Using honey malt

[Twofox]

I know there've been lots of threads on this, but I've seen nothing about what I want to do.

Doing an Amber recipe and want to add some honey malt. Read somewhere that if you are using fruity hops then you can use more, etc. Heres' what I'm using:

5gal batch
1oz Willamette bittering @start
1oz Amarillo flavoring @15 mins left
1oz Amarillo aroma @ flameout

So how much would be too much honey malt? I'm looking for a touch (a bit more than a hint :cross of flavor, and don't want to overpower it.

Also, mash or steep?

 

[Scut_Monkey]

What grains are you using so far? Working off of memory alone, I think most often I see people using about 4-6oz of honey malt for a 5gal batch.

 

[bwomp313]

I used an entire lb of it in a Honey Rye Red Ale that I made and I thought that there was only a hint of honey flavor/sweetness. I'm thinking the hops and the rye were powerful enough to tone the honey down. I think in a subtler tasting beer less honey would be better. And to your mash/steep question; I'm almost positive it has to be mashed.

 

[Twofox]

What grains are you using so far? Working off of memory alone, I think most often I see people using about 4-6oz of honey malt for a 5gal batch.

Here's the recipe.

6# pale DME
.5# Crystal 40L
.5# Crystal 60l
1oz Willamette 5% bittering full 650 mins
1oz Amarillo 8.9% flavor 15 mins
1oz Amarillo 8.9% aroma flameout
Yeast

Working on different ones, but something less dry for an amber ale like Cali V probably. Nottingham was just a little too dry for my tastes

I've been reading anywhere from a few OZ to a full LB of honey malt. Would the fruity hops temper some of that?

 

[Twofox]

Bump. Still looking for some info

 

[defenestrate]

Here's the recipe.

6# pale DME
.5# Crystal 40L
.5# Crystal 60l
1oz Willamette 5% bittering full 650 mins
1oz Amarillo 8.9% flavor 15 mins
1oz Amarillo 8.9% aroma flameout
Yeast

Working on different ones, but something less dry for an amber ale like Cali V probably. Nottingham was just a little too dry for my tastes

I've been reading anywhere from a few OZ to a full LB of honey malt. Would the fruity hops temper some of that?

in my experience with honey malt, it varies greatly with the rest of the bill and the hops. i dont think "fruity" hops have anything in particular to do with it, i would just say overall hop flavor does.

i've used 2.5# (18% of the bill) in a honey rye pale ale at 38 ibu. this was delish but i think the agressive hops and the rye played a big part in balancing out that much honey.
i've also used 2# (14% of the bill) in a ginger ale and again it was delish, but i used quite a bit of ginger to balance the sweetness.
lastly i've used 14 oz (7.5% of the bill) in a blonde, and it was too much. the next time i do the blonde i'm dropping the honey to 8 or 10 oz.

so basically this was a really long winded way of sharing my experience.
with your batch i would start with 12 oz i think. p.s. us-05 will work great as well.

 

[Twofox]

Ok. thanks for the insight. So basically it's going to add sweetness, so balance that against what you have. I'm thinking this amber will be a little sweet, so I might just start small.

 

[defenestrate]

let us know how it turns out! i'm sure it will take a few batches to hammer out.

 

[Twofox]

let us know how it turns out! i'm sure it will take a few batches to hammer out.

Thanks, will do.

 

[daveooph131]

I love using honey malt in fact I use it instead of crystal in my apa. I would recommend using half a pound in place of the crystal 40L

 

[Twofox]

Thanks for all the replies!

Actually been tweaking the recipe for balance reasons. Here's what I have:

6# Pale DME
.75# Crystal 40L
.75# Crystal 60L
.5# Honey malt
1oz Willamette bittering @start
1oz Amarillo flavoring @15 mins left
1oz Amarillo aroma @ flameout

So now I'm wondering if upping the honey to .75# would be too much?

 

[permo]

I made this beer....the honey malt is far to prevelent. It was one of my first all grain recipes, before I learned moderation is key in using specialty malts. The intense honey flavor that it imparts I think would be awesome in a nutbrown....or also in a wheat beerish type thing with some actual honey...like honey lemon wheat or something.

The best advice I can give you is that your recipe is looking to be a great pale ale or bitter....don't mess it up with an odd sweet flavor that doesn't belong.


5.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 41.67 %
5.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 41.67 %
1.00 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 8.33 %
1.00 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 8.33 %
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) (First Wort Hop) Hops 18.5 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (20 min) Hops 10.2 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (10 min) Hops 2.8 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (5 min) Hops 1.5 IBU



Beer Profile


Measured Original Gravity: 1.063 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.020 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.61 %
Bitterness: 32.9 IBU Calories: 287 cal/pint
Est Color: 8.6 SRM

 

[daveooph131]

Thanks for all the replies!

