Honey?

[ajosin]

Hi, I'm thinking about using Honey on my next brew (golden ale). I read in the joy of home brewing that Honey gives the beer a fresh crispiness that I think would go well with this style. Anyone has any experience with Honey? Does ~1lb of Honey added to the 6lb of usual Malt sound right? Thanks.

 

[Revvy]

Read this.

 

[dimmy32]

I've used it in beer...and have made mead several times.
I made a beer that was 50 % malt syrup and 50 % honey.
The hops have to support the honey...being light and flowery, not too strong.

Honey in beer is very subtle...and most commercial honey beers Ive tried have little to no honey taste.
I recommend trying it out...what have you got to lose ?

 

[birvine]

Too much can be too hot if you don't balance it right.

B

 

[frydogbrews]

i would go at least 2 pounds and drop a pound of malt. almost half of my beers have honey in them (i'm a beekeeper) and i love it. doesn't tend to add too much flavor, changes mouth feel though. the only downside to honey is that in larger quantities, like above 3 pounds, it needs an extra 2 weeks or so to mellow out, once it does though, it's terrific.

 

[ajosin]

Thanks guys, good info! Will let you know how it turns out.

 

[reezle]

Only bit of advice I would share is that anything with honey likes to be aged a long time. I 'try' many brews a few weeks after bottled to see if they are ready. My honey-braus usually aren't ready even for testing until about 2 months.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

A tip for the future. Be more precise in your thread titles. When I saw the question "Honey?" that is my cue to post the response "Yes sweety?" It's an old married couple reflex that is hard to break.

 

[amaier48]

when do you add the honey?

 

[Revvy]

A tip for the future. Be more precise in your thread titles. When I saw the question "Honey?" that is my cue to post the response "Yes sweety?" It's an old married couple reflex that is hard to break.

I thought it was "Yes my worshipful mistress."

 

[corwin3083]

If you use varietal honeys, you can retain more flavor in the finished beer. For example, I brewed a rosemary ale with buckwheat honey, which turned out to have a great mouthfeel and dark flavor. I also brewed a version with orange blossom honey, which...didn't turn out as well. However, both had a lot of flavor left over from the honeys.

If you want generic honey flavor, apparently (as Revvy said) you need to use honey malt, but I've never actually used that, so can't speak to it.

 

[frydogbrews]

listen to revvy

 

[corwin3083]

!!!

If the honey would be good for mead, yes, definitely use it in beer...

 

[Revvy]

yeah, as much as i respect revvy, you can certainly get honey flavor from honey. just not the lighter honeys. use late fall wildflower honey, the blacker the better,

I do believe I said EXACTLY that.

BUT if you insist on using actual honey, then you need to find the darkest, and strongest honey you can find. Don't use your basic pale yellow honey, that is nearly completely fermentable. But the darker the honey the more UNFERMENTABLES to lend the honey flavor.

I was lucky enough to lay my hands on a jar of 50 year old honey for my 50th birthday Barleywine mentioned in my sig line.

And then I suggested to boil your grocery store honey darker like in a brochet if that was all you had.

 

[frydogbrews]

ooooooohhhhhhhhh, now i remember reading that. sorry revvy.

and corwin, using dark honey (not talking about burned honey) can be a crap shoot in mead making. it can make some great mead, but you have the same chances that those mineraly flavors will contribute funk into your mead as mead is much more gently flavored than beer. there are other things in beer to cover up a little bit of dark honey funk, not true of mead.

 

[corwin3083]

I didn't suggest that if a honey would be good in a beer, it should be used for mead; only the opposite.