1 for 1 honey & LME?

I have a huge bee hive in my backyard that I have succesfully harvested honey from in the past & like to use more of my "own" ingredients in a brew so I'm wanting to use some of that honey. The flavor of this "wild" honey is unreal & beats any commercial stuff. Ideally I would like to get some of this flavor and aroma in the brew, but would be satisfied with just knowing I used an ingredient I harvested myself (ordering hop rhizomes next year).


if I have a recipe that has a SG of 1.052 & FG or 1.013 & ~5.1abv can I simply substitute 1lb of honey for 1lb of LME? I still want the fg & abv to be 1.013 & ~5.0

depending on how much honey you have, you can definitely hit your OG if add the correct amount of honey. considering honey is all fermentable however, your FG is going to be much lower than if you were to use LME. subbing honey for LME will dry your beer out and will up the ABV.

if i were you, i'd look into using your honey to prime.

great idea though...keep me posted on what you decide to do.

brewski08 said:

if i were you, i'd look into using your honey to prime.

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+1

I only use honey to prime and often experiment with different kinds...very jealous!

I not familiar with priming. I'll do some searches. thanks.

Sure you could sub 1 lb of honey from 1 lb of extract. Northern Brewer has a Honey Kolsch where they add 6 lbs of LME and 1 lb of honey. Gets really good reviews.

I would try somewhere between 0.5 and 1.0# of your honey on one of your next brews, depending on how adventurous you are. The FG will probably be 5 points lower, but that shouldn't matter.

wgonfan said:

I not familiar with priming. I'll do some searches. thanks.

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nevermind. I'm an idiot, not enough coffee yet this morning.

wgonfan said:

nevermind. I'm an idiot, not enough coffee yet this morning.

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It happens. For around 2.5 vols or "standard" carbing, you use 3 tablespoons of honey PER GALLON. Thats 1.5 ounces or 63 grams if you need it in other forms.

Calichusetts said:

It happens. For around 2.5 vols or "standard" carbing, you use 3 tablespoons of honey PER GALLON. Thats 1.5 ounces or 63 grams if you need it in other forms.

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And obviously I only use the Honey for priming.. Ditch the priming sugar correct? So does this impart any flavor or aroma?

wgonfan said:

And obviously I only use the Honey for priming.. Ditch the priming sugar correct? So does this impart any flavor or aroma?

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Yes, just the honey for priming, no sugar. The later in the process you add the honey, the more flavor and aroma will carry through to the finished beer. Some like to add a pound or so to the fermenter mid fermentation, to help preserve the honey aroma and flavor. If the honey is added to the boil, little to no flavor carries through and the beer is just "drier" and more alcoholic AFAIK. I believe consensus is if you want the honey flavor and aroma, DON'T boil it w/ the wort.

wgonfan said:

And obviously I only use the Honey for priming.. Ditch the priming sugar correct? So does this impart any flavor or aroma?

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As above, no suger.

As for the flavor, it depends on the honey. I can't tell you how strong it is because its your own. Orange blossom works well...clover has hardly any taste or aroma IMO. Give it a shot and see. Its a nice light upfront aroma and taste, if its strong you might get the taste in the finish as well, but its nothing overpowering. Its the first thing I can smell when I pop open a bottle I've carbed with honey

I've done a few experiments with honey (I LOVE honey!) - pretty much in order to get a very noticable honey scent and taste this is how I use it.

Since the honey is nearly 100% fermentable, putting it in during the boil really does seem to 'dry' out the taste - but will give a very, very faint hint. But, using it during priming does in fact give it a decent scent and taste, you can tell there is honey in it.

I generally use 16oz in the brew kettle after flameout, though not always. If I could harvest and use it from my own, I'd almost always use it.

From now on, I almost exclusively prime with honey. It just makes everything 'better' - but like I said above, I LOVE honey. Priming with it gives me that honey hint I really like in my brews.