Actually been tweaking the recipe for balance reasons. Here's what I have:

6# Pale DME
.75# Crystal 40L
.75# Crystal 60L
.5# Honey malt
1oz Willamette bittering @start
1oz Amarillo flavoring @15 mins left
1oz Amarillo aroma @ flameout

So now I'm wondering if upping the honey to .75# would be too much?

I think .75 of honey malt would be fine. Like I said I used .50# in my apa and it wasn't very noticable. However, I personally would keep the crystal total to 1# total. I think any more and you could end up with too sweat of a brew. But I almos must confess, I don't really like using crystal too much.

 

[bwomp313]

yeah I must say that using 1.5 # of crystal and then another .5 lb of honey malt is going to give A LOT of residual sweetness

 

[TimBrewz]

Rule of thumb - no more than 10% crystal (and honey malt counts for crystal in my estimation) for most moderate gravity beers. I have used honey malt in an Alesmith IPA clone, and I think it was only 1 oz. I think your beer as is will be too sweet. You are using extract, which in most cases will also leave a bit more sweetness than all-grain, so be careful with all that unfermentable sugar. I would do:

6# Pale DME
1 oz pale chocolate (200L) - this will add color without sweetness.
2 oz (.125#)Crystal 40L
4 oz(.25#) Crystal 60L
8 oz (5#) Honey malt
1oz Willamette bittering @start
1oz Amarillo flavoring @15 mins left
1oz Amarillo aroma @ flameout

That will keep your amber color(somewhat lighter),keep you right around or under 10% for crystal malts and allow the honey malt to shine. My 2 cents.

Happy Brewin!
Tim

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

Two pounds of crystal grains is going to be overpowering at that IBU level.

I have a beer that I make frequently that uses 1.5# of honey malt at about the same IBU as your recipe, but it's deliberately over the top to make a dessert beer.

 

[Twofox]

Two pounds of crystal grains is going to be overpowering at that IBU level.

I have a beer that I make frequently that uses 1.5# of honey malt at about the same IBU as your recipe, but it's deliberately over the top to make a dessert beer.

IBU's are about 31-33 in beersmith. (Strangely the recipe without the honey malt is less IBU's)

So say .5# each 40, 60, hoeny malts? I'm shooting for more than a hint, and not overpowering for sure.

Also, I haven't found anywhere that mentions a max % for crystals, but they do mention less than 10% for honey malt.

 

[TimBrewz]

That 10% thing is just what I have read on a number of threads, also I find that most american ale clone recipes stay in the 3-10% range of crystal malts. But, hey 1/2 lb each- go for it! That what homebrewing is all about.

 

[Twofox]

Ahhh ok, haven't been around as long obviously

Yeah the more I think about it, I think I'll just add .5# honey malt and go from there. Seems like there isn't a definitive answer about the stuff anyways heh.

Besides, I tasted what's in the secondary with some amarillo dry hopping and behind the green I think there's a pretty good beer there!

 

[fastricky]

I find Honey malt is more like a turbo-charged Munich than a crystal malt...

 

[PorterIdontknowher]

Wish I had seen this thread before Friday... I might have changed what is currently sitting in my spare bathroom...

Since this is my first post ever, am I contractually obligated to post "Its been two days and I'm not seeing any activity in my airlock. Is my beer ruined?"

Anyway, for my 4th batch ever (2 kits for the first two, a fairly straightforward porter for the 3rd) I decided to do something different:

6 lbs Briess Wheat LME
1 lbs Wheat DME
2 lbs Honey Malt

1.75 oz Magnum 10% @60min
.75 oz Amarillo 9.1% @15min
.75 oz Amarillo @5min
.75 oz Amarillo @flameout
.5 oz bitter orange peel @5min

WLP300

Its now been fermenting in my spare bathroom for two days and smells like Amarillo and

Its going to end up a reddish-brown Hefe-IPA thing... but we'll see how it comes out...

It will likely be drinkable... maybe not to someone of normal sensibilities... but discovery of how you can screw up is half the fun, right?

BTW... if using a siphon to put the beer in the fermenter... put the orange peel in a bag... darn if that stuff didn't clog my autosiphon every 4 seconds...

 

[Twofox]

but discovery of how you can screw up is half the fun, right?

haha... I hear you there! The wife and I are working at maybe screwing up an easy mead, just so we'll know next time

Update: I used the 1/2 lb of honey malt in that recipe, and it's a week in the secondary. When I dry hopped it yesterday I tasted it and it's looking to be a pretty good batch. The honey malt isn't really evident other than a slightly smoother mouthfeel. Not much in the honey notes yet, but age will tell.