Has anybody ever thought about using honey malt in an IPA? I am thinking it would neutralize the bitter finish somewhat and possibly give a sweetened citrus flavor from the hops. Am I way off base on this one?
Ithaca Beer’s Flower Power is just 2-row and honey malt for the grain bill, and it’s delicious.
http://ithacabeer.com/flower-power/
A little goes a long way, but it definitely works.
Thankyou for your reply. I was thinking half a pound. It would be 4.3% of my grain bill.
Sounds good to me.
I’ve seen recipes for O’Dell IPA that includes a small amount (3 oz) per 5 gallons. I recall reading that tropical and citrus are “enhanced” with a small amount of honey malt.
Disclaimer - I’m a sweet IPA hater. But I’d be careful - honey malt has a fair amount of sweetness. Half a pound would leave a definite sweetness. I’d use half that (or none).
As Jon notes, just be careful with your amounts and definitely keep it under 5%. I would not use honey malt and munich together in anything that is supposed to be hoppy. They work together to make a sweet malty beer. If anything, I would go with pale base malt and a bit of honey malt in an IPA.
interesting - and it seems that the new Beer Camp Tropical IPA from SN includes some honey malt.
Maybe the sweetness from honey malt is different than the sweetness from residual sugar, but I’ve had some beers that were a little sweet (hadn’t completed bottle conditioning yet) that were heavy on tropical hops and it gets gross fast. I’ve had some commercial DIPA’s that have some sweetness and it ends up tasting like cough syrup. It certainly brings out the fruit character, but not in what I’d consider a pleasing way.
That is interesting. I’ve never even heard of Beer Camp Tropical IPA from SN. I gotta get out more :D. Cheers!
I agree with you on too much sweetness in beers - for most styles, IMHO. Some styles it’s expected, almost required (barleywine, wee heavy, etc), but I shy away from DIPAs for that exact reason - too sweet almost every time.
As for the O’Dell IPA recipe - I’ve brewed it twice and the amount of honey malt used is very gentle without much, if any, noticeable sweetness. Aside from this recipe, I’ve used it one other time in a citra-heavy IPA using a british yeast strain and did not like the outcome (too fruity and little too sweet). Aside from those few times, I haven’t used honey malt in a non-hoppy beer so I don’t have a very good grasp on what it imparts to a beer in terms of malt character. With that said, I will get my opportunity soon as my brother-in-law will tap a pilsner in about a month in which he used something like 6-8oz honey malt in 5G so hopefully I’ll get better first-hand experience of what it brings to the table.
I’m assuming the idea here is to use honey malt as a replacement for crystal and not in addition to? If so it seems worth a try.
Right now I’m into a grist of pale malt and munich with nothing else.
Yes I am replacing the crystal 40 I normal use with the honey malt.
Kern river clone is a real nice example of a double ipa with honey malt in it. Its my favorite ipa home brew now. Recipe is easy to come by just google it.
My highest scoring IPA in a comp has honey malt in it. I neither experience it as too sweet nor as requiring a terribly light hand. I’ve used the stuff a ton and always get more nuttiness with a subtle sweet character, despite the beers drying out as expected. I treat it just like I do crystal malt.
I am going to try it as planned. I don’t know how a beer can be too sweet with 95 IBUs.
Well I disagree that a 95 ibu beer can’t be too sweet but don’t think this beer will be. It sounds pretty good to me.
I’ve used it as low as 4% before and it was still too much for me. I think I’m going to try 2-3% next time. It’s some potent stuff
That’s been my experience with it, too.
Funny side note. On a group grain buy, one club member bought, hopefully by accident, a sack of honey malt. He was pushing that on us for years. lol.