Honey Pale Ale

[Gastronaut]

Hi,

I'm looking at brewing a honey beer - the brief is for a malty, golden beer, 'not too hoppy' (i.e. with low bitterness and without an aggressive hop character, I think moderate hop aroma and flavour should be fine). We were drinking Fullers Honey Dew and I've been asked for something similar, but with a more malty flavour. I can't get much info about Honey Dew but can see from the Fullers website the hops in it are First Gold. I'm planning on including munich for more flavour and mashing wam, in part to balance the expected dryness from the honey. Here's what I've come up with, any comments appreciated -

Aiming for OG 1.041, IBU 25, colour comes out at 4.6SRM on BeerSmith.

80% Maris Otter
10% Munich Malt
10% Honey (added at end of boil)
Mash temp 156f

21g First Gold - 60 mins (17.1 IBUs)
20g First Gold - 15 mins (8.1 IBUs)
25g First Gold - at switch off

Yeast - Burton Ale WLP023

[DaveyT]

I always use 15% honey after primary fermentation has died down. Usually a week in.

[Gastronaut]

Hi Davey, thanks.

I actually brewed this today with one change - I changed the hop quantities so the IBUs were evenly split between the two later additions. Honey added at the end of the boil.

Seemed very good going into the fermenter - will update in due course.

Andy

[nobby]

Honey Dew honey is were the Bees' collect a secretion from Aphids called Honey Dew. It's usually sold a Forest Honey it's dark with a very strong flavour.

[Gastronaut]

I actually used a Spanish Forest Honey in this brew - http://tinyurl.com/pbbdepe

I wasn't aware of what forest honey was, but picked this because it was described as having a malty flavour that I thought would go well.

Andy

[Gastronaut]

An update on this - this has now been in the keg for about 4 weeks and it's turned out lovely.

A bit lighter-bodied and more mildly flavoured than I was aiming for, but very drinkable. I'm not getting much from the honey, but it's a nice brew overall.