maplemontbrew
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Would imagine that honey malt would be much easier to use in my heheweizen than real honey, but will I get the same flavor?
I've used honey malt twice recently. The first was in an amber ale; used half a pound of honey malt plus I added a pound of raw honey at flame out. The beer had a sweet finish but not overpowering. The other was in a honey porter. I used a pound of honey malt and primed the keg with 4.5 oz of real honey and there is hardly any honey sweetness to it at all. However, I think part of the problem was that I thought I was using EKG hops at 5% but it was actually 7.2%. The hop bitterness was a little more than I had planned for. Since I'm rambling on the local brew pub (Dragonmead) makes a honey porter that has a very pronounced honey finish. They say they add their honey at 10 minutes left in the boil. They didn't say how much they use though. I hope this helps.
I have a brew budddy that also uses honey. Says the honey flavor will often come up after prolonged aging. Nort sure if the honey flavor is developing, or the hops are fading.
Priming with honey only really comes through in very light beers, like a pale wheat. A porter will cover it up everytime. At least this is what I have found.
I have done some experimentation with honey and honey malt. I made a lightly hopped (IBU 20) base wort with 2-row 85%, 10% white wheat and 5% carahell (SG 1.052). I split the batch into 4x4 gal. Then I did the following additions:
Carboy 1 : Control - No addition
Carboy 2 : 0.5 gal, 1.050 SG, wild flower honey
Carboy 3 : 0.5 gal, 1.050 SG, orange blossom honey
Carboy 4 : 0.5 gal, 1.050 SG, honey malt
Compared to carboy 1
Carboy 2 - Earthy and complex notes. More dry and a little thinner than control that finished with a subtle earthy honey flavor.
Carboy 3 - Orange zest/citrus notes. More dry and a little thinner than control that finished with a subtle orange flavor.
Carboy 4 - No difference in smell. Sweeter but the body was the same.
All in all I prefer addition of honey. Both beers with real honey were much better than the honey malt addition.
Priming with honey only really comes through in very light beers, like a pale wheat. A porter will cover it up everytime. At least this is what I have found.
Just use the honey malt sparingly. It is ultra sweet and not fermentable, it can be overpowering. I use it in a blonde ale and a half pound is plenty in a 5 gallon batch in my recipe. But give it a shot and see if you like it.
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