Honey Ale Recipe

[BBBrewer]

Hello everyone,

apologies in advance as no doubt this topic has most likely already been cover before.

I am new to this site and relatively new to home brewing.

I have recently acquired a coupe of pounds of local honey and really wanted to make a IPA style beer,

Are there any good recipes about? ideally not looking to make anything stronger than 5% as I was planning on having it as a summer style beer.

All help greatly appreciated..

 

[AdeDunn]

Kinda contradictory there bud. Subject says honey ale, then you say IPA style.

Hmmm, how about a nice hoppy saison perhaps?

[edit] Just need to check one thing, you are set up for using either all grain brewing, or malt extract? Or are you asking for something made with JUST honey?

 

[BBBrewer]

Sorry what does the A in IPA stand for then?

I mean a more traditional kind of copper coloured Ale.

I am setup for all grain so want to avoid using extracts.

Thanks again

 

[simon12]

My 1 attempt at this was awful, honey dries out the beer to much and honey without the sweetness to me tastes medicinal in a nasty way. My attempt was getting half the ABV from grain and half from the honey.

 

[ACBEV]

I have a Kotbusser Bier recipe that might fit the bill...

Batch size: 23L
ABV: 5.5%
IBU: 30

2500g Lager Malt
1300g Wheat Malt
650g Oat Malt
450g Honey

Mash @ 67c, boil wort with honey for 1 hour. Hop to 30 IBU with some nice German hops, such as... Hallertau, Spalt, Tettnang, Perle, Magnum or Tradition. Use a nice clean yeast and ferment @ 17c for two weeks, then bottle condition @ 17c for another two weeks, when keep cool until the summer.

 

[BBBrewer]

I was thinking about adding the honey halfway through fermentation as adding it during the boil would kill most of the flavours?

 

[ACBEV]

I was thinking about adding the honey halfway through fermentation as adding it during the boil would kill most of the flavours?

You can do... Honey is mostly inverted and will ferment just as well as your wort, don't expect a sweet honey taste. It will add something whether boiled or added later.

 

[BBBrewer]

Thanks, I am not really after a sweet tasting beer, it is more the subtle flavour of the honey I was trying to get. Would using Maris Otter pale malt be a better option? I have not really played about much with Lager Malts.

 

[ACBEV]

Maris Otter would be fine too...

 

[simon12]

If you add the honey after the boil and its I assume unpasteurised it will be full of wild yeasts but yes the boil kills the honey flavour so I would add at the end of the boil so its enough to sterlise it but hopefully not kill the flavour.

 

[ACBEV]

Another method... Bring 1L of water to the boil on your stove, turn off heat, add honey and stir in. Cover and cool before adding to FV. You can do similar, if you want to use some honey for priming.

 

[Clint]

Gh recipe adds the honey last 10 minutes of the boil...if that's any help!

 

[BBBrewer]

I have had a look through my current ingredients and I have a load of Maris Otter Malt (10kg) some Carapils Malt (about 500g) tettnanger hops, fuggles and some goldings, plus the honey so looking to make a 50 Litre batch. I think I will add the honey halfway through fermentation.

 

[AdeDunn]

You misunderstood, what I meant was that you don't usually see honey used for an IPA. You do however see honey used in other, dryer, styles like Saisons, some wheat beers etc. My personal fave use for honey is in a Saison, as given enough time you DO get a hint of the honey back, which combines nicely with the citrus hints you get with French Saison yeasts. Here's one I made earlier, but only about half the honey you have Ade's Brew Days. It's a little like an APA with the hops I used, but with French Saison character too, absolutely delicious! I ended up with a 6.6% ABV (before priming) beer though. Honey went in at flame out (if you boil honey, you lose the flavour) as was expensive Scottish heather honey.

I'm currently fermenting a braggot, again with fruity hops and French Saison yeast, which uses more honey (2270g though) and is more of a hybrid between mead and ale. Honey went in at the start of the boil and was cheapo Asda stuff, hoping it caramelised a bit going in so early.

I love brewing with honey, and can get flavours similar to a AIPA, I just wouldn't call it one. :thumb1:

 

[AdeDunn]

I have had a look through my current ingredients and I have a load of Maris Otter Malt (10kg) some Carapils Malt (about 500g) tettnanger hops, fuggles and some goldings, plus the honey so looking to make a 50 Litre batch. I think I will add the honey halfway through fermentation.

Look into braggot maybe, lightly hopped with fuggles and goldings to an OG of not higher than 1.045 perhaps, with just some Maris Otter mashed? Should give you a more traditional braggot.

 

[Sandimas]

How about Obama's White House Honey Ale? I recently made the Porter, it's great, you can taste the honey but it doens't use so much as to dry out there beer.

Both recipes here. They use malt extract but just put the ingredients into some brewing software and swap out for Maris Otter, adjusting volumes to get the same ABV:
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2012/09/01/ale-chief-white-house-beer-recipe

 

[BBBrewer]

Some good ideas here, the Saison is tempting, I did look at the white house recipe. so much to choose!

 

[simon12]

I'm currently fermenting a braggot, again with fruity hops and French Saison yeast, which uses more honey (2270g though) and is more of a hybrid between mead and ale. Honey went in at the start of the boil and was cheapo Asda stuff, hoping it caramelised a bit going in so early.

Please let us know how it turns out I am interested to see if its just mine thats bad.

 

[AdeDunn]

Please let us know how it turns out I am interested to see if its just mine thats bad.

I took the first SG reading today as it hadn't bubbled in quite a while (down from 1.060 to 1.000 thanks to the Saison yeast), so we naturally had a taste of the sample jar. Pretty darn nice to be honest. Quite a thick mouth feel thanks to the Belle Saison yeast, fairly high bitterness (deliberate, I aimed for 42.4 IBUs), surprisingly malty, super dry with a very very spicy flavour. I was expecting way more pineapple and grapefruit flavours from the hops, but the spice from the yeast has a very strong presence muting them somewhat. I didn't detect any of the tangy lemon flavours I got with M29 or CML Saison De Lille, just tons of spice. But yeah, we like it, but it's neither an ale or a mead, more the illegitimate offspring of the 2.

I suspect the high IBUs, and using Belle Saison, saved it from been meh. I had to change the name though, as it literally knocks you off your feet and doesn't let you escape, so it's now called Mr Pump's Braggot (if you're a Discworld fan, you'll understand... lol).

I'm not convinced it's finished to be honest. Saison yeasts are infamous for carrying on for weeks after you think they're finished, and the sample looked like biscuit coloured milk..... lol It was getting longer in the FV anyway. Currently sat at 25.6 degrees C.

I doubt it'd be everybodies cup of tea though for sure.