Using Honey with a Coppers Real Ale kit

[ozcah]

Hi,

After an opinion here.

I have Cooper Real Ale kit, some left over cascade and amarillo hops.
I was thinking of adding some honey and developing a Honey Ale for something a bit different.

Here's what I am thinking:
Coopers Real Ale kit
1kg LDME
250g Orange Blossom honey
15g Cascade at 5 minutes
15g Amarillo at 5 minutes
15g Amarillo at flame out

So a bit like a Golden Ale. I'll probably throw 500g of Wheat Malt in as well.
American Ale Yeast (can't remember which one that is but I know when I see it).

Any thoughts?

Am I wasting my time or could this be something worth pursuing.

Regards,
Ward

[lethaldog]

American ale yeast is us-05 for dry and wyeast is 1056, Sounds like a pretty tasty recipe, i would probably halve the ldme if your gonna throw in the wheat or she could be fairly potent ( unless you want a strong beer of course)

[earle]

Wheat is definitely a good idea. Cascade and amarillo are a bit fruity and the tartness of wheat complements it nicely.

[bullfrog]

I think if you were adding both 1kg LDME and 500g of wheat extract then you'd probably want to up the timing of your first addition. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes, not so much to add too much bitterness, but a bit more to counteract the sweetness of your extra malt.

250g of honey will work nicely, I think. A lot of my APAs and Golden Ales when I was brewing extract had 200-300g of dextrose in them to dry them out a touch and honey acts in the same way; highly fermentable so dries out the brew a bit. The benefit of honey though is that you get a wonderful aroma with it. I find it has to be used in a fairly otherwise bland brew for the flavour to shine through and be very pronounced but you'll definitely get some aroma from it.

[ozcah]

Hiya,

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated.

Got all the ingredients, so next weekend this goes down.
I am going with the extra wheat malt as well, so I will boil an extra 10g Cascade for 15 minutes just to counteract the sweetness, but not too much, I don't want it too bitter.

catchya
Osc