Make me a recipe with this new local honey...

[fendersrule]

Make me a 5G AG recipe with this honey that I picked up.

The honey taste like honey at first, but then towards the end tastes like wildflowers with a hint of mint. I feel like a porter/dark beer would ruin it. Maybe a sour?

 

[RPh_Guy]

Mead.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Make me a 5G AG recipe with this honey that I picked up.

The honey taste like honey at first, but then towards the end tastes like wildflowers with a hint of mint. I feel like a porter/dark beer would ruin it. Maybe a sour?

It reads like you want to 'showcase' the honey - so the malt, hops, and yeast need to take a supporting role. What about: 100% base malt (Maris Otter?) in the 4.5%-ish range, 30-ish IBUs of a noble-ish hop (EKG?) at start of boil, clean ale yeast (Nottingham?), add the honey towards the end of active fermentation to help retain the aromas / flavors.

 

[fendersrule]

Brewn....I'm liking that idea. How about pushing that up to the 5.5% range...maybe a little carapils to give it some head. Yep...30 IBU sounds about right....hell, maybe add some hibiscus...maybe just to change the color a little and maybe a very minor flavor addition....

Nottingham sounds good...maybe US-05 could work too.

I like your idea of adding the honey to the fermenter. I've only added honey during the boil...and maybe it's psychological...but there "may" be a slight "hint" of honey in my Irish Red that I made with 1LB added to the boil...hard to say...maybe with more aging it may come out more. But adding it straight into the fermentation vessel is a good idea. Would you dilute it at all, or just pour it straight in?

This honey is definitely not just a "sugary-sweet" honey...and an "early" honey that has some spring-tastes going on. There's lots of wild-flower and mint complexity that happens at the end of it that would be really wasteful to erase...

 

[RPh_Guy]

Keep in mind most local honey is raw and has wild microbes, so if you add it to a beer without pasteurizing, you run the risk of contamination and subsequent off-flavors and/or over-carbonation.

 

[CodeSection]

^^^^ So true. I add honey after flame out. This link may be helpful...

https://byo.com/article/brewing-with-honey/

 

[fendersrule]

pasterize then do flame out....

I'll post a recipe for a honey hibiscus ale later. Would like to get your guys' stamp of approval. I think it may be very nice to have during the winter with all the amber/dark stuff that I have stored.....

 

[CodeSection]

pasterize then do flame out....

I'll post a recipe for a honey hibiscus ale later. Would like to get your guys' stamp of approval. I think it may be very nice to have during the winter with all the amber/dark stuff that I have stored.....

Adding at flame out pasteurizes it. I'm interested in seeing your recipe.

 

[fendersrule]

Just a rough stab. I've never brewed with hibiscus before, so I don't know the best time to add that with this recipe....maybe at FO....or maybe 5 min left to boil so that it doesn't extract too much? Or maybe just in the primary. 1 OZ of it seem about right?

I took note to add honey on flame-out...which makes it also easier to mix in as well.

This is just a stab...could use your guy's input.

https://brewgr.com/recipe/74749/wildflower-honey-hibiscus-ale-recipe?public=true

I have honey @ 16% ferment-able right now to assure that it's "honey strong", but not too over bearing nor under bearing.

Carapils may not be needed. Maybe a hair bit of flaked wheat (2-4%) would be better just to give it some fluffiness.

I'd expect/want to the color to be a nice red hue.

If this recipe is good enough, then maybe a sour-version next summer would be mandatory.

152F Mash seems appropriate at the highest. Maybe even 150 or 151. Either one of those for me with US-05 will land at 1.007-1.009 with this recipe.

64-66F fermentation temp for first 3 days, then 68 to finish up...

 

[CodeSection]

I enjoy hibiscus tea. Now you got me thinking of brewing my own hibiscus honey ale. Yesterday, I spoke with a local beekeeper on his crop....wildflower and mesquite. I was looking for orange blossom for my Christmas Ale which I will probably order from a beekeeper in Mesa, AZ.

Here is a recipe you might be interested in..

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/346056/hibiscus-honey-ale

 

[fendersrule]

Yep...he's thinking the same as I was....adding a small amount of wheat is not a bad idea. He's using extract, though I could imagine you could use the real grain if you wanted.

Pilsner barley is actually a very nice choice actually......hmm.....cheaper and more easier available...and probably leads to a lighter flavor...

He's using A LOT of honey......33%.....I kinda....like that...but wow! I thought I was getting a little liberal with 16%.....

You guys thumb me something up and I'll brew it in 2-3 weeks!

This backyard wildflower honey is like nothing else I've had...it's the first time in my life where I had honey that actually tasted like flowers and mint at the very end...it goes to show I haven't had much fresh honey....

Bought 5lb for $20. A ripping steal.

 

[CodeSection]

I actually like the recipe wildflower honey hibiscus ale recipe you found.

That's a good price on honey. I'm paying $13 for three pounds of wildflower. I just went to the website of the Mesa, AZ beekeeper and saw the orange blossom honey went up to $25 for three pounds since I last saw it. I should have bought some earlier in the season.....

 

[fendersrule]

I made that. LOL. It's for you guys to play with, not me.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Yep...he's thinking the same as I was....adding a small amount of wheat is not a bad idea. He's using extract, though I could imagine you could use the real grain if you wanted.

One could also make the recipe all "extract" by using some Munich and Pilsen DME.

see also: https://forum.northernbrewer.com/t/honey/25161