[quote=“Nate42”][quote=“Pietro”][quote=“Nate42”]The differences between honeys are pretty subtle, and likely to be overwhelmed when added to beer in small quantities. So I wouldn’t sweat it too much. Orange blossom is always my go to honey for mead making, but I’ve used many others.
Be sure to use a high quality, unpasteurized, pure honey. Cheap grocery store stuff is likely to be half corn syrup.[/quote]
Not meaning to nitpick, but I don’t brew with honey that often and would like to understand more. these statements seem to be contradictory. if its all fermentable anyway, and you can’t really tell the difference, why not just add simple dextrose/corn syrup as opposed to $5-10/lb. honey?
The best example of a beer that has a great honey flavor to me is Great Lakes Christmas Ale. I need to do some research as to WHEN they add the honey and what type they use, because it comes through really well. Its almost like they add it post-fermentation after filtering yeast out.[/quote]
Well, honestly, a 1lb addition of honey probably isn’t going to taste all that much different than a pure sugar addition, particularly in a porter. I’m sure there will be a difference but it will be subtle. I haven’t done a real scientific style experiment, but the smallest amount of honey I felt like I could really taste was a 3lb addition of orange blossom honey to an IPA. The floral character mixed in with the hops, but I’ve made meads with this particular honey before, so I was pretty familiar with its flavor profile and felt like I could pick it out. But even then it was fairly subtle.
I’m not trying to say there’s literally no difference. If you make a dry mead with a pure varietal honey, you will be able to taste the difference between varieties. But when you start adding malt and hop flavors from beer, it gets masked pretty quickly.
My real point to the OP is that if he uses a good honey he will make a good beer, and he doesn’t need to worry too much about one type being better for the recipe than another.[/quote]
gotcha thanks! Part of the reason I asked for the clarification is because I have 3lbs of this meadowfoam stuff and was looking for a good way to use it. I’m not really much for mead, but I was starting to think I would be better off just using the stuff for oatmeal.
Sorry to hijack the thread, but did you find that the IPA was cidery or anything? I was trying to find that perfect threshold of honey where you could really perceive the flavors, but didn’t thin out the beer too much. Did you add it all @ flameout/late boil, or did you add some after primary fermentation?
Also looking for a style that would be accompanied/enhanced by this honey’s flavors (light caramel, floral, vanilla, some toffee)…was thinking biere de garde, porter, or maybe another dubbel.