Saxon Honey Ale

[earthwormgaz]

Somebody else was on about doing this, I found this recipe for it ...

8oz Malt extract (a jar from Holland and Barratt as it was easier to get to than the HBS 16 miles away)
1lb Honey
1oz cracked crystal malt grains
1tbsp strong black tea
1/2tsp citric acid (I used this in place of the 3 level teaspoons of lemon juice)
Yeast - S-05 (2 years out of date...)

I'd rather do it with real malt and the mash tun though, so how much pale malt do I need to swap in? That's for 1 gallon and a normal batch is 5 right? So I'd have to up everything for that as well.

 

[earthwormgaz]

From reading around a bit, I'm wondering about doing this ...

3kg organic pale malt
5lb/2500g/5 jars organic honey
5oz crystal malt

tannin/oak leaves/tea?
crab apple/lemon?

Those last two, I saw discussion of putting something more authentic in, since the early English wouldn't have had tea of lemons. Those were some suggestions I saw.

So, I'd mash/sparge the grains like normal, then boil for an hour, and maybe add the tannin and crab apples or whatever in the boil, then add the honey, and pitch the yeast when it cools.

Thoughts?

I found on another forum somebody saying you add 7 gravity points for every pound of honey. So, this is going to be an 8% monster? :drunk: :drink: :grin:

 

[earthwormgaz]

Well, I've brewed it, bottled it, and suppin' it after a fortnight, I can't say as I'm impressed. It's not mead, and it's not ale.

What it is, is strong. It seems to be the best of neither to me. Next time I'll brew a straight mead or a pale ale, I'm not sold on this. It seems to have a sourness to it!? Does that mean I buggered it up and it's gone off, or is this it?

I do remember somebody describing it as ... "insipid".

 

[critty]

did you use the malt from holland and barrett? If so they may have stuffed some sort of preservative in there that could have thrown it off maybe?

 

[earthwormgaz]

I swapped that for mashed pale malt and did it the all grain way. The honey was fresh local organic honey. Good stuff went in ...

Might it get better with age?

 

[RobWalker]

everything gets better with age!

give it time. maybe experiment with how you drink it - add some spice or fruit or something in the glass. no need to give up yet

 

[shearclass]

it's very strong and two weeks old so of course it will not taste good.

 

[monkeybob]

I made a batch of 5 gallons of this few months back.
It definitely got better with age I laid it aside for 1 month before I tried it. It was very drinkable!
About the two month mark it was improving nicely and even more drinkable!
After three months it was gorgeous but only had a gallon or so left and dint last long.
Next time I'm gonna leave it 3 months before I try it. If I can resist temptation :drink:

 

[earthwormgaz]

I made a batch of 5 gallons of this few months back.
It definitely got better with age I laid it aside for 1 month before I tried it. It was very drinkable!
About the two month mark it was improving nicely and even more drinkable!
After three months it was gorgeous but only had a gallon or so left and dint last long.
Next time I'm gonna leave it 3 months before I try it. If I can resist temptation :drink:

Woohoo! That's good news! I'll just leave it in the garage for another couple of months.

In the mean time, I've got a few IPA and brown ales left, and I've just bought the stuff to brew some red ale.