Nutrition with the Honey addition?

Ahoy,

So I have just made an ale with 5lb of Orange blossom honey and it has been a little over 5 weeks of fermenting. I am drinking it as I type this, and I am very curious if there is actually any nutritional benefit to adding honey in beer during fermentation?

I am well aware that yeast consumes most of the honey sugars, but I don't know if the sugars have anything to do with the actual nutrients the honey contains.

I added the 5lb of raw honey into the carboy at the 3rd day of primary fermentation. Primary fermentation appeared to have lasted for a little over two weeks, judging by the high krausen and the bubbling.

Honey is notorious for low nutrients and show fermentation. Was it pasteurized honey?

Nohone said:

Ahoy,

So I have just made an ale with 5lb of Orange blossom honey and it has been a little over 5 weeks of fermenting. I am drinking it as I type this, and I am very curious if there is actually any nutritional benefit to adding honey in beer during fermentation?

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Probably not, other than increasing the available fermentable sugars and possibly some honey flavour notes

I am well aware that yeast consumes most of the honey sugars, but I don't know if the sugars have anything to do with the actual nutrients the honey contains.

I added the 5lb of raw honey into the carboy at the 3rd day of primary fermentation. Primary fermentation appeared to have lasted for a little over two weeks, judging by the high krausen and the bubbling.

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As Inner10 points out, honey has low nutrients naturally. I'd have thought that the foaming would be connected with the extra "oomph" from the additional sugars in the honey combined with the proteins and other elements in the ale side of the recipe.

I understand that with beers, the amount of foaming is relative to the recipe and type of grains/malt used etc, it may have just been a moderate foaming type recipe and the honey just made it a bit worse.....

I think "nutrition" was the wrong term. I apologize for that. What I really mean are health benefits. Raw honey itself has tons of health benefits, i dont know why, but this is what I have researched. So will these health benefits cease to be in beer? Does the fermentation period diminish these health benefits? I was of the impression that braggot and mead would be healthier alcoholic beverages because of the honey. Assuming, of course, the honey is not heated at all.

Nohone said:

I think "nutrition" was the wrong term. I apologize for that. What I really mean are health benefits. Raw honey itself has tons of health benefits, i dont know why, but this is what I have researched. So will these health benefits cease to be in beer? Does the fermentation period diminish these health benefits? I was of the impression that braggot and mead would be healthier alcoholic beverages because of the honey. Assuming, of course, the honey is not heated at all.

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Nohone, I don't speak for everyone but I know a lot about my profession, a little about wine making, and nothing about nutrition. When you drink as much as I do the health benefits are a wash.

Thank you for sharing that.

But my question still stands . Does anyone actually know?

Honey is sugar, sugar makes you fat can't see the health benefits in that

The only time I'd consider honey to be a "health" product is when I have a sore throat, and a spoonful is soothing to eat. Honey may also have some antibacterial properties and it can be used on a small cut if nothing else is available to clean it, though I'm not sure if it actually works. Eating a spoonful of local honey each day can help hayfever sufferers. Pasturised honey will probably have much less in the way of health benefits than unpasturised honey. As others have pointed out however, any healthy properties of honey in your beer are probably negated by the alcohol!

In my opinion, the health benefits and vitamins in the honey remain while the fermentable sugars are converted into alcohol.

How did you add the honey into your primary? Did you heat it in water and pour it in? Did you have to stir it to mix?

I just made a recipe with honey that I added after flame out to the wort. In addition, I had to add grape concentrate on day three of fermentation, which I funneled in through a tube to the center of the wort, no mixing. I was wondering if that is a good technique or how your technique differs.

So some of you guys don't understand the difference between sugar and natural sugar from raw honey. That's unfortunate.

I recommend you google search health benefits of raw honey and enlighten yourselves. If you guys don't know the health benefits of honey I'd imagine you've probably never heard of raw honey and the differences between raw honey and.pasteurized honey, which is basically as useless as pasteurized milk as far as optimal nutrition goes.

Yes raw honey has a ton of health benefits. It was not coveted after for thousands of years just because it tastes delicious.

So am I to presume no one knows if added raw honey has any health benefit in the making of mead or braggot?

I fermented the wort for 3 days, then added raw honey in a pot with room temp water and stirred. I never heated the honey.

I definitely agree with Nahone. Raw honey has tremendous health benefits, and my initial response would be that mead was, for centuries, considered a valuable health tonic. References made to by Greeks indicate a health interest as far back as 2000 years ago, and likely farther. I would also add that apart from the nutrients in the honey that yeast consume (pollen is an excellent source for yeast nutrient) the original properties of the honey should remain largely intact. If love to investigate it further myself since I keep bees.

jmureiko said:

I definitely agree with Nahone. Raw honey has tremendous health benefits, and my initial response would be that mead was, for centuries, considered a valuable health tonic. References made to by Greeks indicate a health interest as far back as 2000 years ago, and likely farther. I would also add that apart from the nutrients in the honey that yeast consume (pollen is an excellent source for yeast nutrient) the original properties of the honey should remain largely intact. If love to investigate it further myself since I keep bees.

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It seems as though on the news every night one thing is the key to longevity and the other causes cancer...a week later it's the other way around.

Wine making is about converting healthy sugars into deadly poison...then drinking the poison.

Inner10 said:

It seems as though on the news every night one thing is the key to longevity and the other causes cancer...a week later it's the other way around.

Wine making is about converting healthy sugars into deadly poison...then drinking the poison.

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Well, to be honest, I don't actually agree with that (with a friendly tone) . The research shows time and again that any form of alcohol consumed in moderation leads to be unmistakable health benefits. Check out this link for a mind-blowing wealth of evidence. http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/AlcoholAndHealth.html

jmureiko said:

Well, to be honest, I don't actually agree with that (with a friendly tone) . The research shows time and again that any form of alcohol consumed in moderation leads to be unmistakable health benefits. Check out this link for a mind-blowing wealth of evidence. http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/AlcoholAndHealth.html

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I suddenly feel very healthy.

Inner10 said:

I suddenly feel very healthy.

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Touché! Lol!

So I am not a scientist, which means nothing really since we have internet, but I will throw that out there.

Cancer is largely misunderstood, and rightfully so my good friends, because it's a damn good money maker! All cancer is is basically cells replicating at such a violent rate it imbalances your body. our body kills cancer causing cells all the time. Thus, cancer as we know it is caused when your immune system fails to stop cancerous cells. Immune systems fail when you compromise healthy living.

This isn't new info, sadly, just largely withheld. Google searches will lead you to this information. Cancer and ill health is a multibillion dollar industry, imagine if people suddenly realize chemotherapy is nonsense and that pharmaceuticals were doing more harm than good.

So honey IS supposed to be one of those health foods that promote well being. I'd imagine using it in mead might be a very healthy tonic. Alcohol kills bacteria, guaranteed. So mixing honey in a medium alcoholic beverage might prove pretty good for you in moderation. This is theory crafting though. When in doubt, use your experience to guide your decision.