I was planning a Holiday Ale for the weekend and wanted to impart some more sweetness than I ever do with some Honey Malt. My shipment is not going to make it in time and I can't get to a HBS. If I can't find another local HB at our club meeting tonight with any, I need to find a way to substitute something for a half pound of Honey Malt....got any ideas?
Quick help! Honey Malt not available-Substitute?
- Thread starter chezhed
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FATC1TY
Well-Known Member
Sweetness you can add with something of the same color.. Honey malt is what.. 25 or so? So shoot for a crystal malt around 20-30*L.. C-40 would probably work, if you are wanting to keep the color lighter. C80 will have the most caramel sweetness though.
You won't get that sweet honey note, as it's all I can think of that will do it, but getting that sweet honey caramel note you can get close with just some
You won't get that sweet honey note, as it's all I can think of that will do it, but getting that sweet honey caramel note you can get close with just some
This ^
There's really no other malt like it.
You can add a tasty local honey after the primary has mostly subsided, but it also adds fermentables and thus alcohol, so adjust your recipe. I never get much flavor from honey additions though. YMMV.
There's really no other malt like it.
You can add a tasty local honey after the primary has mostly subsided, but it also adds fermentables and thus alcohol, so adjust your recipe. I never get much flavor from honey additions though. YMMV.
I know no other malt close to honey malt...its fairly unique in its residual flavors. If maltyness is what your after, higher mash temp will leave some sugars behind but not that honey like flavor. Lactose sugar or another nonfermentable...again not same flavor...increase the lower crystals..there's at least a dozen ways to get the extra sweetness..
**folks above beat me to it... basic recipe info might help too..
**folks above beat me to it... basic recipe info might help too..
OP
OP
chezhed
Well-Known Member
Got a hint as to when to add the honey? My recipe says I'm going from 1.058 to 1.015 as a guide. I don't secondary and had this planned to sit in primary for about 3 weeks, bottling half and kegging half of a 6 gallon batch.
I was going to add some local honey at flameout as well.
Adding honey to the boil removes a lot of the aroma, and the yeast goes berserk on the simple sugars, creating fusel alcohols unless you keep the ferm temps low. Then more flavor is stripped out with the CO2 production during fermentation.
So I would wait until the primary is about 2/3 finished, definitely a couple days after the krausen has fallen and fermentation has quieted down quite a bit. You got to eyeball where the process is about. Not that critical, though. Then add the honey.
You may want to pasteurize the honey you bought for all security, although reading some of the mead makers threads here can give you some extra wisdom. Diluting the honey with a bit of sterilized (boiled) water also makes it easier to mix into your beer. You don't want it to lay on the bottom, so a gentle stir will be needed.
And that's where it will help to first rack it off into a glass carboy (small headspace), and ferment a true secondary at a low temperature.
Maybe someone else can chime in.
Depending on how thick it is, honey adds 35-42 points of fermentables per pound per gallon. So 2 pounds of honey (say at 36 points per pound) in 6 gallons raises your beer's gravity by around 12 points (72 pts/6 gal).
You can keep your alcohol level the same by eliminating equivalent points (72) when calculating and brewing your recipe. Reduce malt or extract.
Since your beer will be more fermentable because of the honey (simple sugar), mash higher and/or add some more crystal malt to balance out.
So I would wait until the primary is about 2/3 finished, definitely a couple days after the krausen has fallen and fermentation has quieted down quite a bit. You got to eyeball where the process is about. Not that critical, though. Then add the honey.
You may want to pasteurize the honey you bought for all security, although reading some of the mead makers threads here can give you some extra wisdom. Diluting the honey with a bit of sterilized (boiled) water also makes it easier to mix into your beer. You don't want it to lay on the bottom, so a gentle stir will be needed.
And that's where it will help to first rack it off into a glass carboy (small headspace), and ferment a true secondary at a low temperature.
Maybe someone else can chime in.
Depending on how thick it is, honey adds 35-42 points of fermentables per pound per gallon. So 2 pounds of honey (say at 36 points per pound) in 6 gallons raises your beer's gravity by around 12 points (72 pts/6 gal).
You can keep your alcohol level the same by eliminating equivalent points (72) when calculating and brewing your recipe. Reduce malt or extract.
Since your beer will be more fermentable because of the honey (simple sugar), mash higher and/or add some more crystal malt to balance out.
HowardMBeers
Well-Known Member
I though honey malt was a version of Brumalt?
Maybe add more Munich and Light Crystal or carapils like suggested above.
Or caravienna or caramunich...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Brumalt
Maybe add more Munich and Light Crystal or carapils like suggested above.
Or caravienna or caramunich...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Brumalt
You're welcome.
Your recipes OG is planned at 1.058 with an FG at 1.015. that gives you 5.6% alcohol (see brewersfriend.com_abv_calculator)
Say, adding 12 points to that (2 pounds of honey) gets your OG to 1.070, with an alcohol potential of 7.22%.
If you don't want your alcohol to be that high, reduce the base malt bill slightly to bring the total OG (after including the honey you'll add later) to around 1.064-1068 since a.) it's a holiday ale (!) and b.) to compensate for the simple sugars.
Since you're also adding some extra water with your honey, a quart at least perhaps more, you could/should include that extra quart to 1/2 gallon in your recipe's final volume. This is not to throw your bitterness etc, off too much. You can taste 10% dilution (1/2 gallon in 5). 5% is borderline.
One more note:
Make sure it will fit into your primary fermentor, 6 gallons is quite large. After racking and adding the honey syrup your secondary will also be close to 6 gals (honey+water-trub loss).
