Red Honey Ale Disaster - need advice

[Mark1964]

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1383137/red-honey-ale

Hi all, hoping for some learned advice on this one. This was my 25th brew and my ales have been pretty good so far but his one has me stumpted. I have been experimenting with adding honey to some recipes to boost the ABV and add a sweet finish. This last attempt started pretty close to plan at 1.06 spg but stalled at 1.03 after ten days.

Left it for another few days with no change so I went ahead and kegged it. Low ABV, cloudy, sweet, not what I was going for. Could the amount of honey have stalled fermentation?

mk

 

[Sandy Feet]

No permission for the recipe. Honey is very fermentable, but if you used a lot of it, it might take some time. Meads take months. Was there a problem with the yeast?

 

[Mark1964]

No permission for the recipe. Honey is very fermentable, but if you used a lot of it, it might take some time. Meads take months. Was there a problem with the yeast?

Thanks for responding Mash bill attached. Brewed at 165 deg for 1 hour, honey wet in for 10 minutes before boil. Boil for 1 hr.
Yeast was safeale 5, went at a medium rate for a week and then shut down entirely. Could just be funky yeast, not sure though.

 

[Mark1964]

Thanks for responding Mash bill attached. Brewed at 165 deg for 1 hour, honey wet in for 10 minutes before boil. Boil for 1 hr.
Yeast was safeale 5, went at a medium rate for a week and then shut down entirely. Could just be funky yeast, not sure though.

 

[Megary]

So you mashed this beer at 165°F?

If so, you created a rather unfermentable wort and this is the reason for the high final gravity. The honey remains blameless.

 

[Minbari]

So you mashed this beer at 165°F?

If so, you created a rather unfermentable wort and this is the reason for the high final gravity. The honey remains blameless.

Second this. 168F is where beta enzymes die. I personally don't usually mash above about 152F

 

[Mark1964]

Thanks Minbari and Megary! I will give it another try at 152F.

 

[Donoroto]

Fwiw, I sometimes sneak up to 154, but yeah, 165 seems pretty hot.

 

[Sandy Feet]

165? Yikes!
If you want the aroma, you need to find a way to get it in post boil. I tried one, got it exactly the way I wanted, but it all settled to the bottom of the kettle and didn't make the fermenter. I will try one again at some point.