I Have 3kg Of Orange Blossom Honey...

[francismcphail]

I have a 3kg tub of orange blossom honey. Honey wheat beer comes to mind just wondering what else I could do with this?

 

[Jye]

Dont waste it in beer

Why not make some mead with it?

 

[boingk]

I was thinking a wheat too...although a Belgian Blond with orange blossom substituted for the sugar would be good I reckon.

Imagine the flavours... :icon_drool2:

- boingk

 

[Margrethe]

I think Mead with it would be stunning...but a honey beer sounds like it could be lovely too! It'd make it really mellow and beautiful.

Go with whatever your gut says

 

[white.grant]

I'm saying mead too, but also wondering where you got it from and is there any left?

cheers

Grant

 

[hoohaaman]

Was thinking Belgian Blond too,also the force in toast is strong.

 

[flattop]

Mead or blonde, but can you get more?

 

[neonmeate]

where do you get that stuff? would love to have some.

there's a recipe in Pierre Rajotte's "Belgian Beer" (in the classic style series) called "Gouden Charlie" I think that calls for 500g or a kilo of specifically orange blossom honey. I would post the recipe but I lent my copy of the book. I think it had something like: 50% munich, 45% pale, 5% pale crystal, plus the honey, to 1065 OG, goldings for 20IBU and small amount of tettnang for aroma.
when i made it i didnt have orange blossom honey so i used normal honey plus a bit of orange blossom water. think i used my usual WLP530. turned out to be one of the best beers ive made, a nice malty and aromatic thoughtful sort of a beer.

 

[np1962]

Barossa Valley Brewings Honey wheat beer 'Bee Sting' uses Orange Blosom Honey.
It makes up 5% of fermentables IIRC.
You can pick the aroma and taste of the orange blossom.

Nige

 

[francismcphail]

Mead or blonde, but can you get more?

Yes getting more is not a problem. I found mine at the Mornington Market before Christmas 2008. From memory it only cost 18$ for the bucket.

Never done a meade before.. so a little hesitant as I don't have the facilities to age in secondary at a stable temp for a few months. (Which I believe is needed for a meade.)

 

[francismcphail]

where do you get that stuff? would love to have some.

there's a recipe in Pierre Rajotte's "Belgian Beer" (in the classic style series) called "Gouden Charlie" I think that calls for 500g or a kilo of specifically orange blossom honey. I would post the recipe but I lent my copy of the book. I think it had something like: 50% munich, 45% pale, 5% pale crystal, plus the honey, to 1065 OG, goldings for 20IBU and small amount of tettnang for aroma.
when i made it i didnt have orange blossom honey so i used normal honey plus a bit of orange blossom water. think i used my usual WLP530. turned out to be one of the best beers ive made, a nice malty and aromatic thoughtful sort of a beer.

That sounds great. If you get the book back I'd love a copy of the recipe.

Cheers
Francis.

 

[Stuffa]

Below is an Orange Blossom Honey Recipe I converted from http://hbd.org/uchima/recipes/obh

I've also done it in kit form as follows:
1 can coopers European lager
500g dried wheat malt
800g orange blossom honey
50g cascade hops
Saflager W34/70 yeast
200g Orange blossom honey to prime.
Method: Boiled 1L water, dried malt and hops for 15mins, added coopers can and 800g OB Honey then into fermenter to 21 L, hydrated and pitched yeast.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Orange Blossom Honey Ale
Brewer: Stuffa
Asst Brewer:
Style: Blonde Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 24.00 L
Boil Size: 31.46 L
Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 6.1 EBC
Estimated IBU: 33.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.30 kg Pilsner (Weyermann) (3.3 EBC) Grain 62.2 %
0.80 kg Carafoam (Weyermann) (3.9 EBC) Grain 15.1 %
24.00 gm Northern Brewer [9.00%] (60 min) Hops 25.1 IBU
30.00 gm Cascade [6.30%] (10 min) Hops 8.0 IBU
20.00 gm Cascade [6.30%] (0 min) Hops -
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
4.00 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1.20 kg Honey (2.0 EBC) Sugar 22.7 %
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Full volume Single Infusion, Medium body, Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 4.10 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Infusion Add 22.57 L of water at 70.1 C 67.0 C 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 78.0 C over 10 min 78.0 C 0 min

Hope this is of some help.

 

[domonsura]

For Adelaide Brewers the honey shop at the central markets stocks it quite cheaply. It never lasts long enough to make it to a brew in our house.

 

[neonmeate]

That sounds great. If you get the book back I'd love a copy of the recipe.

Cheers
Francis.

just remember the recipe is still at beertools.com, back in the days before there were brewing apps for the mac.
here's the recipe i brewed, just delete orange blossom water and youve got it.

orange blossom special - ecze
May 24, 2004

liters
Category Belgian and French Ale
Subcategory Belgian Specialty Ale
Recipe Type All Grain
Batch Size 19 liters
Volume Boiled 24 liters
Mash Efficiency 72 %
Total Grain/Extract 5.98 kg.
Total Hops 47.0 g.
Calories (12 fl. oz.) 271.9
Cost to Brew $28.29 (USD)
Cost per Bottle (12 fl. oz.) $0.53 (USD)
Summary : a reworking of a recipe from Pierre Rajotte's Brewing Belgian Beer book - with orange blossom water instead of orange blossom honey.
2.5 kg. German Light Munich info
3 kg. German 2-row Pils info
.480 kg. Honey info
25 g. East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 6.6 %AA) boiled 60 min. info
7 g. Tettnanger (Pellets, 9.8 %AA) boiled 60 min. info

8 tablespoons Lebanese orange blossom water (not included in calculations)
Yeast : White Labs WLP530 Abbey Ale

Predicted Belgian Specialty Ale Compliance
Original Gravity 1.068 1.040 - 1.070 100 %
Terminal Gravity 1.010 1.008 - 1.016 100 %
Color 9.81 SRM 3.00 - 8.00 SRM 64 %
Bitterness 36.7 IBU 20.00 - 40.00 IBU 100 %
Alcohol (%volume) 7.6 %

 

[EK]

When it comes to making a Mead you are going to need a lot more that 3kg of honey, unless you want to make a small batch.

I have been doing some reading on meads as I intend to make one rather soon. I have found The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm to be rather good. (Buy from here, or here, or here.)

The recipes in The Compleat Meadmaker for 19L batches of mead contain honey quantities as follows:
Dry mead: 4.5kg
Medium Mead: 5.7-6.4kg
Sweet Mead: 6.8-8.2kg

With regards to the length of time: the author makes the point of a particular set of nutrients that will make a batch ferment properly in two weeks. Ageing is still required, of course.

If you can't get more, then you could do a smaller batch, or some braggot/honey-beer.

:icon_cheers:
EK