While browsing BYO Magazine’s recipes on their website, this Honey Steamer beer really caught my eye. I really like Blue Moon’s Honey Moon Summer Ale. So I figured I can’t go wrong with this. Plus, it would be a crowd pleaser. Especially among non-beer drinkers.
When I went to the homebrew store, the guy there pretty much swapped out my hops from what the original recipe called for. He basically said that steam beers pretty much always use Northern Brewer hops. I took his advice along with my ingredients and some locally produced honey.
Honey Steam
7-B California Common Beer
Type: Extract w/ Steeping Grain
Batch: 2
Size: 5.0 gal
Calories: 227.27 kcal per 12.0 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.068 (1.048 – 1.054)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.017 (1.011 – 1.014)
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Color: 6.97 (10.0 – 14.0)
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Alcohol: 6.72% (4.5% – 5.5%)
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Bitterness: 40.5 (30.0 – 45.0)
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Ingredients:
- 6.5 lb CBW® Pilsen Light Liquid (Malt Extract)
- .5 lb Crystal Malt 40°L
- 2.5 lb Honey
- 1.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 55 min
- 1.0 oz Northern Brewer (8.0%) – added during boil, boiled 10 min
- 1.0 ea WYeast 2112 California Lager
- 1.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) – added during boil, boiled 10 min
Process:
Steep crystal malt in 2 gallons of cold water. Slowly bring to 170 degrees (about 20 min) and remove grain. Added honey and extract and bring to boil. Add 1oz at 55 minutes. Added hops and whirlfloc at 10 minutes. Cool wort and bring to 5 gallons. Pitch yeast. Ferment for 4 weeks at 61 degrees. Primed batch with 6oz of honey.
Notes:
Based on Honey Steamer recipe from BYO.
- 12/11/10 – Strong honey flavor. Sweet with light hop finish. Next time I’ll reduce honey by .5 lbs. Nice flavor, but can’t drink too many.
- 12/31/2010 – Honey flavor lightened, however still obvious. Very nice flavor and much easier to drink. Will definitely brew again with .5lbs reduce of honey.
- 2/5/2011 – This brew is really at its prime right now. At first, the beer was too sweet. As it aged a bit, there was hot alcohol flavors, which detracted from the beer. Now it seems like its right on target. Very tasty drink.