# Honey Wheat Beer - Need A Recipe



## neo__04 (9/10/11)

Hey all,

Nice simple question for today.

Anyone able to recommend me a good honey wheat beer recipe?

Thanks!


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## redunderthebed (1/4/12)

I'm interested too.

My recipe just making it up.
Tom cooper wheat beer
a tub of local honey
a tin of light malt
a bag of BE2 

thoughts?


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## Luek (2/4/12)

How much honey would you recommend? I was looking for something similar.


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## troopa (2/4/12)

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...&recipe=661
Off the recipe DB

Scaling down id be looking at something like 

2.5kg base (pillsner)
2.5kg wheat
1.5 kg honey
300g light crystal or caramunich 1

Add some nice hops balanced to about 20-25IBU depending on yeast and style you want 
Id look at something like belgian wit and for something different, Saaz 

Could take some time to ferment out say about 3-4 weeks and going to need a couple of weeks conditioning


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## redunderthebed (2/4/12)

Interesting recipe considering there is a wit bier tin that coopers makes.

I think i might go the easy way and use that.


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## ploto (2/4/12)

redunderthebed said:


> I'm interested too.
> 
> My recipe just making it up.
> Tom cooper wheat beer
> ...



I would use a tin of wheat malt extract in place of the light malt, ditch the BE2 and consider adding the honey a few days into the fermentation. Also look into using a better yeast than is supplied with the kit, either WB-06 dry yeast or a liquid one if you want move variety.

And if you haven't already done so, get the kit and extract spreadsheet from the sticky thread at the top of the kit & extract forum, it is quite handy for working out recipes such as these.


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## DarkFaerytale (3/4/12)

i just made one up yesterday actually, it was from the latest issue of BYO with a few tweeks as i couldn't get the items

from my blog ---> http://darkfaerytales.tumblr.com/

brackets are substitutes i made

1.5 kg coppers light malt extract 60 minutes boil

.4kg pale malt 60 minute mash + 60 minutes boil

.5kg wheat malt 60 minute mash + 60 minutes boil

.17 maltodextrin powder 60 minutes boil

28g Willamette hops (26g fuggles hops) 60 minutes boil

8.5g Willamette hops (9g fuggles hops) 0 minutes boil

.9kg blackberry honey (.9kg orange blossom honey) 0 minutes boil

Wyeast 1010 american wheat yeast (wb-06 dried yeast)

ill ferment for a week or so @ 18C and then keg.


good luck

-Phill


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## Ross (3/4/12)

The original question was asked in Oct 2011!!!

As the original post gave no clues to the level of brewing, it's not surprising it didn't get any replies...



At least it's getting some answers now....  

Cheers Ross


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## DarkFaerytale (3/4/12)

LOL thanks Ross, hopefully it helps out someone still

http://www.archibaldhoney.com.au/

thats where i get my honey from, lucky for me there walking distance, but they do online orders.


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## redunderthebed (3/4/12)

ploto said:


> I would use a tin of wheat malt extract in place of the light malt, ditch the BE2 and consider adding the honey a few days into the fermentation. Also look into using a better yeast than is supplied with the kit, either WB-06 dry yeast or a liquid one if you want move variety.
> 
> And if you haven't already done so, get the kit and extract spreadsheet from the sticky thread at the top of the kit & extract forum, it is quite handy for working out recipes such as these.



D'oh i meant wheat malt extract h34r: why would you ditch the BE2 ive found it works quite well in improving the brew. My local mitre10 has a range of wyeast and (i think) brewcraft yeast i'll check it out. Also why would you wait a few days to add the honey doesnt it take longer to break down?.

I have nfi how to work that spreadsheet thingy.




Ross said:


> The original question was asked in Oct 2011!!!
> 
> As the original post gave no clues to the level of brewing, it's not surprising it didn't get any replies...
> 
> ...



Always better to ask a question in a current thread than start a new one.



DarkFaerytale said:


> LOL thanks Ross, hopefully it helps out someone still
> 
> http://www.archibaldhoney.com.au/
> 
> thats where i get my honey from, lucky for me there walking distance, but they do online orders.


I'm lucky to have a local apiarist (sp?) that has hives just out of town that sells honey locally so i thought why not use something that is sourced locally. :kooi:


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## ploto (3/4/12)

redunderthebed said:


> D'oh i meant wheat malt extract h34r: why would you ditch the BE2 ive found it works quite well in improving the brew. My local mitre10 has a range of wyeast and (i think) brewcraft yeast i'll check it out. Also why would you wait a few days to add the honey doesnt it take longer to break down?.
> 
> I have nfi how to work that spreadsheet thingy.



If the BE2 works for you then by all means use it. My thoughts were that the combined total of fermentables might make a rather strong beer, but if that's what you are after then go for it.

Honey is often added later as it is generally considered that early yeast activity will strip out much of the honey's flavour. But then again, it depends how much honey is in your tub.

I too have a poor understanding of Excel, however the spreadsheet in question is remarkably easy to operate. It really is as simple as selecting your ingredients from pull-down lists and entering the various quantities. Voila, it tells me that your recipe, in a 23l batch, would have an alcohol content of 5.8% with a 500g tub of honey, or 6.3% if it's a 1kg tub. Removing the BE2 and assuming 500g of honey, the beer ends up at 4.5%.


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## Bribie G (3/4/12)

Interesting thread, the only honey beer I ever made was a Braggott a couple of years ago and it turned out tasting like pink trough lollies. I wouldn't have minded if it was the blue, but I couldn't come at the pink.

Yesterday I pitched an all grain American Wheat. I'm still getting to grips with sparging (I mashed in an esky) and instead of 1052 I only got 1048 so here's an opportunity to pour in a 500g jar of ALDI's best. Should I boil it first or is it supposed to be sterile anyway, being honey?

I suppose day 4 at the same time as dry hopping?


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## ploto (3/4/12)

I have used honey in a beer only once, 500g in an extract version of Tony's New Age Aussie Wheat Ale. The result was quite subtle and not immediately noticable, but did add bit of depth to the flavour. Oddly enough, the honey taste seemed to lengthen as the beer aged, possibly as a result of the hop aroma and flavours subsiding. I also added two vanilla pods which also went from being barely noticeable at all to adding an interesting note, not so much an obvious vanilla hit but more of an after-taste.

There are a couple of honey threads from a few months back that go into more detail of when and how to add honey; I chose to pasteurise mine by mixing with equal amount of water at 65*C for half an hour, cooled then added to the fermenter. Even if you chose not to pasteurise the honey you would still want to dissolve it in warm water (boiled and cooled) or it will probably go straight to the bottom. Boiling honey apparently destroys a lot of its goodness and flavour.


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