AG#31 - Honey Ale

[Monkeybrew]

I decided to try a brewday on a school night, as it was a smaller batch volume and I figured that this would make for a relatively short brew time and I was right.

I was all mashed in just after 6pm and was pitching the yeast just before 10pm, with only the main Grainfather boiler left the clean

The negative side of this was that once I set the mash going, I had to go and have some dinner, so just left it to do it's thing before I returned about 50 minutes later. As I was brewing with a small grain bill, the mash top mesh plate was a long way down from the end of the recirculation tube which I didn't see as an issue because when I left it, the wort was flowing onto the top mesh plate, but when I returned the heat had obviously straightened the silicon tube slightly, so half of the wort was going straight down the centre overflow tube and bypassing the grainbed

I am assuming that this is the reason for the poor efficiency, as I was aiming for 1.042 @ 12L (before the addition of honey), but I ended up with 12L @1.038, so not a total disaster, but not what I had planned for.

After asking a question on JBK FB about when to add the honey to achieve maximum flavour, I am going for adding it into the FV after primary vigorous fermentation has passed, so will check the gravity in a couple of days and then go from there.

This is basically a test batch of this style of beer, as one of my neighbours has 3 of his own beehives on his allotment plot behind our houses, so I hope to brew a 'Harvest' beer later this year with some of his honey and some of my home grown hops, I have eaten a jar of his honey recently and it was nice and tasty

Honey Ale - 12.06.18
Specialty Beer

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 12.0
Total Grain (kg): 2.25
Total Hops (g): 26.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.047
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.60 %
Colour (SRM): 6.1 (EBC): 12.1
Bitterness (IBU): 15.8 (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 66
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
1.000 kg Muntons Pilsner Malt (38.61%)
1.000 kg Weyermann Vienna Malt (38.61%)
0.150 kg Biscuit (5.79%)
0.100 kg Caramalt (3.86%)

Hop Bill
----------------
18.0 g Worcester Goldings Leaf (4.2% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.5 g/L)
8.0 g Worcester Goldings Leaf (4.2% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
2.0 g Calcium Chloride @ 60 Minutes (Mash)
0.5 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) @ 60 Minutes (Mash)
2.0 g Calcium Chloride @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
1/4 Protafloc Tablet @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

Fermenter Additions
-------------------------------
0.340 kg Orange Blossom Honey (13.13%) - Add after vigorous primary fermentaion.

Single step Infusion at 68°C for 60 Minutes.
Mash Out at 75°C for 10 Minutes

Water Profile - Graham Wheelers Mild

Fermented at 19°C with M36 - Mangrove Jacks Liberty Bell


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

I am hoping that this will suit Mrs Monkeybrew's tastes, as the bitterness is low and she likes a bit of Fuller's Honeydew

Cheers

MB

[Jim]

Hope it turns out well!

Do you need to boil the honey to sterilise it? Or is it OK as is?

[FUBAR]

Hope it turns out well!

Do you need to boil the honey to sterilise it? Or is it OK as is?

I would be in inclined to bring it to a boil and give it a 10 minute simmer just to make sure .

[deanrpwaacs]

Then you may as well add some sugar . Surely the point of adding honey is to get some honey flavour ? Not boil it off and simmer just to be sure .

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[Monkeybrew]

Hope it turns out well!

Do you need to boil the honey to sterilise it? Or is it OK as is?

Well Jim, that's the question that seems to fuel the debate about when to add the honey

The honey that I am using in this trial brew is a decent quality supermarket one, so in my opinion this must have been through some sort of treatment to stop it going off or from fermenting in the jar, but my neighbours honey will be more of a gamble.......

I've just checked the gravity on day 7 and it was down to 1.012, so I've added the jar of honey. The cheeky taste from the jar lid tasted rather nice, so it will be interesting to see how much of this comes through in the final beer.

Cheers

MB

[wezzel01]

I made a at batch of Barney’s Honey Mild once. Turned out very nice. 450g of honey was dissolved in a little boiling water and added on day 5 of fermentation. It wasn’t boiled or simmered or sterilised in any way and turned out fine.


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[Jambo]

Hope it turns out well!

Do you need to boil the honey to sterilise it? Or is it OK as is?

Well Jim, that's the question that seems to fuel the debate about when to add the honey

The honey that I am using in this trial brew is a decent quality supermarket one, so in my opinion this must have been through some sort of treatment to stop it going off or from fermenting in the jar, but my neighbours honey will be more of a gamble.......

I'm not saying it won't have been processed in some way but the bees reduce the water content to level where it cannot ferment (<20% roughly) before they cap the combs. The consequence of this is that wild yeasts etc. could well still be there.

If your neighbour knows you're going to brew with honey he gives you he might give you some unripe (uncapped) stuff which the bees haven't finished processing down to the required water content. No issue if you use it immediately and use a bit more.

I agree with Dean that boiling will drive off most of the flavour. It also creates some compound which isn't particularly good for you, its name escapes me just now.

I would treat it the same as a fruit or dry hop addition and do it a few days into fermentation once there is a strong culture of the desired yeast and a reasonable alcohol concentration.

Mead books recommend sulphite.

[Jambo]

Meant to also say good luck and let us know how it goes - a honey beer is on my to do list!

Got some rank smelling dandelion honey and I'm wondering if a beer could hide some of its aroma through dilution if nothing else!

[Dave S]

Hope it turns out well!

Do you need to boil the honey to sterilise it? Or is it OK as is?

I did a honey ale last year, or was it the year before . I added my honey at the start of fermentation, though Monkeybrew's timing sounds about right. I pasteurised the honey by mixing it with a minimal amount of water and raising the temperature to 80-85C and holding there for about 1 hour. In that way the bugs are killed but not the flavour. The beer turned out great, though with 340g in 23L I think I'd add the full 454g (1lb) next time.