Light honey ale

[zmad2000]

I can up with the recipe below after trying to figure out what to do with my left over ingredients.

3.5 gal boil
5 gal batch

3lbs Light DME
3lbs honey

.5oz Cascade 60min
.5oz Cascade 15min

1lb of DME will be added at the start of the boil and then at 15min the rest will be added. At 10min i will start to mix in the honey in order to preserve the honey taste.

The way i figure it. This brew should be very light and refreshing when cold. So far most of my other beers have been on the malty and heavy side so i kinda want something on the light and little hoppy. Something close to a kolsch beer.

I also have Pacific New Zealand Hallertauer and Hallertauer hops.

Any criticism would be appreciated.

 

[zmad2000]

Anybody got some advice on this???

 

[ghpeel]

So what this recipe will make is probably NOT what you have in mind. This is a Braggot, a half beer, half mead hybrid, and they are usually darker, much stronger and aged for several months at least.

What your recipe will make will be kinda like a beer sprizter. Like champagne or white wine mixed in a blonde ale. I made one that was pretty close to this recipe a few years back. You won't get a real strong honey flavor here either. believe it or not. I used 2.6lbs and had very little honey flavor at all. It was actually kind of like 'lemon' tasting, in a good way. It was pretty tasty but not at all what I had in mind.

I suspect what you want is a crisp beer with a slight honey taste. If so, reduce your honey to just 1lb, increase the Dry LME to about 4.5lb and add about 1/4 pound of "Honey Malt". That's a crystal malt that gives a sweeter flavor closer to honey than the normal caramel kind of thing from crystal malt.

 

[TimTrone]

+1 on the honey malt. It will give you more of a honey taste than using real honey. Seems weird, but that's the way it works.

I think the recipe you have will be good, but it will take some aging.

 

[zmad2000]

I was kinda going for a beer not a braggot. Might try that later but my goal with the honey was to add fermentables.

 

[natefrog255]

Looking for a light crisp beer with a honey aftertaste. Here is my recipe and let me know what you think.

1 gallon boil
2 gallon batch

1 lb Clover Honey
1.5 lb Briess Golden LME
3.3 g Maltodextrin (to counter honey dryness)

0.25 Centennial Hops - 60 minutes

Add Golden LME once water to boil. Add honey with a few minutes left in the boil for flavoring.

 

[natefrog255]

That should be 3.3 oz of maltodextrin, not grams.