HONEY LAGER

[sidman]

have got a coopers lager tin ,some natural honey and various hop pellets ,has any body tried a honey lager, and how much do you put in ,have got 500 grams ,any help please ,do you have to put plenty hops in to counteract the sweetness

[Kevnlis]

When you say "natural honey" do you know what blossoms the bees were farmed on? If not, then I suggest you use something like Leatherwood honey from Woolies to be safe. I have only ever used as much as 300g of honey, but I have never noticed an overly large sweetness contribution from it.

[Wassa]

Honey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now you are talking my language. I'd try:

1 can Coopers lager
1kg LDME or 1.3kg (or is it 1.6kg, I can never remember) of Coopers Pale liquid malt. Add 2 litres of water and bring to boil. Add 20gm Hallertau at 60 minutes, 20gm at 30 minutes and 15gm at flame out. Add 500gm of honey. Add can of Coopers Lager. and mix well.

Transfer to fermenter and top up to 22 litres. Pitch with Saflager S23 or W32/70. Bring temp down to 12 degrees and ferment for 1 week. Transfer wort to secodary and wait for fermentation to finish. Transfer to clean Blue food grade jerrycans and cold condition for 3 to 4 weeks. Bulk or bottle prime and bottle. Leave for 3 months and then enjoy one of the best beers you've ever tasted.

Regards,

Wassa

[Pale_Ale]

1.3kg (or is it 1.6kg, I can never remember) of Coopers Pale liquid malt.

It's 1.5Kg.

Couldn't resist.

[Kevnlis]

Wassa is the resident honey expert, his recipe sounds good to me

[timmy]

After the success I've had with the Honey Porter, Wassa, I'm keen to give this one a go....

Last 'real' lager I did was a flop so this might get the confidence back up....

Cheers,

Tim

[rwh]

Shit Wassa, you are the friggin master, that sounds awesome! Why don't any of my recipes taste as good?

[benson]

a while ago i did a coopers lager with 1.5kg of honey , turned out not to bad , it was about 10%

[Throsby]

I wouldn't mind trying to create a honey-based beer, though most of the recipes seems to include racking (which I'm not up to speed with yet) and/or cold-conditioning (which I'm not set up for yet).

Though I've had had a bit of success with adding grains and with using hops, I'm essentially a K&K brewer (though I generally use liquid malt instead of sugar).

Is there a simple way of creating a honey beer involving a kit, liquid malt, hops and just one fermenter??

Am I best using a Lager kit or an Ale?

I will pick up supplies (including honey) from the HBS at Kambah so I guess Colin will stock the types of honey I need. Any suggestions, however??

Please bear in mind I don't want anything as sickly as Beez Neez.

Thanks in advance guys - you lot always seem to provide great advice!

[timmy]

throbber,

You can do it perfectly well with a single fermenter. Just leave it in there longer (a couple of weeks) then (if you have the room/inclination) throw the whole thing in the fridge for a week. You'll get some of the benefits of racking with none of the complications.

I'd go for an ale first - it's easier (especially in summer). Also, judging by your comments about Beez Neez, you might want to add some bittering to whatever kit you get. Especially if you're using a kit that wasn't designed to have extra malt added (e.g. Coopers Original and International series). All honey beers I've done have come out fairly sweet and I don't mind that (I like Beez Neez, afterall), so I might not be much help with a recipe...

Cheers,

Tim

[scanman]

One thing I have read on this forum, and around the traps when using honey for HB is never use eucalyptus farmed honeys. They taint the final products flavour. Many of the honeys you buy in the supermarkets are this type, and not really godo to use. But Yellowbox is a good one to use, and is available in supermarkets, specially Woolworths/Safeway. Also Leatherwood is a great one to use. If you have every tasted leatherwood honey on its own, it tastes like no other honey. Certainly not a overly sweet honey at all in my opinion, and goes well in the darker beers.
Brewer like James Boags use it in their limited edition Honey Porter which is brewed in Tasmania, and uses the local leatherwood honey for it supply.

[Throsby]

Thanks for the tip mate.

I'm heading out to the HBS on Tuesday or Wednseday so hopefully I'll return with some supplies.

I get through quite a bit of honey in my day-to-day life, but actually don't like Leatherbox. I see your point about how it may work well in beer however.

I'll let you know how I go at the HBS.

Throsby.

[Brewaholic]

Ive had quite good results using yellowbox honey i know its a eucalypt but it works for me especially mixed with nelson sauvin i cant stand leatherwood honey its foul and i cant say i like the sound of this leatherbox honey as throbber calls it sounds like it would taste like an 80yo hookers pussy!

[Kevnlis]

...sounds like it would taste like an 80yo hookers pussy!

[Throsby]

Well put.

Meant to type Leatherwood, but was obviously thinking of yellowbox.


By the by, is yellowbox any more appealing in THAT context than leatherbox?? Sounds like there would still be concerns...

[Kevnlis]

I have used both, and personally prefer Leatherwood, but have had good results with Yellowbox. I must say though I have never used more than 300g of Yellowbox in a brew.

[rwh]

I've used 500g of Yellowbox in a Honey Porter and it was great.

[scanman]

Must say I have used both as well. I agree, Leatherwood honey is not that nice a honey to eat, certainly is very different from most other honey's. Having said that, in beer is where its quite good, and suited to such a task.
Yellowbox is a eucalypt but unlike other eucalypt honeys it dosn;t seem to tain the flavours at all, and is used by heaps of home brewers. I wish I could get my hands on some of the QLD honeys like the ones up your way Kevnlis. They would make for some interesting results, specially in lagers.

[Kevnlis]

Lots of Macadamia Honey up here. That is supposed to be quite good for meads. There are quite a few different types of honeys up here. There is a bloke at the markets who sells it by the 20L bucket