Smoked Honey Porter - Recipe Ideas

[floydmeddler]

This has been on my mind all week so I've decided I'll brew it next weekend.

Here are my three desires with this:

It needs to have a definite, unmistakable smoke hit.

I'm torn between Rauchmalt and peat smoked malt. I know Rauchmalt isn't as arrogant as peat smoked malt and that I'd need a lot more of it. I hear that peat smoked malt can be overpowering and unpleasant. Please give me your views/thoughts/stories of experience on this if you can.


It needs to have a definite, unmistakable honey hit.

Simple. I'll got for 1.5kg of honey. I'll add when fermentation has all but died down

It mustn't have a dry finish; I want this to be full bodied.

I'll use Windsor yeast (due to its low attenuating character) and mash at around 70c. This should leave the beer (without honey added) at around 1.020 - 1.025 I reckon. When I add the honey, it should bring the gravity down whilst maintaining that malty sweetness. I reckon the gravity could come down to around 1.008 - 1.010 after the honey is added.


Possible problems: Sweetness! Perhaps this will be too sweet? Maybe the beer needs to finish lower than 1.020 - 1.025 before honey is added. I am right in thinking that although the honey will drag the gravity down, the initial malty sweetness pre adding honey will still be there; it doesn't all of a sudden ferment out because of the addition to honey does it? Surely not. Again, your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. I'm open to suggestions regarding different malts too!

Here's my recipe so far. Feel free to give suggestions.

Smoked Honey Porter

Size: 25.0 L
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 89.0%

Original Gravity: 1.067 (1.060 - 1.090)
Terminal Gravity: 1.007 (1.016 - 1.024)
Color: 50.76 (33.49 - 59.1)
Alcohol: 7.87% (5.5% - 9.5%)
Bitterness: 40.5 (20.0 - 40.0)

Ingredients:
5 kg (69.4%) Rauchmalt - added during mash
300 g (4.2%) British Crystal 55°L - added during mash
250 g (3.5%) Chocolate Malt - added during mash
200 g (2.8%) Roasted Barley - added during mash
100 g (1.4%) Torrified Wheat - added during mash
450 g (6.2%) Rowse Honey - added after approx 1 week
450 g (6.2%) Rowse Honey - added after approx 1 week
450 g (6.2%) Rowse Honey - added after approx 1 week
45 g (100.0%) Northern Brewer (9.0%) - added during boil, boiled 90 m
Yeast - Danstar Windsor

[Lugsy]

Hi Floyd, this looks interesting!

I'd certainly go with Rauch malt over peat smoked - I find the peat smoked is a bit harsh and you get a definite Islay malt taste with it. I used 500g of it in my RIS and even though the malt was a year old when I used it (and it's been in the bottle 9 months) it's still one of the most noticeable flavours in there. Depending on how smokey you want this to be you might be able to drop the amount considerably, 5kg will be like a fresh bottle of Schlenkerla Marzen level of smokiness (which is delicious by the way), you could halve it and still get a nice smoke hit. I used 2kg in my Rauchbier Dunkelweizen and that was a nice drop. Oh, and one last tip - make sure you've got some bacon to hand when you brew, the smell of Rauch malt in the mash and the boil will drive you mad if you can't get a bacon butty. I know this from bitter experience

As for the honey, adding it late to the fermenter is certainly the way to go but you should also prime with it - apparently this adds greatly to the honey taste which makes sense as there's nowhere for the volatiles to escape to once it's sealed up in the bottle.

Good luck with it, can't wait to hear how it comes out

[floydmeddler]

A really helpful response Lugsy. Thanks a million man!

Ok... so, maybe I'll go for 3kg of the Rauchmalt then. I don't want TOO much smokiness.

With regards to the honey, I won't be priming so will just have to keep fingers crossed that it comes through. 1.5kg is quite a lot so I'm pretty confident I'll get some sort of a honey hit.

I'm going to get in some bacon too. Haha. I'm looking forward to experiencing the craving brought on by the Rauchmalt!

I'll do a detailed brewday post next week when I brew this puppy. So excited now!!!

[floydmeddler]

Oh! Nearly forgot... I owe you a beer don't I Lugsy? You'll be trying this.

[Lugsy]

You're welcome mate

When I used Rauch malt I did a double decoction and a long boil so the hob was in use non-stop for hours, meaning I couldn't get my bacon butty fix until about 7 in the evening. Getting the bacon in is the best tip I can think of for you!

Look forward to trying it, cheers!

[floydmeddler]

You're welcome mate

When I used Rauch malt I did a double decoction and a long boil so the hob was in use non-stop for hours, meaning I couldn't get my bacon butty fix until about 7 in the evening. Getting the bacon in is the best tip I can think of for you!

Look forward to trying it, cheers!

Haha! I'm looking forward to this bacon butty already!

[floydmeddler]

OK... new worry:

Windsor. Will it be able to handle this beast of a beer? I'm not sure what its alcohol tolerance is...

[floydmeddler]

A quick Google search has thrown this up: http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtop ... f=2&t=3633

Excellent!

[floydmeddler]

All brewed up! viewtopic.php?f=24&t=54148