I have never used it
and always seem to wrinkle my nose and snort a bit in disregard when I see it in recipes.
Not sure why.
I always sub out some crystal instead, and am wondering what I am missing.
What do you think? I am I depriving myself of knowing the honey?
Thanks.
Cheers.
No idea, but thanks for posting. I’m in the same boat as you!
Dave
Now that I have a grain mill, I bought a pound each of a bunch of different specialty malts that I’ve been curious about, including honey malt. I’m just not sure what style of beer to try it in. I also have some coffee malt I want to try out, so maybe a honey-coffee porter?
I’ve tried it in a Scottish Ale recipe (Classic Brewing Styles), and a Pumpkin Ale. The aroma during milling the grain and the finished product was amazing.
My experience is just what the name implies. It adds a sweetness and honey flavor that you would hope to get by using actual honey. For flavor purposes, honey malt is much more useful than honey in my opinion. I think crystal malt for caramel and honey for honey
Try it in a Kolsch, blonde, or cream ale… a bare-bones beer is a great way to test new ingredients!
Completely agree.
I have a Sasion recipe that I use about 2 oz of honey malt in. It leaves a nice light honey sweetness but still comes out very dry (usually 1.004 -1.006). At one point when I wanted to see what honey malt would do I doubled the amount, still came out pretty dry but left a very strong sweetness throwing off the complexity. I don’t use it a lot but it does add a nice specific flavor that can had an interesting touch in moderation.
Anyone ever use Honey malt in a mild? If so, how much would you suggest? I’m planning on brewing a barleywine in a month or two, so that seems like a nice brew to prop up a pitch of yeast on.
Sounds like a great idea and way to experiment. Go for it!
Please report back on whatever you decide.
Dave
I started by using it in my Cream Ale and I’ve liked it very much.
With Honey Malt, a little goes a long way. For a mild, I’d look at 2-4 oz.
Next time you are in your LHBS and they have Honey malt, do sample a few kernels. It does have an amazingly honey-like flavor that does make it to the beer. I agree that this is one of those grains that should be utilized in moderation. It would be easy to overdo.
I agree…a little bit goes a long way.
But it’s great stuff and it finds its way into a lot of my ‘standard’ beers in varying amounts. It adds a particularly appealing richness to the brews I design specifically for long aging.
What is the highest % you have used in a beer? I have always stuck around 5% and have never thought that it was very noticeable. I would like to use more but don’t want to overdo like many warn is easy to do
In my Saison it is right about 2.5% and I can taste it, though it is not by any means a dominate flavor. When I doubled it one time to about 5% I found very noticeable.
I’ve used about 2% honey malt in a rye ale that had about 27% rye malt. It’s there, but it’s a subtle sweetness behind the distinctive rye flavor.
I used ~10% honey malt, along with 5% victory, in a borderline APA/IPA that turned out very well. It might have been a little sweeter than a typical APA, but the higher bitterness countered it perfectly and it certainly was not an over-the-top sweetness or honey character.