Orange Blossom Honey Ale

Source: jonathan edwards
Recipe added: 11/10/97
Email: mrpookey@mindspring.com

i've been messing around with honey ales, trying to brew one with body and honey taste...i've found that honey often leads to dryer brew with very little body. well, i racked my latest honey ale to the secondary yesterday and i feel that i've finally accomplished what i was after. you definitely can taste the orange blossom honey yet it has the body i was after. 2 important things: 1) you have to use orange blossom honey to get the right flavor 2) use the dutch dme. the homebrew store owner suggested this would help retain the body...and it worked. this produced a light colorer orangish ale...the honey really brings out the color in this one! it fermented for 4-5 days...i left it in the primary for 9 days...watch out when drinking this one...it's got a kick- 9.19%....and it doesn't taste like it. i hope someone tries this out and let's me know how they like it!

Specifics

Recipe type: Partial Mash
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Starting Gravity: 1.09
Finishing Gravity: 1.02
Time in Boil: 65-70minutes
Primary Fermentation: 9 days @ 70F
Secondary Fermentation: 14 days at 60F
Additional Fermentation: none

Ingredients:

3lb Marris Otter 2 row Malt
1lb Crystal Malt 40L
44oz British Light DME
22oz Dutch Light DME
2pds Orange Blossom Honey
1 1/2 oz Crystal hops (boil)
1/2 oz Crystal Hops (5 min)
1 teaspon Irish Moss
Gypsum
European Wyeast

Procedure:

Folllow typical partial mash procedure, sparge, boil sweet wort for 10 minutes (watch for boil over, i got a tremendous hot break!) add british and dutch dme, boil for 5-10 minutes. Add 1 1/2 ounces of Crystal hops, boil for 1 hour. add irish moss last 15 minutes of boil. add 1/2 oz crystal hops last 5 minutes of boil. remove pot from heat at end of boil, add 2lbs orange blossom honey...return to heat and steep (not boil!!!!) for 5 minutes or so. Cool, rack to primary fermentator, add wyeast. Aereate.

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