Anyone has made a mash with mostly honey malt?

Production methods from starch to sugars.

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Evil_Dark
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Anyone has made a mash with mostly honey malt?

Post by Evil_Dark »

Hi Guys, I'm curious to know what is the spirit flavor profile of the specialty malt like honey malt...
I do like the sweet carater in my preferred bourbons, so I wonder what will result of a mash bill made with a lot more honey malt in it?
Is it too flavorfull and should be used with caution?

Thanks for sharing experience with this honey malt :)
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BrewinBrian44
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Re: Anyone has made a mash with mostly honey malt?

Post by BrewinBrian44 »

Honey malt does not provide fermentable sugar the yeast can consume. Like all Caramel/Crystal malts, it is used to add flavor/sweetness "for beer" and can aid a little in lowering mash ph. If you made a mash with mostly Honey malt, it would give you a very low yield when you go to distill it.

Honey Bear Bourbon is a good framework to reference for how much to use. I believe SCD spent some time getting the ratio just right relative to other components of the grist. Trust me, there's plenty of flavor with this amount, especially if you pot still it. If I were you, I'd start there and add more in subsequent batches to see if it's moving in a direction you like.
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Evil_Dark
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Re: Anyone has made a mash with mostly honey malt?

Post by Evil_Dark »

BrewinBrian44 wrote: Mon Oct 03, 2022 6:48 am Honey malt does not provide fermentable sugar the yeast can consume. Like all Caramel/Crystal malts, it is used to add flavor/sweetness "for beer" and can aid a little in lowering mash ph. If you made a mash with mostly Honey malt, it would give you a very low yield when you go to distill it.

Honey Bear Bourbon is a good framework to reference for how much to use. I believe SCD spent some time getting the ratio just right relative to other components of the grist. Trust me, there's plenty of flavor with this amount, especially if you pot still it. If I were you, I'd start there and add more in subsequent batches to see if it's moving in a direction you like.
Thanks for the information, I didn't know that it have'nt a very good starch/sugar content . My question was monstly oriented on the flavor obtained, and I noticed that the few recipes that I saw only contained a low % of honey malt. So as I'm playing around multiples mash bills, I want to have a feedback on the flavor profile of this specialty grain for my next tests.
Thanks!
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Re: Anyone has made a mash with mostly honey malt?

Post by Just_Doug »

Please forgive this FNG if he is wrong but I was under the impression that Honey malt had an extract percentage similar to most brewers malts, around 80%. It has little to no diastatic power so if you want a mash made up of mostly or all Honey malt you would need to use enzymes for starch conversion.
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Re: Anyone has made a mash with mostly honey malt?

Post by jonnys_spirit »

I believe 5-10% is recommended for specialty malts - I've experimented with a variety of specialty malts using similar amounts which has worked well in my opinion.

Cheers!
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i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
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tombombadil
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Re: Anyone has made a mash with mostly honey malt?

Post by tombombadil »

The product details chart from briess doesn't mention enzyme activity rating so maybe the enzyme activity is very low?
Briess's version may be different from other companies though.
https://www.brewingwithbriess.com/wp-co ... y-Malt.pdf
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Twisted Brick
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Re: Anyone has made a mash with mostly honey malt?

Post by Twisted Brick »

tombombadil wrote: Mon Oct 03, 2022 10:23 am The product details chart from briess doesn't mention enzyme activity rating so maybe the enzyme activity is very low?
Briess's version may be different from other companies though.
https://www.brewingwithbriess.com/wp-co ... y-Malt.pdf
Gambrinus cites their honey malt has a DP of 50, lightly kilning their malt after withholding oxygen during the sprouting phase to build sugars.

https://www.atlanticbrewsupply.com/Hone ... _1273.html
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