What’s the best way to get some honey sweetness into a beer? Honey malt or honey?

[Sleepy_D]

I’m going to try to make a cream ale with jalapeño peppers and I thought adding some honey sweetness to it would compliment the flavor. Hoping to resemble something like honey jalapeño corn bread. What’s is the best way to achieve this? ~2-3% honey malt or should I add some actual honey to the beer or is there a third option I haven’t considered?

 

[odie]

I've used real honey. After peak krausen. Its subtle but there, IMO. It was 2#

I've heard "honey malt" gives better honey flavor. I've tried it and could not really sense any distinct "honey" essence. Maybe I didn't use enough. I only used like 1/2 lb to a pound thou. Maybe it's gotta be a lot to taste it.

 

[AlexKay]

Honey malt. Actual honey is, as @odie says, very subtle, and you want something that's going to compete with your jalapeño. Try 5-10% of your grist.

 

[hotbeer]

Are you the beer just to have the tastes of honey? Or are you wanting it to be sweeter too?

 

[Sleepy_D]

Honey malt. Actual honey is, as @odie says, very subtle, and you want something that's going to compete with your jalapeño. Try 5-10% of your grist.

I used a small amount of honey malt in a NEIPA but there are way too many other flavors to pick it out, plus it was only 2%. Maybe I’ll try for 5% in this.

Are you the beer just to have the tastes of honey? Or are you wanting it to be sweeter too?

I think I’d rather have the flavor/impression of honey more than any actual sweetness

 

[hotbeer]

I can't really answer your question as to what to do since I've not tried to get that flavor into my beer. Nor have I even used honey in any of them.

However you need to consider that honey itself is very fermentable and will convert to alcohol. So if you just add it to a recipe that didn't already account for it, then you'll be changing the recipe OG and the more alcohol created will also change the tastes. I'm thinking it'll taste drier. Maybe you'll like that as well or maybe not.

If your recipe already has added sugar in it, then just substitute all of that with honey and see what it does. If that brew doesn't give the taste you want then try some honey malt, which I tend to think might be the better solution. But I'm just guessing.

Is there a commercial beer you've tasted that has the honey flavors you want? Maybe just see if there are clone recipes for that and read any reviews of them.

 

[Sleepy_D]

I can't really answer your question as to what to do since I've not tried to get that flavor into my beer. Nor have I even used honey in any of them.

However you need to consider that honey itself is very fermentable and will convert to alcohol. So if you just add it to a recipe that didn't already account for it, then you'll be changing the recipe OG and the more alcohol created will also change the tastes. I'm thinking it'll taste drier. Maybe you'll like that as well or maybe not.

If your recipe already has added sugar in it, then just substitute all of that with honey and see what it does. If that brew doesn't give the taste you want then try some honey malt, which I tend to think might be the better solution. But I'm just guessing.

Is there a commercial beer you've tasted that has the honey flavors you want? Maybe just see if there are clone recipes for that and read any reviews of them.

You actually just gave me a good idea, maybe I can bottle condition with honey. It’ll be like adding in secondary and maybe more flavor will be preserved

 

[waynetempro]

Most of the honey will ferment out and so will the flavor. It does not matter if it’s in primary or secondary or bottling. And if you add too much during bottling, it could become pretty dangerous.
You can try to add some honey malt and mash at a higher temperature like 157/158 degrees. This should leave some residual sweetness that will not ferment out.
You can also stabilize and back sweeten your beer with honey when it’s done but you will need to force carbonate it as it kills the yeast and it will not bottle condition.

 

[day_trippr]

Gambrinus Honey Malt ftw. Just be careful with it, it's powerful stuff. I use no more than 2% in some neipa recipes...

Cheers!

 

[mac_1103]

if you add too much during bottling, it could become pretty dangerous

Not any more dangerous than adding too much sugar or malt extract or whatever else you bottle condition with. There are calculators that work with multiple priming sugar options.

 

[Sleepy_D]

Gambrinus Honey Malt ftw. Just be careful with it, it's powerful stuff. I use no more than 2% in some neipa recipes...

Cheers!

I’ve only used honey malt once in the exact same way-2% ish in an NEIPA. Hard to tell if it provided a true honey essence with all those competing flavors and aromas

 

[odie]

Gambrinus Honey Malt ftw. Just be careful with it, it's powerful stuff. I use no more than 2% in some neipa recipes...

Cheers!

I have some honey malt. Not sure if it's Gambrinus. But when I used it, I can't say I precepted any "honey-ness" in the beer.

 

[Stanley Thomas]

I’m going to try to make a cream ale with jalapeño peppers and I thought adding some honey sweetness to it would compliment the flavor. Hoping to resemble something like honey jalapeño corn bread. What’s is the best way to achieve this? ~2-3% honey malt or should I add some actual honey to the beer or is there a third option I haven’t considered?

I added 3 or 4 lbs of orange blossom honey to many batches of Rocky Raccoon beer , turned out great ! Relax have a Homebrew !

 

[1Pivoman]

I have tried both honey, Gambrinus Honey Malt, and recently Great Western Brumalt (honey malt). Of the three I definitely recommend Great Western’s Brumalt. I added a pound in a double IPA and it really came through big time. Round honey sweetness that balanced the hops. Probably no more than half a pound in a cream ale would do the trick.

 

[Sleepy_D]

I have tried both honey, Gambrinus Honey Malt, and recently Great Western Brumalt (honey malt). Of the three I definitely recommend Great Western’s Brumalt. I added a pound in a double IPA and it really came through big time. Round honey sweetness that balanced the hops. Probably no more than half a pound in a cream ale would do the trick.

Awesome, I’ll see if I can get my hands on some!

 

[danielthemaniel]

Honey - completely fermentable, will leave finish drier, leaves a mild floral/citrus flavor and aroma.

Honey Malt - adds sweetness plus a cracker flavor (think pilsner with sugar), it is potent.