Honey beer recipe

simonb · Post by **simonb** » Wednesday Apr 20, 2005 3:11 pm

Hi

Can someone provide a recipe for adding honey to a simple kit beer.

How much honey is good to use and also for what type of beer does
this work well with (ale?, lager?)

thanks
simonb

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wednesday Apr 20, 2005 3:56 pm

Where's Dogger when you need him?

Any beer, but probably better in ales rather than lager/pilsener, due to their crisper palate.

Here's a recipe from the Cooper's website:

STRAWBERRY BLONDE
Honey has been an ingredient of many great beers through history. Honey is highly fermentable and contributes subtly to the flavour of the brew. We suggest Strawberry Clover Honey for this recipe but any light flavoured honey may be used.
Ingredients:
- 1.7kg can Coopers Canadian Blonde
- 1kg Coopers Brew Enhancer #1
- 325 grams Strawberry Clover Honey

Do a search for "honey" in the forums and you should find plenty of others.

Tony

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Wednesday Apr 20, 2005 4:22 pm

There are also a bunch of honeys to steer clear of due to odd flavours after fermentation (eucalyptus honey for one).

Once again, where's Dogger.

Cheers,
Jay.

pelican · Post by **pelican** » Wednesday Apr 20, 2005 7:24 pm

I got a brew on at the moment 1st time i have used honey it is the
canadian barvarian larger
500 grams brew sugar
500 grams iron bark honey

hope it turns out good but will still drink it if it dosent beer is beer never waste a drop

ps i have never made a bad brew so here's hopping its not my 1st lol

Terry · Post by **Terry** » Wednesday Apr 20, 2005 8:17 pm

I recently did a honey wheat beer, not too bad but still a young drop

1.7kg can Gold rush wheat beer
500g dextrose
250g light dried malt
250g maltodextrin
Hersbruker hop bag steeped 10 mins

Tony, I think that strawberry blonde has inspired my next brew, thanks.

oops, forgot about the 300g of honey as well.

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Wednesday Apr 20, 2005 9:17 pm

Sorry Guys,

Changing outfits in a phone booth.

I like 500 mls of honey in an all malt beer so say a Coopers beer kit + a kilo of malt+ 500 ml honey. Then add a few hops for aroma

Dogger

simonb · Post by **simonb** » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 1:17 pm

great - thanks for the replies

but adding 500mls of honey in addition to 1kg of dextrose/malt seems to be a lot of sugar - should I drop the amount of dry sugar when brewing with honey?

Post by **Oliver** » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 4:35 pm

Simon,

You could reduce the amount of other sugar if you're using 500g of honey, but it's not essential. The kit + 1.5kg sugars should be fine.

Oliver

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 9:02 pm

It will brew in a bit heavier, about 5.5 or so. Nothing that I ever worried about

Dogger

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » Friday Apr 22, 2005 6:01 pm

I've brewed the Coopers Strawberry Blonde recipe above and its pretty drinkable - very light colour, no overt honey flavour - and slips down easy. Have put a carton away for next summer just to see how it evolves. The honey I used was quite light in colour and taste

Franky · Post by **Franky** » Thursday Apr 28, 2005 1:25 am

I brewed with honey a while ago. After a two-three week carbonation period the honey aroma was great. No sweetness, just a subtle aroma.

Three months later, I discovered a box of that batch that I forgot about and cracked one open. Whilst still a good beer, the aroma had disappeared altogether. Drink 'em young!

Evo · Post by **Evo** » Thursday Apr 28, 2005 9:01 am

Speaking of such, what honey should be avoided ? Vaguely remember eucalyptus honey is a no no, and there were a few others that slip my mind.

Beer Krout · Post by **Beer Krout** » Sunday May 01, 2005 3:01 am

I just got back from Perth.
A good mate of mine over there brewed a honey beer with 1kg of cheap honey with no boiling. It was strong. 7.2 %. And it definitely left you no doubts about its ingredients. Very stong honey taste.

BK

grabman · Post by **grabman** » Sunday May 01, 2005 3:12 pm

I'm thinking of a honey brew using:
BlackRock New Zealand Company Bitter tin
500g Light DRy Malt Exract
1kg Honey

Any thoughts on it's possible success or otherwise? I've got the honey/malt ratio the other way around to you Dogger, any suggestions?

cheers all

oh well back to the bike racing for the afternoon!

johnnynostars · Post by **johnnynostars** » Sunday May 01, 2005 10:09 pm

Anyone made a mead?

I want to, but given the price of honey I would be so paranoid about stuffing it up.

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Sunday May 01, 2005 10:56 pm

Grab,

Thats a boat load of honey man. I don't normally make it that potent but hey, give it a go and let me know how you make out.

Johnny,

But ofcourse my friend I have made the nectar of the gods. What would you like to know? By the way, it needs to sit about a year before it is even close to mature and it takes about 4 months to brew so you pretty much need to dedicate a fermentor for some time and if you don't use glass today you should really think about it before taking on this project.

I am going to put down a strawberry mead this year.

Dogger

grabman · Post by **grabman** » Sunday May 01, 2005 11:33 pm

Cheers Dogger,

I might re-adjust then to 500g HOney and 1kg Light DME.

Hopefully will get time on WEdnesday to put it down.

grab

grabman · Post by **grabman** » Saturday May 07, 2005 4:56 pm

Been a bit slack, finally got around to the honey brew today, went with:
BlackRock Dry Lager Kit
500g Honey
500g LME
1kg Munich Grains, steeped for 60 min

Boiled the lot for 20 min, cooled and pitched yeast at 20C, used BlackRock Yeast.
SG= 1040@20C

What do you think Dogger?

Also on side note, to crack grains I used the wife's food processor with plastic blade in and pulsed them, seems to have been a roaring success, just hope she doesn't find out

Dogger Dan · Post by **Dogger Dan** » Saturday May 07, 2005 10:08 pm

Grab

I think that it will be aces

I buy my grains already cracked in a 40 kilo bag. No-one has ever been able to giive me a definate answer on when the go bad, I know I can keep them for at least 6 months.

Love the idea of using a food blender though

Dogger

yardglass · Post by **yardglass** » Sunday Oct 09, 2005 1:28 pm

grabman wrote:Been a bit slack, finally got around to the honey brew today, went with:
BlackRock Dry Lager Kit
500g Honey
500g LME
1kg Munich Grains, steeped for 60 min

Boiled the lot for 20 min, cooled and pitched yeast at 20C, used BlackRock Yeast.
SG= 1040@20C

What do you think Dogger?

Hi grabman,

I'm about to put down my 1st Honey Beer and i would be interested to know how this one turned out.

thanks
yardglass