry collection ive wanted to move that way, but i rack my beers on full trub (all of my kettle, break material and all) so wont that make yeast collection difficult?

Were you using Mr Malty? Because it has two numbers, one for 5 gram dry yeast packets (which I've never seen before) and one for 11.5 gram dry yeast packets. Look at the 11.5 and you get 0.9 for a 1.049 OG beer. I don't use yeast slurry myself, so I'll bow to the superior knowledge of others on that.

 

[jstringer1983]

No i pretty much just started pitching 2 packs after doing a bunch of reading online where various people said they always used 2 packs as cheap insurance. Ive never had any issues from under pitching per se, but i just started doing it and it became habit. Im actually chilling my pale ale for pitching as we speak and im gonna throw in 1 pack just to see if there are any notable differences

 

[jstringer1983]

The more i research the topic, the more im realizing that most use one 11.5 pack. I guess i am a bit paranoid about underpitching and thats what prompted me to throw in 2 packs, if this beer turns out the way i want ill know ive been wasting money lol