anyone have any experience using honey malt in a pale ale? I have been making most of my pales with a grain bill that usually consists of 11 lb 2 row 1 lb crystal 15 and some chinook for buttering and cascade and citra in my late boil additions. I like the results I been getting and was curious to try maybe a half pound of honey malt and a half pound of crystal on my next one. Or maybe sub a pound of honey for crystal.
I personally would not use more than 2% honey malt in a pale ale, it's intensely sweet. Edit: You might even consider removing the crystal all together, if you're going to use honey malt.
I use honey malt quite a bit in IPAs; 96% GP, 2% either light carastan or crystal 45 (darker for cold weather months), 2% honey malt. Great malt character without it being too sweet. I could see using more caramel and honey malts if you're not using as characterful of a base malt.
@icepick , I am big fan of Honey Malt ... most all of my pale ales and IPA have been 2-3% Honey Malt in grist. I never used any caramel or crystal malts in my pales and IPA though. I like 5-10% Munich Malt with the 2-3% Honey Malt as well. Cheers!
I have used honey malt in pale ales. People say intensely sweet, I wouldn't say that. It is sweet but I don't think it is sweeter than a crystal malt. Try a half a pound, without the crystal malt, to get a sense for whether you like what it brings to a beer. Then adjust the next recipe accordingly.
In the beginning, I once did a PA with ~10# two row (or maybe marris otter) and 1# of honey malt. It was very similar to a beer done with ~10# two row and 1# of C20 or C40. I no longer use that much honey malt or crystal malt, but I would not hesitate to use ~5%. I would go with straight honey malt (no crystal) to see if you like it.
Here I thought this was a secret ingredient in my IPA recipes. Like others have said I typically keep it between 2-5% depending on other caramel/crystal malts though.
