Honey Malt
Here’s my profile for Honey Malt. This malt is made by the Gambrinus Malting Corporation and it’s their name for a unique, highly kilned German malt called brumalt. Some non-North American versions of this malt (Gambrinus Malting is based in Armstrong, British Columbia, Canada) are Weissheimer Bruhmalz and Weyermann Melanoidin.
It looks a lot like caramel malt but it’s processed in a way so that there is no roasty/astringency (that is sometimes associated with caramel malt’s flavor profile). The process involves restricting the oxygen flow during the sprouting process and this develops sugars and rich malt flavors that makes the malt taste the way it does.
Flavor: Intense malt sweetness with hint of a honey like flavor. Lacks caramel malt’s sharp bite.
Color: 20-30 °L
Body: It gives your beer a smooth, honey-like texture.
Use: Most sources said “specialty beers” which to me means “pushing the envelope” beers. More typical suggested styles included: Brown ales, summer-style pale ales, and belgians.
on February 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Does honey malt need to be mashed or is it just used as a specialty grain? I recently did a partial mash cream ale with honey malt in it. I mashed the 2-row, but steeped the honey malt.
on February 23rd, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Good question. It can be mashed, it does have some diastic power…but you should mash it with a base malt. It shouldn’t be used alone as a base malt. Think of it as a really light caramel malt. You can use it as a specialty grain and just steep it.
on February 25th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Honey malt is tough. It has a diastatic power of around 50, where the minimal diastatic power to convert is typically around 35. So Honey Malt has the ability to do some starch conversion, but its not as potent as 2-row per se.
Honey malt can be steeped for sure. But its full potential is release when included in a mash, preferable with some base malt to assist in conversion. The manufacturer typically recomends up to 20% of the mash with Honey Malt for a unique flavor. That is definately the top end though if you want to brew something that is dominated by Honey malt flavors.