3 Crops Honey Lager

This receipe started life as Cream of Three Crops ALE

Then I converted it into a lager and almost braggot by adding 4lbs of honey & a touch of vanilla.

I also removed 1 oz of Crystal Hops to let the honey flavor come through better.

Changed yeast from Ale to Lager (Specifically a WLP820 White Labs Octoberfest/Marzen yeast). This yeast produces a very malty, bock like style. It keeps a lot of the malt flavor and produces a nice Pilsner like crispness.

So its basically Cream of 3 Crops Ale, that's now a Lagered almost Braggot..

Recipe Type: All-Grain
Yeast: WLP820
Yeast Starter: Yes - 1L
Batch Size (Gallons): 5 Gal
Original Gravity: 1.064
Final Gravity: 1.014
IBU: ~10
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: Honey
Primary Fermentation: 10 days @ 50-55 degrees
Secondary Fermentation: 14 days @ 50 degrees
Additional Fermentation: Lager 4-6 weeks & Bottle Condition
Tasting Notes: Time will tell..

Ingredients:
6.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US
2.00 lb Corn, Flaked
1.00 lb Minute Rice

1 oz Willamette Hops (60 Min)
2 lbs of Farmers' Market Unprocessed Honey (30 min)
2 oz Vanilla Bean Extract (True extract not synthetic) ( 5 min )
...........

2 lbs of Farmers' Market Unprocessed Honey (Secondary)
1 oz LEMON PEEL (Secondary)


Did BIAB Method:

@ 152 degrees for 90 minutes w/ Mashout at 170 for 10 min (As per BIAB directions sticky)

After Mash out : Boil for 60 min at a low rolling boil

Add 2 lbs of honey to the last 30 minutes of boil.

Cool wort to 65 degrees and pitch a 1L starter.

Strain into primary.. ( not necessary.. but its something I do and helps clear the beer and a removes hops from wort)

Hold primary @ ~65 degrees until fermentation starts (~6-12 hrs).

Primary @ 50-55 degrees until it vent starts to slow down. ( ~1.020 Gravity reading ~3-5 days )

Prep honey:

Add prepared honey to secondary and rack to secondary

Hold secondary @ 50 degrees (~14 days)

When @ ~1.020 taste for diacetyl. If needed, do a diacetyl rest.

Then drop temp gradually until at 35 degrees and lager for 4 weeks.

Bottle, allow to carb at room temperature and then store at cellar temps.

I'm curious I have seen those that boil the honey in the wort or put it in the secondary.. I am curious what both will do.

I have a feeling it will have a beer body and head, but an almost mead like aroma and flavor.

Went to secondary today..

Boiled a cup of water and added dried lemon peel zest to the boil. Let them bulk up and added the 2 lbs of honey let it mix well.

Racked to secondary and its fermenting again fairly well... (Primary fermentation was at 1.022 and vent had stalled.. so I knew it was "Done" but not DONE DONE)

Will do a hydro test tommorrow and see what the gravity has gone too.. I imagine it will be back into the 1.030 range.

Once gravity gets to the 1.020 or so range I will start lagering. That sound about right..?

Finished at 1.014 interestingly enough it came out great and is a subtler on the lemon, a little more hoppy (Due to the dry hopping) and slightly sweeter version of:

Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy

Very close though.. and I wasn't even trying.

I hadn't even tried Summer Shandy until after I brewed this it at the local store, and it sounded like what I was coming up with.