Brew #3: Honey Pilsner
I’ve just cracked my fifth bottle of the hotly anticipated Honey Pilsner. And the verdict? Well, let’s rewind the story a couple of months.
This magnificent brew concept came about when I was dreaming up my next big beercentric challenge. I’d come up with two GREAT ideas (well I thought they were great anyhoo). I’d read about a guy who makes dark beers (dark ale or stout) and infuses them with SUPER strong black coffee. Nomnomnom. The other choice was (duh) the Honey Pilsner.
Previously I’ve been a dark ale & IPA man (India Pale Ale), but since starting work with my current employer, I’ve turned into something of a Lager/Pilsner dude. I’ve always been a bit anti-lager til that point, finding them a tad bitter – but have really acquired a taste for these fine (mostly) German style beers during our standard Friday night drinks. So it was kinda natural that my first ever brew was a lager really. And with my penchant for experimentation I decided an alternative Pilsner was a great idea.
There’s two things you need to make beer alcoholic. Yeast & sugar. Now, plain old ordinary garden variety white sugar is okay for some, but the make for a pretty arse beer, truth be told. My first beer I made according to directions with dextrose (a slightly finer, yet still white sugar). The second (my pride and joy Dark Ale) was made with a mixture of Maltexo malt extract and a small amount of dextrose. You get the idea – if it’s sugary and sweet you can use it. So why not honey? There’s plenty of craft breweries out there doing honey based beers, so why not me?
The scientist in me got it all kinds of wrong though. I changed too many variables. I used a different kit manufacturer (Lager & Dark were Coopers, this time I used good old Nelson based Black Rock brewery), cooler fermentation temperature, I even tried a specific Lager yeast. This was experimentation taken to the extreme. If it were different, how on earth would I know which factor caused that difference? Ah what the hell, it’s no drama if I cock it up entirely right?
So fast forward to my (early) tasting day. The brew had fermented for two weeks and had been bottled for two and a half. Crack it! NO fizz. It had mild carbonation, but nothing I’d really call bubbles. Down the drain. A week later – no bubbles still. Tip! At this point I’m horrified. Both of my other beers were bubbly by now. So in disgust I just give up. I’m thinking I’m going to tip the whole 30 bottles of it. But patience, grasshopper.
Week 5 arrives and I open a bottle – not holding my breath. ”CHHHHHSSSSHHH!” Oh yeeeeeah!!!! Game on!
So the Pilsner. A mild honey flavour. Slightly sticky. Smooth. Bubbles. Not so much in the way of head yet, but I know from experience that it could happen. WIN!
It’s not the sort of beer I’d drink a doz of, but given a nice hot summer’s day (yeah, yeah, I know…. wrong time of year!) it’d be a great chill out beer.
So home brewing. It’s an art, with a little bit of science mixed in. And it’s fun. And so far – in spite of my valiant efforts, I’ve not had a complete fail yet. Ever.
Cheeeeeeeers!
This post tagged as: beer, Brewing
11
Jun
Hi mate
Im thinking of giving this a go for our vintage next year. We have a number of good local producers of honey around so I should be able to source something nice. How much honey did you add to your brew? I will be trying it with a muntons pilsener mix, fermenting inside our winery which is quite cool (12deg C). Last year we made a stout with oak chips added at the start of fermentation. I must say I like the sound of the coffee idea, think i will try it as well, i have a muntons nut brown ale that i think might go well with a dash of coffee. They say it takes a lot of coffe and beer to make a good wine, so it makes sense to me to combine the two!
Ill let you know how we get on.