Honey malt.!

[Jban7]

Hello every one !
First post on the website or any sort of forum for that mater. I have been brewing for just over a year now and am on my 10th all grain batch of beer. I could say I think I found my passion.
My question is of all the research I have found on honey malt it quite fascinating and intriguing. I bought a couple pounds of honey malt a while back and can NOT decide on a recipe that includes this mysterious stuff.
Hoping for some direction or a good recipe.
Cheers Josh

 

[McKnuckle]

I have used honey malt as a low percentage character malt in pale ale. Start with something like this:

88% base malt
5% crystal malt in the 20-30L range
4% of a body enhancing grain, like torrified wheat or flaked barley
3% honey malt

My last run used Vienna as a base malt, Caravienne, torrified wheat, and honey malt. It produced a 1.046 OG with about 6.5 SRM. Hops of your choice to about 30 IBU. I used Mosaic and Simcoe, but sky's the limit.

I am curious to push the honey a bit higher, probably to 4% as a next step. I'd like to see where the threshold is. I had read warnings that it's a strong flavor, but at 3% it's definitely not a dominant component yet.

 

[Jban7]

What do you recommend for water profile ?

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, for my taste, I have found the cloying threshold for Gambrinus honey malt is 5%. I keep it around 2-3%...

Cheers!

 

[McKnuckle]

What do you recommend for water profile ?

Ca 81, Mg 0, Na 0, Cl 60, SO4 112. Estimated mash pH 5.39
Add 0.12g/L CaCl, 0.2g/L gypsum, and 0.05 mL/L lactic acid based on total volume, using distilled water

 

[Jban7]

Ca 81, Mg 0, Na 0, Cl 60, SO4 112. Estimated mash pH 5.39
Add 0.12g/L CaCl, 0.2g/L gypsum, and 0.05 mL/L lactic acid based on total volume, using distilled water

Thanks for the info !
I will do exactly that for my next batch using 2 row and quick oats to keep it simple.
Hops I will go with .5 oz magnum for bitter and 1 oz Idaho 7 for a dry hop.
Iv been using Voss kveik for most of my beers lately as I live off grid with no hydro and is nearly impossible to keep a steady fermentation temperature. This yeast is a machine when it come to home brewing. I still keep it in the high 60' to lower 70's though I dont go as hot as they say it can go. I'm kinda sick of the orange flavor it can give. To many "fast beers" hah
Cheers ill keep you posted

 

[couchsending]

Honey malt is best at around 2ish %. It’s a great malt for subtly accenting certain things. It will not make your beer taste like honey in large percentages.

 

[hottpeper13]

I use it in my lagers when I don't want to do a decoction.

 

[Jban7]

I have used honey malt as a low percentage character malt in pale ale. Start with something like this:

88% base malt
5% crystal malt in the 20-30L range
4% of a body enhancing grain, like torrified wheat or flaked barley
3% honey malt

My last run used Vienna as a base malt, Caravienne, torrified wheat, and honey malt. It produced a 1.046 OG with about 6.5 SRM. Hops of your choice to about 30 IBU. I used Mosaic and Simcoe, but sky's the limit.

I am curious to push the honey a bit higher, probably to 4% as a next step. I'd like to see where the threshold is. I had read warnings that it's a strong flavor, but at 3% it's definitely not a dominant component yet.

Ended up really good. I also added .5 lbs of honey because why not hah. Using voss gave it a really nice fruity taste but not over powering as I fermented it at about 65 to 68°f then slowly increased it to 74 before keg cold crashing. Even my wife likes this one. How ever I dont know if I would put Idaho 7 in it next time or if I ever will use it again. I get a really catty weed like tastes from in. I knew that before putting it in just by smelling it. so I only dry opped it for about 6 hrs.
Thanks for the recipe I will DEFINITELY do this again exactly the same except the 007 hops

Cheers

 

[Pappers_]

Chicago Chorale Pub Ale This is an English style pale ale that I brewed with some honey and a small amount of honey malt. It took a bronze and gold medals in a couple of competitions in last 2019 and early 2020.

 

[Golddiggie]

I brew a honey ale that's 20% honey malt (the other 80% is UK 2 row. Use target and EKG hops (hop bursting technique) and it comes out great every time. The recipe is intended to accentuate the honey character of honey malt. My earlier versions were with lower percentages of honey malt. But it didn't give the flavor profile I was looking for. Medium body mash profile.
I also use some in my mocha porter (8.7% in that recipe) with solid results. The honey malt there is a contributor to the rest of the grains.

