anyone out there dabble in the sweet stuff?? any ideas, tips or suggestions? thinking of doing a honey porter. i want the honey to be upfront, big smell big taste. how much honey? any insight would be nice
If you want a lot of honey flavor, use a lot of honey, and add it after the boil. The way you descrbe your goal, I would try no less than 3 lbs in a 5 gallon batch. Of course, that's a lot of fermentables, so you'll want to cut back on malt (probably your base malt), and think about doing something to restore some of the body that will be lost by cutting your base malt. Maybe add some carapils to the mash or maltodextrin to the boil. BTW, don't assume that honey will add sweetness. It won't, because virtually all of the sugars in honey are fermentable.
Vikeman (or anybody) do you have comments on honey malt verses honey? I have not used honey (too expensive around here) but I have (sparingly) used honey malt and so far I've liked the results.
You can also use Gambrinus Honey Malt in your grain bill, maybe 5% or a little more. It can be challenging to get a lot of honey aroma and flavor from real honey in the finished beer. Aromas will be driven off during any boiling, and the off-gassing of fermentation can drive them off, also. I've added honey after peak primary fermentation (diluted with a quart or so of boiling water, then cooled) with good success, in conjunction with honey malt. I actually have a honey oat porter waiting in a carboy for an open keg now.
I like Honey Malt, but I don't get a huge honey flavor out of it. It just seems different enough from C20 to be worth playing with from time to time. Which reminds me, I should do some batches with Honey Malt this summer
I like to give it a little pasteurizing/sanitizing, a similar effect to adding at flameout. I know some folks add it straight from the container, but I'd personally rather not risk it. I believe that honey's "anti-microbial" properties that some people claim is a bit of a misconception. Sure, the moisture content is so low that any microbes in the honey cannot replicate, but they are not necessarily killed (unless you have cheaper mass-produced honey that is already pasteurized). They're still present and dormant, waiting for something like wort or beer to reproduce in. I'm probably paranoid, and once fermentation starts the alcohol content and yeast population could very well be enough to keep any nasties from taking hold. This BYO article describes a much longer pasteurization process, but I think it could be overkill: http://byo.com/stories/item/322-brewing-with-honey They also describe diluting it down to the gravity of the existing beer, perhaps so it mixes in better. I just think a bit of water helps the honey pour out of the pot better.
I can see diluting it (pulling wort) late in the boil/KO to keep it off the bottom of the kettle, but after high Krausen (pitch temp +), it really doesn't seem to matter.
