RobWalker
Well-Known Member
My first real "homegrown" recipe...apologies that this is in Cups and stuff, but I've just come from a primarily american forum :
"Zee-Zee Hop" Light Honey Bee-r
Why brew me?
A very easy to make light beer recipe, something anybody who likes any beer will enjoy with enough hop character to be considered an "ale" while resembling a lager in lightness, as the bitterness is actually lower than the lightest style of ale. It's also quite inexpensive to make!
This is also a good introduction to steeping for all-extract brewers, with little consequences if you do it wrong. I make this solely to keep it kegged so I can experiment with more exciting and complicated stuff and have a good all rounder that's unique enough for me to enjoy. The honey flavour isn't very obvious, but the aftertaste it provides leaves you hankering for more.
Ingredients
4.0lb Light Dry Extract (60 min.)
0.4lb Light Dry Extract (10 min.)
2.0lb Clear Honey (10 min.)
0.5lb Crushed Amber Malt (Steep, 60 min.)
0.50oz East Kent Goldings (60 min.)
0.25oz East Kent Goldings (15 min.)
1/4 tsp Irish Moss (10 min.)
1 Packet Safale S-04 English Ale Yeast
Method
Put your crushed amber malt in a muslin/hop/grain bag. Boil 1 gallon of water to 160 degrees, then turn off the heat and put the bag into the hot water, seal, and leave for 30 minutes. The water will be a murky brown, so the flavour from the amber malt is extracted.
Transfer 1 gallon of water to a larger boiling pan and top up with 2 gallons of water. Bring this to the boil then add your ingredients - 60 minutes starts when the water starts boiling and the first ingredient is added. Adding the honey 10 minutes prior to flame out will retain the flavour.
Pour into fermentation bin and top up water to 5 gallons. Stir THOROUGHLY and take OG reading. When cool, add yeast and leave to ferment for approximately 14 days, moving to a high place ready for syphoning when fermentation is almost complete.
When clear, transfer to keg or bottle adding priming sugar, and it's good to go! Refer to Revvy's chart here for priming quantities - if you want to prime the entire batch at once, transfer to a secondary vessel and mix it in.
For non-imperial system fellows, you're looking at 70g of Cane, Brown or Corn sugar, and 150g of Maple Syrup, Molasses and Honey for kegging.
Stuff you can do creatively.
Hops - feel free to use any variety or double the amount in this recipe for an IBU rating similar to a Blonde Ale.
Honey - darker types will leave more residual honey flavour and result in a darker colour, you may also wish to add more honey when bottling and pasteurize, or use honey to prime by heating in a small amount of water, then mixing into the batch.
Malts - Honey Malt would have been my first choice, but it's unavailable in the UK. Amber supplies a little depth, but feel free to try anything!
Spice Tea - I toyed with the idea of adding Elderflower and Ginger to my priming sugar to increase the flavour, but decided against it. There's a million things that will compliment honey, so try them out!
If you make this recipe, or it's useful...
Let me know. Thanks! :)
"Zee-Zee Hop" Light Honey Bee-r
Why brew me?
A very easy to make light beer recipe, something anybody who likes any beer will enjoy with enough hop character to be considered an "ale" while resembling a lager in lightness, as the bitterness is actually lower than the lightest style of ale. It's also quite inexpensive to make!
This is also a good introduction to steeping for all-extract brewers, with little consequences if you do it wrong. I make this solely to keep it kegged so I can experiment with more exciting and complicated stuff and have a good all rounder that's unique enough for me to enjoy. The honey flavour isn't very obvious, but the aftertaste it provides leaves you hankering for more.
Ingredients
4.0lb Light Dry Extract (60 min.)
0.4lb Light Dry Extract (10 min.)
2.0lb Clear Honey (10 min.)
0.5lb Crushed Amber Malt (Steep, 60 min.)
0.50oz East Kent Goldings (60 min.)
0.25oz East Kent Goldings (15 min.)
1/4 tsp Irish Moss (10 min.)
1 Packet Safale S-04 English Ale Yeast
Method
Put your crushed amber malt in a muslin/hop/grain bag. Boil 1 gallon of water to 160 degrees, then turn off the heat and put the bag into the hot water, seal, and leave for 30 minutes. The water will be a murky brown, so the flavour from the amber malt is extracted.
Transfer 1 gallon of water to a larger boiling pan and top up with 2 gallons of water. Bring this to the boil then add your ingredients - 60 minutes starts when the water starts boiling and the first ingredient is added. Adding the honey 10 minutes prior to flame out will retain the flavour.
Pour into fermentation bin and top up water to 5 gallons. Stir THOROUGHLY and take OG reading. When cool, add yeast and leave to ferment for approximately 14 days, moving to a high place ready for syphoning when fermentation is almost complete.
When clear, transfer to keg or bottle adding priming sugar, and it's good to go! Refer to Revvy's chart here for priming quantities - if you want to prime the entire batch at once, transfer to a secondary vessel and mix it in.
For non-imperial system fellows, you're looking at 70g of Cane, Brown or Corn sugar, and 150g of Maple Syrup, Molasses and Honey for kegging.
Stuff you can do creatively.
Hops - feel free to use any variety or double the amount in this recipe for an IBU rating similar to a Blonde Ale.
Honey - darker types will leave more residual honey flavour and result in a darker colour, you may also wish to add more honey when bottling and pasteurize, or use honey to prime by heating in a small amount of water, then mixing into the batch.
Malts - Honey Malt would have been my first choice, but it's unavailable in the UK. Amber supplies a little depth, but feel free to try anything!
Spice Tea - I toyed with the idea of adding Elderflower and Ginger to my priming sugar to increase the flavour, but decided against it. There's a million things that will compliment honey, so try them out!
If you make this recipe, or it's useful...
Let me know. Thanks! :)
