Using Honey Malt

[ajwillys]

Gambrinus is an hour away from me, so the honey malt i get is as fresh as its ever gonna get.

Lucky bastard.

 

[Gwitz]

Ya, but i have half a sack of honey malt in my grain room, i dont know what im gonna do with 25lbs of the stuff. But it only cost me 15 bucks so who could say no

Maybe a 100% honey malt brew for the lols.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

Just brewed a honey pale ale with honey malt. The recipe is as follows:

7 lbs of 2 row
2 lbs of Vienna
1 lb of C-60
1 lb of Honey Malt

.5 oz Amarillo @60
.5 oz Simcoe @20
.5 oz Amarillo @10
.5 oz Simcoe @5

WLP 051 is the yeast strain I am fermenting with.

It ended up an amber color so pale ale might not apply. We will see what happens, 1 lb of c-60 and one of honey malt should make this thing very sweet. I will dry hop in the keg with 1 oz half Amarillo half Simcoe.

To those who have found 1lb of Honey malt sweet, what did others say when they tasted that beer?

 

[MikeBilly]

This is a very timely thread for me.

I plan on brewing a raspberry infused Belgian, similar to Founder's Blushing Monk, and I wanted to use Honey Malt to sweeten it. Problem is, I have no idea how much. Here is the recipe on Hopville.

My initial plan is to use .5 lbs of Honey Malt in a 2.5 gallon batch. If you count the Raspberries, which I'm adding in secondary, that makes it 4% of the fermentables. If you don't count the raspberries it jumps to 7%.

Does this seem like too much? Not enough? Or maybe it's just right? Since I've never used the malt I'm a bit puzzled

 

[GabeSyme]

I steeped 4 oz of honey malt and 4oz of caramel malt into a 2.5Gal batch of hard cider. Wife loves it.

That sounds great! I'm thinking about making something like that for my lady. Do you steep them in the cider or in another quart of water? I'm curious as to the process in using grains in a cider.

 

[Irishwrench]

That sounds great! I'm thinking about making something like that for my lady. Do you steep them in the cider or in another quart of water? I'm curious as to the process in using grains in a cider.

Sorry for delayed reply. I steep the honey and caramel malts in a quart or so of water.
:rockin:

 

[dbball22]

I used 1/2lb in my honey wheat partial mash recipe and the sweetness was hardly noticeable. The beer finished out pretty dry, so I'm making the recipe again this weekend using 1lb of honey malt. I'll try to post the results and see if 1lb is noticeably different than 1/2lb. Recipe below.

I mashed at 150° for an hour.

OG 1.044
FG 1.007

4lb German Wheat
1lb Munich
1/2lb Honey Malt
2lb Light DME
1oz Cascade (60 min)
1oz Mt. Hood (flameout)

 

[Jayslay]

......Gambrinus is an hour away from me, so the honey malt i get is as fresh as its ever gonna get.

Hey Gwitz, I am returning to Vernon/Kelowna for my annual summer vacation in a couple weeks. Whats Gambrinus like, is it just a small storefront to a malt house? I guess I'm wondering if they offer tours or anything.. I think I may also want a big sack of honey malt.

 

[LongDog]

So, was it decided? Would it wok for someone to steep, say 6oz of honey malt along with 6oz of crystal 40? I'm thinking of doing that this weekend. What temp should I steep at?

 

[reed1911]

Steep at 150-160

 

[stachist]

Planning on a pound of honey malt in a Belgian Saison this weekend.


Should I be afraid? Or will it likely be balanced by the character of the yeast and orange peel / seeds of paradise? Or should I be even more afraid of those clashing?

I will also be adding two pounds of orange blossom honey- will the dryness added by that help balance out the honey malt?

And going back to the yeast again- I don't really have temp control and am in Iowa (warm right now)- will heavy character for wyeast's Belgian Saison strain overpower the honey malt? Or clash with it/ make it more evident?

 

[TheHairyHop]

I didn't have time to read all these pages, but I've used Gambrinus honey malt with success. To me, it's very potent. In an IIPA I used 4.4 oz of honey malt with 4.4 oz of 120 crystal, and the honey is pronounced. The flavor is definitely there.

 

[stachist]

I didn't have time to read all these pages, but I've used Gambrinus honey malt with success. To me, it's very potent. In an IIPA I used 4.4 oz of honey malt with 4.4 oz of 120 crystal, and the honey is pronounced. The flavor is definitely there.

There seems to be a lot of consensus that is strong and should be used sparingly, but then there are still a decent amound of comments saying they either used 1 lb successfully, or .5 lb and hardly noticed the presence.

 

[TheHairyHop]

I think it depends on the complexity of your malt bill and the other specialties used. I only used pale 2 row, victory and 120 C

 

[Calichusetts]

If you really want the honey flavor, I'd say to exceed the 10% rule most talk about. I was never happy with 5-10% in my honey ales. On the other hand, I just finished off my honey saison with nearly 20% honey and it was very strong and dominant. I wanted it to shine but not cover up everything else.

 

[Havesomebeer]

I Have done an all grain with 100% honey malt as the grain bill. I used hallertaur hops and ale yeast. Turned out very drinkable and me ofmy favorite beers to date. Right now im fermenting a pilsner with 1 lb honey malt mashed in. Can't wait to try it

 

[USM_Eagle]

I have used from 4Oz to 2#. I think if used in an ipa you really should drink them young (I know you should anyway but this is one malt that dominates with out having some hop to back it up IMO). 2# went into a rye barleywine. Again when young the beer was a nice hoppy, young barleywine. At 1 year it is a honey mess. I have a few more bottles so hopefully it will oxidize a more in the next year and take that out.

