Old Ale with caramelized honey (bochet)

[joyceman]

Im toying with brewing a beer with the taste of a bochet mead added. Really like the dark smokey caramel flavor in a bochet mead, and it seems like an interesting addition for a stout, brown, belgian or other big bear. Im stouted & belgianed out right now, and decided to try it in a old ale.

My recipe is this:
OG 1079
IBU 50
estimated FG 1020

12 lbs 2 row (maybe maris otter)
1 lb honey caramelized prior to mash by boiling for 1.5 hours
1 lb light munich
.5 lbs flaked barley
.25 lbs choc wheat
.5 biscuit
1.5 oz cascade 90
1 oz cascade 30
1 oz cascade 10
wlp 007
aged about 6-9 months

Couple of questions:

Anyone know how much a pound of caramelized honey will darken a beer? Seems like it should be roughly the same effect as a pound of dark candi sugar, but Im not sure on that. This comes in at 13 SRM not counting the honey. If the honey will significantly darken it I might sub out the chocolate & biscuit for a crystal & victory, or I can lower the amount of caramelized honey.

The hops are obviously non traditional, but Ive got alot of cascade in stock. Any suggestions for a late hop (preferably an american hop), columbus? Maybe simcoe?

Will 007 attenuate too low? Should I go with 002, 013 or US05?

 

[joyceman]

If anyone is following this, im brewing this today. Made alot of changes...

9 lbs 2 row
2 lbs munich
1 lb vienna
.5 lb sp roast
.5 lb biscuit
.5 lb flaked barley
.25 lb choc wheat
.25 lb carahell (10L)
1 lb caramelized honey (boiled 60-90 minutes)
1 oz cascade @ 60
1 oz northern brewer @ 30
1 oz EKG @ 10
wlp 013

I cant get solid info on the L of caramelized honey, but I think it should be similar to amber/dark candi sugar. Its probably going to come in darker than I would prefer, almost a porter. Has the makings of a malt bomb with alot of complexity. I think the sp roast & subtle choclolate will play nice with the toffee/burnt marshmallow of the honey.

 

[joyceman]

FYI for anyone who trys this, 1 lb of honey browns quickly. Heres mine after 30 minutes...

If you try adding caramelized honey to a batch, caramelize it in your brew kettle. It turns into a rock after caramelizing and I dont see anyway you could transfer it to another pot. I had to stir my first runnings on top of the honey (using a long handled spatula to scrape it off the bottom of the kettle) for almost the entire sparge time before the honey dissolved back into solution.