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Date: 06 Oct 2006 01:33:27
From: Brian Foster
Subject: Still getting the hang of this; Honey ale story
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I brewed a honey ale last week. I love to cook and I'm not afraid to try and
go "off the menu" with regard to a recipe. There appears to be a lot more
chemistry to brewing beer than there is to making, say, Chili :)
The recipe called for 2lbs of honey, so I though I'd add a little more to
make it taste sweeter and more like honey. Probably had a good 3.5 lbs of
honey in there :0
Well as I said in an earlier post, I blew the lid right off the fermentor :)
OG was a good 10 points higher than it should of been (for the recipe) and I
had just too much wort in the pail. Air lock clogged and poof. So I took
about a 1/2 gal out and resealed.
Racked to secondary today. What a funky, robust krausen! Much bigger and
thicker than any I've done before. My OG when I brewed was 1.070 and today
the gravity was 1.020. It still has a ways to go as now that it is in a
glass carboy I can still see a lot of activity.
The taste was what surprised me today. Not very sweet at all, but a
pronounced alcohol taste. This batch may not be suitable for the public to
consume :)
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Date: 06 Oct 2006 02:52:41
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Still getting the hang of this; Honey ale story
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On Fri, 06 2006 01:33:27 GMT, <brianfoster@houston.rr.com > wrote:
> The recipe called for 2lbs of honey, so I though I'd add a little more to
> make it taste sweeter and more like honey. Probably had a good 3.5 lbs of
> honey in there :0
...
> The taste was what surprised me today. Not very sweet at all, but a
> pronounced alcohol taste. This batch may not be suitable for the public to
> consume :)
Honey is not going to give your final beer much sweetness, if any. It's
going to almost completely ferment out, leaving mainly alcohol with a
little bit of flavor. If you're looking for residual sweetness, honey
is not going to do it.
John.
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Date: 05 Oct 2006 21:03:27
From: David M. Taylor
Subject: Re: Still getting the hang of this; Honey ale story
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"Brian Foster" <brianfoster@houston.rr.com > wrote in message
news:HniVg.36555$DU3.3952@tornado.texas.rr.com...
>
> The recipe called for 2lbs of honey, so I though I'd add a little more to
> make it taste sweeter and more like honey. Probably had a good 3.5 lbs of
> honey in there :0
All that honey's going to ferment and make sort of a high-ane braggot.
> The taste was what surprised me today. Not very sweet at all, but a
> pronounced alcohol taste. This batch may not be suitable for the public to
> consume :)
Yep, that's what happens. When you add large quantities of something that's
nearly 100% fermentable, like honey, you're going to end up with a very high
alcohol brew. Certainly wouldn't be expected to be sweet at all.
If you want added sweetness, you're better off adding some John Bull light
extract, which is not very fermentable. It won't taste like honey, but it
will certainly be sweeter.
P.S. Sorry if it seems like I'm a bit grumpy. I've had a few too many.
They were good, if it's any consolation.
--
Dave
"Just a drink, a little drink, and I'll be feeling GOOooOOooOOooD!" --
Genesis, 1973-ish
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Date: 06 Oct 2006 09:27:41
From: Scott L
Subject: Re: Still getting the hang of this; Honey ale story
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Brian Foster wrote:
> The recipe called for 2lbs of honey, so I though I'd add a little more to
> make it taste sweeter and more like honey. Probably had a good 3.5 lbs of
> honey in there :0
As a nearly completely fermentable sugar source, adding more honey is
only going to make your beer dryer. As you've discovered :-)
To make beer sweeter, you have to add more complex sugars, by using a
less attenuable extract (or if/when you do full grain, by mashing at
higher temps), or using more highly roasted malts like crystal.
Pure sugar is the worst if your goal is sweetness -- it converts 100%
to alcohol and makes the beer thin and dry.
Scott
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Date: 06 Oct 2006 09:16:51
From:
Subject: Re: Still getting the hang of this; Honey ale story
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John 'Shaggy' Kolesar wrote:
> Honey is not going to give your final beer much sweetness, if any. It's
> going to almost completely ferment out, leaving mainly alcohol with a
> little bit of flavor. If you're looking for residual sweetness, honey
> is not going to do it.
Yep. If you want honey flavour, try using Gambrinus "Honey Malt", which
is a type of crystal.
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Date: 06 Oct 2006 12:44:03
From: The Artist Formerly Known as Kap'n Salty
Subject: Re: Still getting the hang of this; Honey ale story
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tkcbb77@hotmail.com wrote:
> John 'Shaggy' Kolesar wrote:
>
>> Honey is not going to give your final beer much sweetness, if any. It's
>> going to almost completely ferment out, leaving mainly alcohol with a
>> little bit of flavor. If you're looking for residual sweetness, honey
>> is not going to do it.
>
> Yep. If you want honey flavour, try using Gambrinus "Honey Malt", which
> is a type of crystal.
>
It smells like honey, but I haven't found that it really gives the beer
a honey flavor.
--
(Replies: cleanse my address of the Mark of the Beast!)
Teleoperate a roving mobile robot from the web:
http://www.swampgas.com/robotics/rover.html
Coauthor with Dennis Clark of "Building Robot Drive Trains".
Buy several copies today!
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Date: 06 Oct 2006 08:18:00
From: The Artist Formerly Known as Kap'n Salty
Subject: Re: Still getting the hang of this; Honey ale story
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Brian Foster wrote:
> I brewed a honey ale last week. I love to cook and I'm not afraid to try and
> go "off the menu" with regard to a recipe. There appears to be a lot more
> chemistry to brewing beer than there is to making, say, Chili :)
>
> The recipe called for 2lbs of honey, so I though I'd add a little more to
> make it taste sweeter and more like honey. Probably had a good 3.5 lbs of
> honey in there :0
Yeah -- if you add more honey, the sweet part (mainly fructose) just
gives the yeast more to consume. Basically, you're just boosting
alcohol, not adding sweetness.
>
> Well as I said in an earlier post, I blew the lid right off the fermentor :)
>
> OG was a good 10 points higher than it should of been (for the recipe) and I
> had just too much wort in the pail. Air lock clogged and poof. So I took
> about a 1/2 gal out and resealed.
>
> Racked to secondary today. What a funky, robust krausen! Much bigger and
> thicker than any I've done before. My OG when I brewed was 1.070 and today
> the gravity was 1.020. It still has a ways to go as now that it is in a
> glass carboy I can still see a lot of activity.
>
> The taste was what surprised me today. Not very sweet at all, but a
> pronounced alcohol taste. This batch may not be suitable for the public to
> consume :)
Give it time -- beers with a lot of alcohol often want long aging times.
--
(Replies: cleanse my address of the Mark of the Beast!)
Teleoperate a roving mobile robot from the web:
http://www.swampgas.com/robotics/rover.html
Coauthor with Dennis Clark of "Building Robot Drive Trains".
Buy several copies today!
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