IME/IMO, it really depends on what kind of brew you're looking to have. If you just want to add what the honey malt will give you to a recipe, that already has additional malts, then add a bit. If you plan to make it the star, then you need to add more. I do use it in several of my recipes to different levels, but those tend to have more than 5% of the grist as honey malt. Even when the flavor profile is dominated with other malts.

IME, using actual honey in a batch won't give you much of anything for flavors. It simply ferments away. Unless you add a LOT of honey, which isn't cheap. You'll also lose the character of most honey in a beer. Unless you make a very simple recipe at least. Very different when you make a mead since the honey is the ONLY fermenting sugar added. It won't be overwhelmed by other ingredients. In the past I would bottle condition with honey, but that really didn't give anything either. When you really don't get economical honey unless you buy gallons of it at a time (from apiaries) it's an expensive item to use (averaging over $4/# in grocery stores for anything with any flavor). Lowest I've ever paid was $2.75/# when I bought a 5 gallon bucket many years back.

This is why there's honey malt.

 

[PberBob]

I’ve got a Honey Pale ale in the works now. I use Honey malt to get the aroma and 40/50 Crystal to get a honey flavor note. I use Perle or Willamette hops at 20 min and dry hop with Columbus and Amarillo to emphasize an orange-blossom note in the aroma.

0.5 lb Honey malt
0.5 lb crystal 40/50
10 lb 2-row Domestic

Mash at 151-149 F

15 g Columbus 60 min
15 g Willamette or Perle 20 min
30 g Amarillo whirlpool 180 F/20 min
30 g Amarillo dry hop 3 days
15 g Columbus dry hop 3 days

Ca 60 / SO4 104/ Cl 28

Wyeast 1056 or US-05

 

[Jban7]

I brew a honey ale that's 20% honey malt (the other 80% is UK 2 row. Use target and EKG hops (hop bursting technique) and it comes out great every time. The recipe is intended to accentuate the honey character of honey malt. My earlier versions were with lower percentages of honey malt. But it didn't give the flavor profile I was looking for. Medium body mash profile.
I also use some in my mocha porter (8.7% in that recipe) with solid results. The honey malt there is a contributor to the rest of the grains.

IME/IMO, it really depends on what kind of brew you're looking to have. If you just want to add what the honey malt will give you to a recipe, that already has additional malts, then add a bit. If you plan to make it the star, then you need to add more. I do use it in several of my recipes to different levels, but those tend to have more than 5% of the grist as honey malt. Even when the flavor profile is dominated with other malts.

IME, using actual honey in a batch won't give you much of anything for flavors. It simply ferments away. Unless you add a LOT of honey, which isn't cheap. You'll also lose the character of most honey in a beer. Unless you make a very simple recipe at least. Very different when you make a mead since the honey is the ONLY fermenting sugar added. It won't be overwhelmed by other ingredients. In the past I would bottle condition with honey, but that really didn't give anything either. When you really don't get economical honey unless you buy gallons of it at a time (from apiaries) it's an expensive item to use (averaging over $4/# in grocery stores for anything with any flavor). Lowest I've ever paid was $2.75/# when I bought a 5 gallon bucket many years back.

This is why there's honey malt.

Thanks for that really informative reply I will take that to bank and instantly use your advice. Tward the end of the keg when the beer i just brewed really started to clear out it kinda lost that honey note. Came out to me as just a back sweet. Which dont misconstrued that recipe mcknuckle shared with me was really delicious.I was mulling around in my brain that I would like to go to an extreme with honey malt just to see in maybe a half batch. I was going to go 10% and here I thought that I was being naughty. You say you brew one at 20% i think thats exactly what I'm going to try next time with the recipe I just brewed. I am a big fan of honey flavor so I'm guessing I'm going to like it.
I'll re post on this thread when I go for it if your interested.

 

[Jban7]

I have used honey malt as a low percentage character malt in pale ale. Start with something like this:

88% base malt
5% crystal malt in the 20-30L range
4% of a body enhancing grain, like torrified wheat or flaked barley
3% honey malt

My last run used Vienna as a base malt, Caravienne, torrified wheat, and honey malt. It produced a 1.046 OG with about 6.5 SRM. Hops of your choice to about 30 IBU. I used Mosaic and Simcoe, but sky's the limit.

I am curious to push the honey a bit higher, probably to 4% as a next step. I'd like to see where the threshold is. I had read warnings that it's a strong flavor, but at 3% it's definitely not a dominant component yet.

I know i mentioned that you recipe was good but its getting better and better with age. Thanks again. I will definitely be brewing this again and again.
Thanks

 

[McKnuckle]

That's awesome! Thank you for the feedback. So glad it was something you were able to brew and enjoy.