Honey Ale

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jayjt29

jayjt29

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Anyone else done the Honey Ale from Greg Hughes book? Two mates want to do a brew with me as they are interested in brewing and was thinking of doing this one. Never added honey to a brew before so its that will be new to me, come to think of it I've never tasted a honey ale before I guess that's why I'm posting this thread!
If anyone has what's it like and what type of honey did you use?

Cheers
Jay :)
 
Haven't done the honey ale but have done the honey porter from GH's book. I opened the last mini keg I have of it yesterday eve. It's lush, you can really taste the honey but It also created a quite a dryish beer (something I like in dark beers). I just used ASDA cheapo honey
 
MyQul said:
Haven't done the honey ale but have done the honey porter from GH's book. I opened the last mini keg I have of it yesterday eve. It's lush, you can really taste the honey but It also created a quite a dryish beer (something I like in dark beers). I just used ASDA cheapo honey
Click to expand...

How much did you put in your Brew ?
 
Cheers MyQul, I guess a dry ale will be nice in the warmer months too

Jay :)
 
pintofmild said:
Ahh, ok, thanks, I rather like Golden syrup in a light/blonde ale too, probably similar ?
Click to expand...

Kind of yes,. I've used GS in a Old speckled hen clone (and iirc about the same amount), the flavor again was very nice. Again as GS is basically just sugar similarly to honey it's very fermentable and will dry your beer (dependant on how much you use), which maybe what you want.

GS is partially invert sugar mixed with sucrose, I think, or perhaps it's partially inverted, I'm not sure which tbh. I'm making some invert syrup or the first time later. Apperently it's pretty simple to do
 
MyQul said:
Kind of yes,. I've used GS in a Old speckled hen clone (and iirc about the same amount), the flavor again was very nice. Again as GS is basically just sugar similarly to honey it's very fermentable and will dry your beer (dependant on how much you use), which maybe what you want.

GS is partially invert sugar mixed with sucrose, I think, or perhaps it's partially inverted, I'm not sure which tbh. I'm making some invert syrup or the first time later. Apperently it's pretty simple to do
Click to expand...

How close did you get to Old Speckled Hen mate?
 
TheRedDarren said:
How close did you get to Old Speckled Hen mate?
Click to expand...

Can't remember tbh. It was one of my first AG beers I made about 3-4 years ago. I just remember thinking I can defiantly taste the golden syrup. I think it was possibly a bit too dry too as I used wilko ale yeast/notty and was unaware of attenuation etc at the time
 
pintofmild said:
How much did you put in your Brew ?
Click to expand...

I did an attempt at a Fullers honeydew clone and put in 500g (Rowes organic honey) in a 23ltr batch. That was enough for the honey taste to be detectable but not mess up the beer taste (and was the same amount as fullers add based on comments on a video of a Fullers brewery tour on youtube). I heated the honey [in a litre of water] to 70C for 10 minutes on the stove before adding it to the primary, after the boiled and cooled wort. Idea it not to boil off the light honey flavours/aromas..this is the method I use for mead.
Interested in MyQul's comments since the final beer I did tastes great... but does have a slight dry aftertaste. ...am about to open another bottle to see if the dryness is still there..been conditioning for a few weeks now.
 
I've added honey to a couple of brews. I think the nicest one had about 250 - 300g in a 15L batch. Had some biscuit malt in and combination of fuggles and goldings. Just added the honey a couple of mins from the end of the boil, seemed to add a nice delicate hint of honey.
 
MyQul said:
Kind of yes,. I've used GS in a Old speckled hen clone (and iirc about the same amount), the flavor again was very nice. Again as GS is basically just sugar similarly to honey it's very fermentable and will dry your beer (dependant on how much you use), which maybe what you want.

GS is partially invert sugar mixed with sucrose, I think, or perhaps it's partially inverted, I'm not sure which tbh. I'm making some invert syrup or the first time later. Apparently it's pretty simple to do
Click to expand...

I might try a honey brew next, my last 2 brews were with GS, the first with Ella hops and the second with Polaris hops, wondering what would go well in a light Honey brew ?
 
TartanSpecial said:
I did an attempt at a Fullers honeydew clone and put in 500g (Rowes organic honey) in a 23ltr batch. That was enough for the honey taste to be detectable but not mess up the beer taste (and was the same amount as fullers add based on comments on a video of a Fullers brewery tour on youtube). I heated the honey [in a litre of water] to 70C for 10 minutes on the stove before adding it to the primary, after the boiled and cooled wort. Idea it not to boil off the light honey flavours/aromas..this is the method I use for mead.
Interested in MyQul's comments since the final beer I did tastes great... but does have a slight dry aftertaste. ...am about to open another bottle to see if the dryness is still there..been conditioning for a few weeks now.
Click to expand...



Interested in doing a honey beer but why did you heat it? Above 40 you will affect the honey and unheated honey will not spoil the beer. Come to think of it you don't need to do it for mead as well from a bug perspective. Do you have a recipe for this clone I'd love to give this one a go.

Also it seems that adding honey to the boil is probably losing some of the loveliness of honey, surely this should be added when the yeast is pitched or am I missing something?

Cheers

Demig
 
Demig said:
Interested in doing a honey beer but why did you heat it? Above 40 you will affect the honey and unheated honey will not spoil the beer. Come to think of it you don't need to do it for mead as well from a bug perspective. Do you have a recipe for this clone I'd love to give this one a go.

Also it seems that adding honey to the boil is probably losing some of the loveliness of honey, surely this should be added when the yeast is pitched or am I missing something?

Cheers

Demig
Click to expand...


Precisely. Not sure it's a big issue at the end of the boil or not. I've added honey a week after fermentation began as suggested by another and it went well also. I prefer to add it at flameout so as to get an accurate hydrometer reading.
 
The main reason i added it at the end of the boil was that for some reasotn i'd got a jar of set honey so it wouldnt pour out if the jar , if i do another i'll make sure its the clear pourable stuff and will add it at when pitching the yeast
 
AlanJones said:
The main reason i added it at the end of the boil was that for some reasotn i'd got a jar of set honey so it wouldnt pour out if the jar , if i do another i'll make sure its the clear pourable stuff and will add it at when pitching the yeast
Click to expand...



That makes sense :) if using set you could sit it in warm water no hotter than 40 and it will melt without doing too much harm, still a bit of a fad though.
 
I've used Heather Honey in a Stout - brought to pasteurising temps and held for a few minutes, then cooled and added to secondary. Didn't affect the flavour whatsoever.

I've just used Acacia in my Belgian Golden Strong. This was added at flame out as I just wanted the simple sugars. There does seem to be some honey character in it, but this may be knowledge bias.
 

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