Honey Malt Flavor Shelf Life

[AT-JeffT]

Hey HBT,
I have been perfecting a pale ale with ~5% honey malt in it. I have found that after about 5 weeks the aroma of the honey malt fades and turns to more of a cidery aroma. Has anyone else found that the honey aroma from honey malt goes bad in a hurry? Thanks, Jeff

For the advanced brewers, I plated the beer in case it was zymomonas or acetobacter. Early results look clean. I have made five iterations of this beer and all of them age VERY poorly.

 

[AT-JeffT]

Late Update: Turned out to be a lactic infection. The plate showed pediococcus. Probable cause: putting grain in my fermentor. Bleach bombing it and then never using my fermentor to weigh grain.

 

[mobrewdude]

Probably a good practice to avoid as you've already figured out. For whatever it's worth, I've used Honey Malt in several different brews and, at least to my palate, it seems to develop a taste similar to a mild lacto-infection anyhow. I wasn’t initially sure what was causing the off-taste but eventually made the connection and verified the Honey Malt to be the culprit. With that said, the brews I’ve thought were the worst with it were some of the favorites of my friends and they don’t seem to have the same taste perception of the mild sourness. Either way, I'm pretty sure I'm done with Honey Malt completely.

 

[passedpawn]

I've used honey malt many times without any negative effect. The latest was a session wheat beer. 2# in there (10g recipe) and you would think any negative effect would be noticeable.

The honey malt I have on the shelf is at least 2 years old, maybe older (Gambrinus). Not even in a airtight container. It smells fine. I don't think it has the same strong honey aroma it once had though.

 

[mobrewdude]

I've used honey malt many times without any negative effect. The latest was a session wheat beer. 2# in there (10g recipe) and you would think any negative effect would be noticeable.

The honey malt I have on the shelf is at least 2 years old, maybe older (Gambrinus). Not even in a airtight container. It smells fine. I don't think it has the same strong honey aroma it once had though.

I think in my case it's not actually that the malt is somehow bad or spoiled, just that, for some reason, my taste perception of honey malt is the similar to the sour lacto taste... kinda' like how some people perceive the taste of cilantro as being similar to dish soap. Just wondered if maybe the OP had something similar going on... or possibly not since he already verified a source of an actual infection. For some reason I also perceive either cinnamon, allspice or nutmeg (not sure which yet but working to isolate it) as having the same taste while my friends, even without being told, immediately recognize them as "pie spice" or one of the actual spices.

Anyhow, I WANT to like honey malt but I think it's out for me, hopefully not for the OP

 

[Cposten]

Have never used but want to learn more about it. Anybody else have any experience with it?

 

[AT-JeffT]

Update: problem wasn't infection. Just over attenuation in the bottles due to lack of oxygenation. I don't believe honey malt has any unique flavor stability issues.