what % honey malt in a brown ale?

[bobeer]

I'm planning an experimental 5 gallon brown ale to brew next weekend that I think I'm going to put on nitro. I want a really complex and robust brown ale with a good hop profile with about 7-8% abv. I've never used honey malt before but I got a lb and something is telling me to put it in this brown ale.

I'm also going to put in 2 row, victory, oatmeal, chocolate malt and maybe some brown sugar. I've read through a whole thread about honey malt and there's a lot of conflicting information. Some say it's too sweet, some say they think it could be sweeter. I'm sure it depends on many variables for how the finished beer turns out when using it but I'm not sure what % of my grist should be honey malt.
Because of the sweetness everyone says it has I'm thinking about cutting out the brown sugar and just using honey malt but I would like to get a happy medium and use both. I made a pumpkin ale last year that had brown sugar in it and I think it would go really well in a brown. Just not sure if it will make the cut in this brown ale. I know most of the sweetness will ferment out but there will still be a little residual sweetness left.

I also saw that someone said chinook doesn't play nice with the honey malt. I was planning on using chinook as my bittering hop along with cascade @ 15 min. Does anyone else have any input on this? I also have centennial, cascade, apollo, fuggles, and Columbus.

I have some washed sa05 I was planning on using also. I think the clean characteristics of it will let all the ingredients stand out.

 

[TopherM]

In a 5 gallon batch, you are going to find that about 2.5% (total % of grist) of honey malt will be subtle, 5% will be solid, 10%+ will be borderline cloying. I typically use 0.5 - .75 lbs honey malt in a 5 gallon batch.

 

[stpug]

As far as honey malt goes, for a 5 gallon batch, 0.25-0.75 lbs would be good.

As far as your "complex and robust" (American) brown ale goes, I think you'll be seriously lacking on maltiness. Brown ales, whether American or not, are a malty beer. I'd make sure you include something that will get this for your. Make your 2row all MO, or add in a pound or two of Munich II or Munich 20L, or something of that sort. Some pale chocolate could work well too. I think brown ales are a style that actually work better with more complex grainbill.

As far as Chinook as a bittering hop, I don't think you'd notice it's flavor or aroma in the final beer. I like chinook as a bittering hop and actually find it fairly smooth. It's a whole different story as a late hop though (it's more dank and peachy, old citrus).

 

[bobeer]

As far as honey malt goes, for a 5 gallon batch, 0.25-0.75 lbs would be good.

As far as your "complex and robust" (American) brown ale goes, I think you'll be seriously lacking on maltiness. Brown ales, whether American or not, are a malty beer. I'd make sure you include something that will get this for your. Make your 2row all MO, or add in a pound or two of Munich II or Munich 20L, or something of that sort. Some pale chocolate could work well too. I think brown ales are a style that actually work better with more complex grainbill.

As far as Chinook as a bittering hop, I don't think you'd notice it's flavor or aroma in the final beer. I like chinook as a bittering hop and actually find it fairly smooth. It's a whole different story as a late hop though (it's more dank and peachy, old citrus).

Yes, this will definitely been an American brown. I agree on the complex grain bill. I need to add some more maltiness especially with sa05. All I have in stock is vienna, crystal 20 and 60. I have regular chocolate but not pale chocolate... I can go to lhbs and pick up some munich II though.

I was only going to use chinook as the bittering hop. Then cascade in the last 15 min. I'm not really going for too much of a hop nose though.

 

[SuliBrew]

In addition to using marris otter, i would consider using 1lb brown english malt. I wouldn't use any honey malt in a brown. You can achieve the desired sweet malty flavor by mashing at a higher temp 154-156. but if you do use honey, keep it about .5lb for 5 gallon batch.
plain chocolate at .5 lb also goes a long way.

 

[Ramitt]

Brown malt is a nice addition in most dark ales. I always use it in porters.

 

[bobeer]

Cool guys, thanks. I've only brewed one other brown and that was this time last year. I've taken a liking to them recently. I brewed the nut brown recipe on here and it was lacking in malt flavor and complexity, which is what I like in a brown ale, so thanks for bringing that up.

I'm going do half 2 row and half marris otter for the base malt and add some munich II and some brown malt. I'm still on the fence about the honey malt though. Maybe I'll try just a little and see what happens.