LowTech Honey Ale v1

My wife rarely requests I brew, let alone brew her a certain recipe.  When she does, I listen.  After some R&R on the East Coast this past August, she took a liking to a certain Quebec brewery's Honey Ale.  She asked me to make one so even though it's not my favorite style, how could I say no?

Plan of attack:

• Lower OG (1.046) with Honey addition during Secondary fermentation boosting ABV to 5%
• Add a healthy amount of Crystal and Wheat malts to the mash for body and head retention.  The Crystal malt (CaraMunich I) will hopefully help retain some dextrins and prevent it from going too dry and thin.  Standard mash temperature of 62c/152.6F for 60 minutes.
• As noted, Honey added during secondary.  I top crop yeast from the primary and want to keep the strain as original as possible.  Don't want the yeast to be comfortable with anything other than maltose sugars
• I decided on WLP023 - Burton Ale which has been described as having a slight honey, clover character.  I plan to pitch @ 17c and hold @18c for 72hrs before allowing the beer to free rise and fully attenuate.
• I plan to brew on Saturday

LowTech Honey Ale v1

OG 1.046/ IBU ~20/ SRM ~ 8/ ~23L

80.0% OiO Domestic 2-Row
10.0% OiO Wheat Malt
10.0% Weyermann CaraMunich I

10g of Willamette @ 60 minutes
50g of Willamette @ whirlpool (IBU's calculated as a 15m addition)
500g Wild Blossom Honey during secondary

WLP023 - Burton Ale

Update Sept. 12th

YeastCalc.com

Since the yeast culture was getting long in the tooth (harvested June 24th, 2013), I've pitched the 75ml of compacted slurry to a stater.  At an estimated 10% viability, the original ~ 300B cells is likely down below 30B.  1.2L's should build this back to 190B or so.  Enough for 23L @ 1.046.

Update Sept. 14th

Brewed

Update Sept. 15th

Pitched BRY-97 @ 9am

Update Sept. 16th

Well, that didn't quite work out as planned!  So first off, the WLP023 failed to start.  LowTech IPA v4 had fully attenuated so I move it to secondary with dry hops and re-pitched the BRY-97 yeast to the Blonde Ale.

I missed my gravity (again, Grrr) and this one came out too strong @ 1.050'sih.  Probably a good thing about the WLP023 because I don't think I would have had enough yeast anyways.  I pitched 500ml of very thin slurry which accordingly to Mr. Malty might have even been too much.  I cooled the batch to 17c before pitching the yeast.  Temperature controller set for 18c.  In a couple more days I'll let it free rise and finish off before moving to secondary and adding the honey.

Finally, I had some extra time and decided to brew a batch of Porter.


Update Sept. 17th

High Krausen last evening, 36hrs from pitch.  Temperatures hitting 18c.
As of 4pm this evening, the Krausen has started to fall (55hrs from pitch), increased the controller temperature to 20c.

Update Sept 22nd

FG measuring 1.012 @ 68F, moved to ambient.

Update Sept 24th

FG measured 1.010 @ 68F, primary moved to freezer set for 4c (9 days since pitch)

Update Oct. 10th

This one has been sitting in the keg for a couple of weeks, still seems to have a permanent haze.  There's a flavour I am detecting that I don't quite care for, sorta belgian?  Not sure, needs more time.