Expert: Chris Bushman - 11/12/2009

Question
Hi Chris,

I'm a newbie when it comes to home brewing, but very eager to start with my new hobby. I very much like the darker ales which contain honey and/or herbs. Now, if I want to make my own darker (not black though) honey/herb ale (preferably not bitter) what beer kit should I be using?
At the moment I purchased MUNTONS Nut Brown Ale 1,8 kg and Muttons Highland heavy ale 3kg. Are these good kits to brew with herbs/honey, or do you recon it is best to brew them as they came in the package, without adding other stuff?

Also, when I start brewing with honey/herbs (think about mixture of clover, juniper, anise, mint and/or maybe wormwood), when should I add them to the brew?

Any other advice you want to give me?

Thanks in advance! much appreciated!


Answer
Welcome to a fun hobby, Robert.

When you're first starting out it's really best to stick to the basics. That way, if the result is not good, you know it was something in your technique that is a problem. If you start adding a bunch of stuff, you have so many variables that you don't know where the beer went wrong. If you brew a Nut Brown Ale, you can compare it to a commercial version like Sam Smith's Nut Brown Ale.

That being said, adding some honey is a simple thing that almost can't go wrong. Since it's just some sugars with a subtle flavor. It should be added at the very end of the boil, right at flameout. You want to sanitize it with heat but avoid driving off too much of the honey flavors by boiling.

The honey will increase the alcohol, lighten up the beer, and add a bit of flavor. Don't overdo it. As a matter of fact, be careful about adding too much of anything because it can take over and wipe out the beer flavor. Some things have very powerful influence in very small amounts, some are very subtle even in large quantity.

Avoid additives that contain significant amounts of oil.  Oil in beer wipes out the head retention.  For instance, peppermint oil would be a bad idea.

When you add extras depends a lot on the nature of the additive. The later you add it in the process, the more effect it will have on the resulting beer. If you add lavender at the beginning of the boil you will never find any in the finished beer.  If you add it at the end of fermentation, it will have a big impact. Both boiling and fermentation drive off aromatics.

Make sure that anything that you add late to the beer is sanitized. Obviously heat kills bad bugs, but late additions need to be dealt with. The lavender example could be steeped in vodka for half an hour before being dumped into the beer.

So think about brewing by the book for a while. Get your technique down, then branch out.  One thing you could do right away is experiment with adding things to your finished beer. Maybe throw some wormwood into a liter of beer for a week to see what it does.

Happy brewing Robert,

Chris Bushman
Colfax, California, USA