Summer Time Honey Ale Q's

[BMWillis]

Hey all!

I finally broke down and got myself a homebrew starting kit. After my first brew day last Friday (an Irish Red that's currently fermenting nicely ), it's safe to say that I'm 100% addicted to this homebrewing thing!

I'm already starting to plan my next batch, and with summer coming up I thought something lighter and session-able would be good. Add in the fact that the girlfriend wanted something a little sweeter, I think I've settled on a Honey Ale kit from Midwest.

I've read a little about brewing with honey, and it sounds like in order to capture more of the honey taste, I should use some honey malt, but my question is how much? Is there a specific ratio I should be looking for? The recipe has 8oz of Carapils included with it, along with 3lbs. of clover honey. Would 4oz of honey malt be too much?

My initial idea was the addition of the honey malt during the steep and an extra pound of local honey at flame out. Would that result in a slightly sweet-ish light ale?

 

[OneImpBrewery]

Hey and welcome to the forum! Here is the best info I could find

Honey malt and regular honey are pretty different in how the affect beer. Regular honey is highly fermentable, which means it will dry out your beer and won't leave much honey flavor. Honey malt is much more unfermentable which means some sweetness and the flavor of honey. If you want to add the flavor of honey to your brew, use the malt. If you want a good fermentable to boost ABV, use regular honey...

I brewed a honey cream ale from williams brewing

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/WILLIAMS-HONEY-CREAM-ALE-P2081.aspx

That turned out very well. But it did not use any honey malt. In fact it was the easiest brew i've ever done. Its just LME with no steeping. But matches what you may be looking for.

Good Luck

-imp

 

[DerangedBrewer]

I'm planning on brewing this soon as well! Anyone else out there have a review on this beer?

 

[BMWillis]

Hey and welcome to the forum! Here is the best info I could find



I brewed a honey cream ale from williams brewing

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/WILLIAMS-HONEY-CREAM-ALE-P2081.aspx

That turned out very well. But it did not use any honey malt. In fact it was the easiest brew i've ever done. Its just LME with no steeping. But matches what you may be looking for.

Good Luck

-imp

Thanks for the info Imp! Definitely confirms what I thought, honey means more ABV and drier beer, malt means more honey flavor.

Sounds like my plan to add a little bit of both is inline with what I want the final product to be. I do really like the idea of adding some cream ale attributes, this is quickly becoming my first semi-custom recipe!




Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[BMWillis]

Decided to take this in a Wheat ale direction, and I think I've finally nailed down a recipe I'm happy with:

All Oregonian Honey Wheat
8oz. Carapils
8oz. Honey Malt
3lbs. Wheat DME
4lbs. Local Orange Blossom Honey
1oz. Willamette
1oz. Cascade

Steep grains at 155F for 30 minutes, add 3lbs. DME and 1oz. Willamette hops once boil has been achieved. 40 minutes into the boil add 3lbs. of honey. 59 minutes in add 1oz. Cascade hops. At flame out add the last lb of honey. Pitch a 1.5L starter of Wyeast 1010 (or two smackpacks).


Should hopefully have this all brewed up in the next couple weeks, just need to gather all the ingredients and move my brew in my primary to the secondary. Any comments and critiques are welcome!

 

[Gj317]

I did the honey creme ale from Williams and it turned out great. I think it would make a great summer time beer.