Honey Hops

[phinnsfotos]

Hi,

I'm thinking I might put on a winter honey beer. Something like:

Coopers Canadian Tin
.5 or 1 Kg of LDM
750gm of Honey
200-300gm of Caramunich II
Probably US05 as I've got some re-cultured in the fridge. But I was thinking of giving Safale T-58 for something different.

So I'm trying to decide what hop to add to this. I'm aiming for something a little be amber'ish, honey'ish. So I'm guessing that maybe something a little spicy? I've got some EKG and Southern Hallertau in the freezer.

Thoughts/Theories?

Cheers,
Finn.

 

[barto1308]

Hi,

I'm thinking I might put on a winter honey beer. Something like:

Coopers Canadian Tin
.5 or 1 Kg of LDM
750gm of Honey
200-300gm of Caramunich II
Probably US05 as I've got some re-cultured in the fridge. But I was thinking of giving Safale T-58 for something different.

So I'm trying to decide what hop to add to this. I'm aiming for something a little be amber'ish, honey'ish. So I'm guessing that maybe something a little spicy? I've got some EKG and Southern Hallertau in the freezer.

Thoughts/Theories?

Cheers,
Finn.

Funny, I have recently laid down pretty much the same recipe. I used the Coopers Canadian, 1kg Dex, 1kg Blackbutt Honey, and the kit yeast. Having tasted the brew after 4 days in the fermenter, it has some inherent bitterness - the Canadian is rated for about 22.8 IBU for a 23L ferment. Im leaving mine until the ferment is almost finished, then taste it to see if it requires any dry hopping. I know this wont add much to the bitterness unless I tea-bag some hops in b oiling water and add the tea, but I think it will be fine, just a few hops for aroma, which you dont get in the pre-hopped kits.

 

[manticle]

Honey flavours tend to come out reasonably subtly so a hop that doesn't overshadow seems appropriate.

Noble hops generally fit that bill. I would try hallertauer or tettnanger. I get a touch of floral and lemon from hall and subtle orange from tett which would both work well with honey too.

 

[Verbyla]

I've tried a honey beer before but was really disappointed due to the fact that the honey taste was gone and was left with a strong floral flavour. Hope yours turns out better!

 

[phinnsfotos]

Looks like I'll give hallertauer a thrash. I'm hoping that should temper the sweetness of the caramunich and honey.

So final (18 litres, give it a test run)
1 x Coopers Canadian Blonde
500gm Coopers LDM
200gm Caramunich II
750gm Honey (Black and gold baby)
10gm @ 20 mins Hallertauer
10gm @ 10 mins Hallertauer


On the right track?

 

[brocky_555]

i want to brew with honey but would like to use non mass produced honey ( straight from a honey producer ) to get the real floral taste you dont get with supermarket honey isnt that the flavour you are trying to get ?

 

[phinnsfotos]

My goals aren't quite that noble. More of a "Hmm, that has a bit of a honey taste"

 

[Parrothead]

Looks like I'll give hallertauer a thrash. I'm hoping that should temper the sweetness of the caramunich and honey.

So final (18 litres, give it a test run)
1 x Coopers Canadian Blonde
500gm Coopers LDM
200gm Caramunich II
750gm Honey (Black and gold baby)
10gm @ 20 mins Hallertauer
10gm @ 10 mins Hallertauer


On the right track?

I've been thinking of doing something with the Canadian Blonde kit and honey, too. I like the looks of your recipe. Just curious - why 18 litres, not 23?

 

[Nick JD]

How much honey taste comes through in your beer has a lot to do with the flowers the honey came from.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Styrian Goldings for the hop to give some aroma - I tried it in teh Barossa Valley Bee Stung (available from some Dan's), and it works really well. I've used it in a number of my medium and lighter colour ales.

I'm going to put honey in (and I want to get grower produced, not supermarket honey) a dark ale as a flavour adjunct, and use a Windsor Ale Yeast, so that the honey doesn't attenuate out in total. I think it's the only way to keep some of the flavour there. Same goes for the cherry I'm putting it. I don't want the whole lot to be eaten by the yeast, so getting a less vigorous yeast (and storing it in my cellar).

 

[Clownfish]

For the past 2 years I have been regularly making beer using honey. However, I use either Coopers Real Ale, Coopers lager or Coopers Draught with about 500 g of honey. I have used mass supermarket honey, premium honey and honey straight from an apiarist. I add no extra dextrose.

The results have all been excellent. The best have been with the premium honey (all from the one tree/flower) and the apiarist honey. One I made with premium honey (600 g) was a rocket fuel. It was the tastiest of all, with just a hint of honey (sweet) taste and an alcohol content of about 6.7% in bottles.

I use honey in 50% of my beers and can certainly recommend it, although keeping it simple seems to work very well.