I personally really like honey malt with rye pales but I tread lightly with it now.

 

[Petekiteworld]

I just used a pound in an ipa. Replaced caravienne with honey malt. Should be interesting, especially with lots of amarillo...

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Oceantendency]

One of my best or favorite beers that a bunch of people like is my Honey Nelson Saison, I use the Gambrius Honey Malt, which is actually Canadian. I've used in various quantities depending on that style (6oz to 18oz), hops , and other grains to get the taste I want. I use to utilize a bunch of honey, but it's cheaper t go with the Honey Malt. I haven't had any beers give too much sweetness or too much honey taste as some have described on here. I love using the stuff in the right quantities. I wonder how dry the beers finished as some have claimed it's too overpowering. Also wonder if it had to do more with the combo of Crystal malts or other grains that yield that sweeter profile. Just food for thought, or beer for thought. haha ya get it..ok bad joke.

 

[Backslide]

I've had this thread opened in it's own tab for quite some time now. I figured I'd post on what I made using Honey malts.

It's a Vanilla Cream ale, not to be confused with a traditional Cream ale
5.25gal batch
8lb 8oz Maris Otter
1lb Honey Malt
8oz Cara Pils
10oz Lactos 10min
0.5 oz Chinook 40min 22.5IBU
4 Vanilla Beans
Wyeast 1056

Mash for 60min at 152 60min Boil. Ferment at 65.0 deg. Cut and scrapped vanilla beans into a small Pyrex container and covered with Tito's vodka (just enough to cover beans). I added Vanilla/Vodka at day 7 in primary, added 1oz of additional real vanilla extract at kegging. 5 days for force carb (sanke) at 6psi.

This beer turned out much better than I've ever expected. Nice honey taste in the background that helped balance the Vanilla. My wife's friends adore this brew, I'll most certainly make another batch for the ladies.


Jason

 

[BlastoidJohnson]

I'm planning on doing an IPA tomorrow with a full pound of the honey malt. Should be interesting to see how it comes out.

Results seem to be very different. Will report back in a month or so.

 

[yeknom366]

I'm planning on doing an IPA tomorrow with a full pound of the honey malt. Should be interesting to see how it comes out.

Results seem to be very different. Will report back in a month or so.

I use a pound of honey malt in all of my imperial ipa's. They've been great so far.

 

[Weezy]

West coast vs. East coast taste buds. If you want some flavor but not sweetness, use 1-3%. If you want a fuller flavor, go 4-5%. The bigger the beer, the lower the percentage ...imho

 

[Petekiteworld]

Full pound might be sweet or it might be amazing

 

[kmcrae]

I get the impression that honey malt has some diastatic power, but I can't find any specs for it.
Reading this post on it makes me think that steeping vs. mashing might have enough of an effect to be significant though:
http://www.brew-dudes.com/honey-malt/175
So maybe 8 oz. steeped is okay from one recipe, but 8 oz. mashed (with some base grains) puts it over the top perhaps?!?

 

[TheHairyHop]

Pardon my ignorance, but if you're looking for flavor, what are you suggesting is the difference between steeping and mashing? You're just making barley tea. Mashing will convert some of the starch to fermentables, but that's the only difference that I can think of

 

[csanborn26]

This is what I've got so far playing with a honey recipe any thoughts


Batch: Honey Lavender Wheat
Brewed By:Chris Sanborn
Style:American Wheat
Batch Size:5.00 gal
Boil Time:60 min
Initial Boil Volume:3.0 gal
Mash Methodartial Mash

Typical Style Characteristics
Style:American Wheat

Calculated & Measured Statistics
Calculated O.G.1.080 (66% Efficiency)
Calculated F.G.1.022 (72% Yeast Attenuation)
Measured O.G.0.000 (0% Actual Efficiency)
Measured F.G.0.000 (0% Actual Attenuation)
ABV8.1%
IBU16.0
SRM10.6°L

Malt Bill
Wheat Liquid Extract6.60 lbs1.0368.00Extract/Adjunct
Honey4.00 lbs1.0351.00Extract/Adjunct
Honey Malt - 25°L1.00 lbs1.03425.00Steeped Grain
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L0.25 lbs1.03520.00Steeped Grain

Hop Bill
Hop NameTime AddedWeightAA%Type
Hallertau (U.S)60 min1.00 oz4.5%Pellet Hop
Sorachi Ace10 min1.00 oz14.5%Pellet Hop
Citra (dry hop)14 days1.00 oz12.5%Leaf Hop

Yeast Details
Yeast StrainQuantityAttenuationFlocculation
Safale US-05 Fermentis Dry Ale172Low– Medium


Notes
Steep grains for about 30min

60 min LME
60 min Hallertau Hop
30 min 1lb Honey
10 min 1lb Honey
10 min Sorachi Ace Hop
Before aeration add 2 remaining lb of Honey
Safale US-05 Yeast
2oz of Lavender Extract added at beginning of secondary fermentation.
1oz of Citra Leaf Hops added at beginning of secondary fermentation.

 

[kmcrae]

Pardon my ignorance, but if you're looking for flavor, what are you suggesting is the difference between steeping and mashing? You're just making barley tea. Mashing will convert some of the starch to fermentables, but that's the only difference that I can think of

I agree. I don't think the flavor would change between one or the other, but the perception of sweetness might. Especially if the yeast used has a lower attenuation. Just a thought.

 

[ahwinney]

I've used a lb of honey in a wheat ale and it was awesome. Depends on what you're going for.

 

[Monkey-BB]

I added a pound of honey malt to 13 lbs of Vienna and cascade it was awesome 5 gallon batch!