SUMMER HONEY ALE

[trucker5774]

I'm looking for a tried and trusted recipe and method for a nice fresh summer ale and also a honey ale. I dont want the honey to just be a fermentable, I would like to be able to recognise it in the finished glass. Any ideas and experiences would be fab. Thanks in advance, I know you wont let me down

[verno]

http://www.berriman.co.uk/hobbies/brewing/brewlog.shtml

the ones that sound honey like eg. buzzbee, bumble bee, waggle dance

I haven't tried any myself yet as I am not at AG yet.

[subsub]

There's plenty in the recipe or brewday sections as you'll find plenty of honey admirers on this site

[onelegout]

I had a pint of Waggle Dance the other day and was thoroughly disappointed. I don't know if I just got an off pint or something; there were no off flavours just a heavy aroma that I can only describe as the smell you get in the back of your nose just after you've been sick! As for the taste, it was just boring; watery and tasteless. I think the problem was that the honey didn't impart a strong enough flavour, and as the beer was not very malty at all, and was not very hoppy at all, there was really nothing to taste in the pint!

My point being: If you're going to make a honey ale, don't rely on the honey alone to give the beer character.

- Henry

[trucker5774]

Thanks so far gents.I have viewed many posts on honey ales. Most say the flavour and aroma of the honey gets lost along the way. I was hoping someone may have the secret. Its not just the honey beer I'm planning, I want a nice summer ale without the honey. As I type, I am mashing Timothy Taylor Landlord, the ingredients being an average of the many (but very similar) recipes I have seen. It will be the first run for my new chiller (posted in equipment with photos) It will be interesting to see how well the wort chills in the current hot weather. The odd thing was my mash temp was 2C lower than normal using normal 72C strike water. I reckon because it's a fairly large mash (5kg) but not huge!

[iowalad]

My best results with honey - add the honey to the fermenter after primary fermentation has largely subsided. I diluted the honey in a litre of water when I added it. The honey effect in terms of flavor and aroma was subtle. I think I used about 10% of my fermentables (can't access my recipes at the moment) in a 5% abv beer.

Another post a year or two back suggested priming with honey. Priming seems promising but I am a lazy kegger so rarely bother to prime anymore.

I would go easy or skip the late hop additions.

A couple of other things to try may be a more nuetral yeast such as US-05 and little or no speciality grains (I haven't tried either of these).

[Hawkinspm]

For a summer ale I just tried a 'Thirst Gold' brew that sounded like an odd hop schedule but I trusted the recipe and opinions, kegged it 4 days ago and it tastes great already ( from a rather large sample).

22 L brew

Maris Otter - 3600g
Crystal Mart - 60g
CaraMalt - 50g

90 min mash at 65C

First Gold - 21g FWH
First Gold - 23g 15 mins
First Gold - 20g Steep at 80C

90 min boil, added protafloc tablet at 15 mins

Yeast - SO4

OG - 1.043
FG - 1.009

a really nice summer pint, not sure how old this one will get before its gone.