Brewing with honey

[Dai]

Gidday,

I was wondering if anyone has brewed with honey before as I am keen to have a lash. I normally brew up around 20L batches using 4-4.5kg of grain, so was thinking that I would just drop 0.5-1kg of grains and add around 0.8kg of honey to the boil. I am not really after a sweet finish to the beer, but would like a bit of the honey flavour to come through, which is why I thought adding it to the boil would be a good idea (would also deal to those wild yeasts, etc??). I was thinking of keeping the recipe simple and just having a basic pale ale base with a bit of crystal chucked in for depth. Not sure about the hops though; I have have hallertau, goldings and a bit of saaz at the moment. I was thinking about relying on the hallertau and saaz, or may be getting a bit of cascade..?

Any suggestions would be appreciated, or if you have brewed with honey before, please let me know how it turned out.

Cheers.

[Edward Siddle]

I've not brewed with honey, but i remember from the few times that i tried making mead that the advice was, if you want to maintain a real honey character, don't boil the honey for too long. i think i settled on a halfway house of boiling for about 10-15 minutes to kill any nasties but not to totally destroy the honey flavour. i know some mead makers don't even bother with boiling at all......

[Reviled]

I thought bacteria couldnt grow on honey? Or so ive been told by a mate whos grandparents are bee keepers...

[Nick]

They can't but mostly because of the lack of nutrients and the fact that it's pure sugar. Put honey in some water and you'll get a different story, especially if you add a bit of vitamins and minerals.

[Hugh Grierson]

I played with honey a few years ago, your volumes sound about right, but I found my batch was a bit sweet,so maybe some cascade would ballance things out.
If you want to get the flavour but not the sweet, use less honey more grain, and maybe a strong honey like manuka.
I didnt boil the honey at all, its got its own anti microbial action.
I never bothered to keep records so cant help you more but i do remember a really nice finish.

[Dai]

Thanks for the comments, Edward and Hugh. I'll be giving it a go in a short while so will let you know how it tastes.

[Nick]

How did it go?
I have brewed both mead and a honey ale before.
I didn't boil the honey at all - it has its own anti microbial action like Hugh said and boiling detroys the delecate aromas.

Mead has it's own complications like the anti microbial action slowing the yeast down and also honey lacks essential nutrients for the yeast too.

[Dai]

Oh yeah- forgot to reply to this.

I was actually really pleased with the outcome. Ended up just making a straight bitter (may be classed as a best as the OG was around 1.045 from memory). Didn't hop it up too much either- around 30-35 IBU (again, from memory) I added the honey in the last 10 minutes of the boil (500g), so it went through primary fermentation. I thought that I should use a secondary fermentation because of the extra honey, so racked it into the carboy for 10 days or so. I bottle my beer, so primed with a tsp of dextrose per 750ml, but it took quite a while to carbonate (may be due to the extra fermentation??). It was okay after the manditory two weeks, but was really good after 4-5 weeks. A slight hint of honey, but not the sweetness due to fermentation, so I suppose it was mission accomplished.

I didn't have any problems with the yeast (US-05 I think) and it seemed to behave pretty much the same as any other brew I have done with this type; although, I did only use 500g of honey.

I would use honey again, but probably in higher gravity beers. Just did an all grain IPA which had an OG of 1.060- it is boardering on being a bit cloying (if that is the term), and I think honey would thin it out just a little. Still not bad though, but definitely not a session drinker!

[Greig McGill]

Most mead people I've talked to (and listened to on podcasts such as the Jamil Show, and Basic Brewing Radio) recommend not boiling the honey at all. It's one of those religious war things, but the people who win all the awards seem to prefer no-boil options.

[Kempicus]

religious war things....hahaha i love it!
surface to air missile anyone....

[Stu McKinlay]

I've noticed that people who win awards use munich in their english bitters... you have to ask yourself what comes first? The style or the papacy?

i wonder why anyone uses honey in their beer. I've never tasted a good one that purports to include it. would rather have it on toast... or smeared on the belly of a beautiful... ahem... ah yes... where was i? I don't use honey in beer.

[Reviled]

Whats a papacy?

[jt]

Something found in a google