Fixing to brew my first beer, got a question

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MediaMikes

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I going to be brewing a cream ale this weekend and thought about adding some honey to it to 1) add a little sweetness to the finished product and 2) raise the ABV a bit. My question is would I add the honey during the boil, after the boil during the cooling of the wort, after the cooling of the wort but before the yeast is added or when I rack from my primary to my secondary?

Also, if I wanted to use honey to carbonate instead of the provided corn sugar how much should I use?

Oh yeah, concerning my fist question, how much would I want to add to the wort as well as at which stage?

Thanks guys/girls for the help. I am still trying to get this search feature down. I can't find a d@%m thing so far using it.
 
I would add it to the boil, with about 10 minutes left. Honey is highly fermentable, so it will only leave a touch of residual sweetness. I've never carbed with honey, so I can't help you there.
 
I figured it might need to be added at that point but I want to get it right or as right as I can. I don't have to carb with honey, it was just a thought.
 
Well, I just found on John Palmers website that while it can be done and can be good the standard kit I got most likely will not have the hops needed to accomidate the added honey and it gives off a nasty hangover, which I am not a fan of in any way.:drunk:

I would still like to here everyones comments on this and any experiences with trying this.
 
priming with honey is difficult because you just don't know how much sugars is in the honey. don't want exploding bottles or undercarbonated beer.
 
How much honey are we talking here? An extra half pound to a pound would give you a little extra alcohol boost, and shouldn't throw your beer too far off balance. But do keep in mind that honey does ferment extremely dry, so you really won't get too much sweetness off of it.
 
i was thinking trying a pound of honey in it. I found an article on BYO - Brewing with Honey that describes the process, how to do it and what to watch for. I guess I will give it a try, depending on how much the honeyis going to run me.
 
yeah, i was going to say 12-16oz would be good. why don't you just chomp on some honey while your drinking your beer? well, maybe not! :confused:
 
I not really going for the flavor part of it, I am more or less wanting to add a little more kick to it.
 
Hmmm, honestly its too late to add alcohol content now. All you would really do is screw up your carbonation with too much to too little. Save it for next time would be my advice.




Gedvondur
 
i would not carbonate with honey and i would not expect much flavor with honey, unless you add it straight to the fermenter. also, expect a longer time for it to ferment out.
 
I have officially started my first brew at 7:00PM tonight. I decideed to just stick to the basics for the first few brews until I can get the process down.

I have my grains steeping right now, they have been at 155 degrees since 7:15, I figure I will steep them until 7:45 over fire at a steady 155 and then turn the fire out and steep them for 10 more minutes. Then the fun begins.......:ban:
 
I'm going to take the opposite tact, and suggest that since it is your first brewing session, to stick to whatever recipe or kit you're brewing and not deviate from the recipe, but instead concentrate on learning your brewing process...

I know, I'm a party pooper....:D

If you want to brew a beer with honey, then find a recipe that has honey already in the ingredient list, and has been already tailored to accommodate it, in terms of grains and hops... I know the tendency is to want to jump in and tinker...but if you don't have your process down, then if it doesn't come out the way you want, then you can't really dissect the problem...

If you brew a kit...or a straight recipe, and it doesn't come out, then you can go back and figure out what went wrong in your process....Was it sanitization? Did I miss read my hydrometer? Did I steep in too high temp water?

If you brew from a kit...or recipe that has been proven, and set in stone and it doesn't come out then you have a foundation to look back on...If you've winged a recipe on your own, by adding ingredients not called for, then you've added another couple of variables to this list...

SInce you're started out, take a look at this thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=54362&highlight=Stone+cold

It has some of the best quick and dirty advice you can find anywhere...

Also take a look at this one too, it was another beginner wanting to experiment on his first brew...and see the advice that was given. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=55526

You have plenty of time to experiment, after you get the various parts of your process down.

Anyway, I know that this isn't what you want to hear...and I'm not trying to rain on your parade, I just want you to become the best brewer you can be...

Welcome to your new obsession!
 
Okay, it is in the fermenter and I am happily waiting for the fermenation to start. Everying went without a hitch. I guess is helps when you have 6 gallon brew pot. I don't really understand the OG thing yet, I may not have put enough in the test tube but it read like 1.046. That is probably way off, like I said I have no clue what I am doing and just followed the instructions that came with the kit.

Hopefully it will be drinkable at least.

Oh yeah, I filled the airlock with some of the sterilized water solution and then without thinking (after I put in the yeast) I shock the crap out of it and lost some the sterilized water. I don't know if it went in the beer or stopped at the botton of the airlock tube, but will it hurt the beer if it did get to it?

I also stirred the crap out of it before I pitched it, I just wanted to add a little extra something after it was pitched. Hope I didn't mess it up.
 
Also, I got my temp down from 220 to 78 in about 15 minutes by moving the pot back and forth between sinks with fresh cold water. I figured I would probably still be trying to get it cool enough to pitch.
 
If some of the water from the airlock got into the beer that's fine. Because it was sterilized it won't hurt a thing. It's good that you stirred it up a bunch, that will help aerate it, and yeast love oxygen!!!

Without knowing the recipe I can't say for sure if an OG of 1.046 is right, but it does sound like it's in the correct general area for a basic kit.

It sounds like your off to a great start........now comes the hard part.....waiting ;) But soon enough you will be drinking up homebrew along with the rest of us!!! :mug:
 
I checked the sheet that came with the kit and sure enough they gave the numbers concerning what was expected for the OG and FG and the OG was supposed to be between 1.040 and 1.046. I did add a little bit more spring water though, thinking that the boil and then steeping would steam off quite a bit. I hope that didn't mess anything up. I figure it might throw the FG off some, but I feel I had a successfull first half.

And you're right, the hard does start now, the waiting....:mug:
 
Most excellent- congratulations on popping your homebrew cherry. I enjoyed one of my creations tonight after working out and my god... it's good to be a homebrewer.
 
I am soooooo pumped right now. I even got online and ordered another git (Rasberry Wheat) and two more primary bucket fermenters. I really want to brew an extract that resembles a Guiness. Any ideas anyone?
 

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