Honey with kit and bits

[Unclestewbrew]

Hi Fellas ,
I know I'm asking heaps of questions but its the only way I think us newbies have a chance...
Already got a post up about a stout that I want to brew for my dad , getting some great feedback -big thanks
The old fella is very partial to Honey flavoured beer ( along with stout )commercial brands only
I brew a few Coopers kits along with Muntons and ESB fresh worts.
So what's the go with getting a honey taste in there and how hard is it for a relativity new brewer
I have a brew fridge with temp control if that helps ,

Cheers and good beers
Stu

 

[TimT]

Honey is a good brewing ingredient, but it tends to ferment right out in brews so you don't end up with a 'honey taste' - you get a fairly dry brew, light on the maltiness. If by honey flavoured you're thinking sweet then you might want to look at the big alcohol brews, the sort where the yeast conks out, leaving a noticeably high sweetness in the brew - dubbels and trippels and brews like that.

 

[Unclestewbrew]

That sounds confusing TimT , is there a simple way of doing a mock Bees Nees by any chance ? ,

Thanks

 

[TimT]

Bees Nees would be pretty simple; a wheat beer kit, and add some honey. I prefer to add honey at peak ferment so honey qualities don't get lost in the boil. But then Bees Nees is not a complex brew - a pale wheat beer with a light body and a dry finish - that's what the honey does, see. You could get this effect adding in honey during the boil - though adding sugar would probably do it too.

 

[Grott]

I've had good results using honey named "bush mallee honey" (strong tasting). I dissolved 350/400gms in hot water and added to the fermenter with the other ingredients. As you drink you do not taste the honey but certainly do as an after taste, very enjoyable.
Cheer

Ps. sanitise the saucepan before use

 

[Unclestewbrew]

Cool , I might give this a go , no harm in experimenting.
So is a wheat beer base the go or could I use something like Muntons IPA cause my father is pretty partial to this brew ,

Thanks

 

[Grott]

Have not used them myself but see no reason why not. Try the IPA and give dad a treat.
Cheers

 

[Unclestewbrew]

Cheers grott , I will give it a crack

Thanks

 

[TheWiggman]

I did a honey ale recently that had 400g of honey in it and fermented out to 1.004 using Nottingham (6.7%). I don't blame this on the honey. I pasteurised it for my for first go.
After it's spent about 7 months in the keg there is a notable honey flavour. If you didn't know it was there you don't immediately go "wow, honey that tastes like beer" but it is definitely different to my other brews. Certainly detectable now as honey.
Personally I'm not going to do it again (kegs don't often last 7 months) as I don't like it in a beer. I don't like wheat beer either so not going to dive in and make a Beez Neez. However, I used 500g-odd in an English Barley Wine with 5 mins to go in the boil and THAT was a success. Can't really taste the honey but there was so much going on with alcohol, hops, bitterness and malt that the residual taste of the honey married with everything perfectly. Bloody enjoyable.

 

[TimT]

I suspect with aged honey beers you'd get a similar effect to meads - ie, with time they develop a strong and delicious aroma. Something like toffee, something like caramel, something like beeswax. In short, it reminds you a lot of the honey. (This smell in turn may affect what you taste). Common wisdom of honey beers (which I've repeated above) is the honey ferments right out and you won't really be able to taste it - that's what I've said above!

But it does get more complicated. Because when you taste a young mead - ie, fermented honey water - it doesn't taste like honey, and it doesn't taste like water. It has a young wine taste. Given time this taste will settle out, the wine will clear up and you'll get a delicious drink with a certain character brought to it by the honey. Now, these tastes must be prevalent in honey beers as well - but a) the hops and b.) the malt will effectively block these tastes out a fair bit. Mostly it'll be the hops that will do this blocking out; hops are a powerful spice and can distract attention from a lot of gentler flavours. Which I suppose is one reason why Bees Nees seems fairly lightly hopped.

I'm learning a lot about this stuff myself. I have an interesting mead ageing away at the moment, my Bold Braggot - honey-water base with some malt added to darken the colour and give it a certain malty edge. When it came fresh out of the fermenter it had a strong Barleywine quality. Now it's ageing and is taking on more winey characters, with a strong spicey edge (I added a cinnamon stick for a week or so). I'll be interested to see how it ages, once the cinnamon fades a bit and the honey aromas become more prevalent.