Getting honey flavor in brew

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RCCOLA

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I've added honey to my brew at the beginning of the boil and at the end of the boil and in small to large amts. but the flavor never makes it thru to the finished product.I've also used honey malt and really don't think it tastes anything like honey.I know that sulfiting and adding to the keg and force carbing would be the best way but I don't yet keg.So,what do you all think about adding after the main fermentation has stopped?I was thinking of steeping 2-3 lbs. in water at 170F to sanitize and then adding to the fermenter after the krauesen drops.What say ye?
 
Honey is fermentable, so if you add it to your beer, the yeast can ferment it. That's probably why you don't have any real honey flavor. I've used it to thin out and help dry out a beer, but not to get honey taste so I'm not sure how it'd be best to get the honey flavor in beer.
 
Sulfiting then force carb is really the only way to impart a lot of honey flavor into your beer. Honey is almost 100% fermentable and the yeast will consume it no matter when in the process you add it. You could use honey to carb with and it will still be fermented out by the yeast, and not leave a lot of flavor. Honey malt is the best alternative, but as you say you do not think it tastes like honey.
 
In Designing Great Beers there is a short insert about the use of honey. It says the best approach is to steep the honey at 176 F for 2 1/2 hours. I think this would be a job for a warm oven. I haven't tried it yet but it sounds better than boiling. I have a trippel coming up that I will try this approach in.
 
The closer you add to the end of the boil - the more flavor will make it to the final product. When I add honey to a brew (like I just did with my Porter), I always add all the honey in the last 2 minutes or so.

But - as the others have said - you still will not get a "punch" of honey flavor (but you will get a kick on ABV).
 
In Designing Great Beers there is a short insert about the use of honey. It says the best approach is to steep the honey at 176 F for 2 1/2 hours. I think this would be a job for a warm oven. I haven't tried it yet but it sounds better than boiling. I have a trippel coming up that I will try this approach in.

:cross:

From everything that i have read, you are not supposed to warm / boil / heat honey. Just throw it into the primary after a few days. If you heat it, you destroy the compounds that make it so good.
 
The closer you add to the end of the boil - the more flavor will make it to the final product. When I add honey to a brew (like I just did with my Porter), I always add all the honey in the last 2 minutes or so.

But - as the others have said - you still will not get a "punch" of honey flavor (but you will get a kick on ABV).

Even two minutes is enough to destroy most of the delicate floral aromas that honey can impart.

The best way to preserve what little flavor honey can impart is do add it to beer with as little heat as possible. The biggest problem is that the natural wild yeast and bacteria can spoinl a beer.

If you thin out the honey with some boiled cooled water and then add a campden tablet you should be safe to add the honey to primary.

There might still be a problem if you are expecting actual honey flavor in your beer. This would be nasty because it would be way too sweet. You should be looking more for just subtle hints and aromas in the nose and on the palate. Any more would be cloying.
 
most honey bought today has already been heated[pasturized]..It's heated in lg vats so that any bits of wax, pollen and foreign debris will seperate from the honey...honey is unique,in that bacteria will NOT grow in it..it never goes bad..
 
The thing about honey is that it is really a very mild flavor. When thrown together with hops and malt, it can easily get buried.

So to make honey stand out in a brew, you need at least one of three things:

- Strong tasting honey
- Or a lot of honey
- Or not too much malt + hop flavor to get in the way

Or even better, two or more of the above :)

What kind of honey do you use? Most of what you'll find on the shelves is pretty mild, but there is a huge amount of variety. If you can get it, orange blossom honey is more likely to cut through the blend, or one of the stronger tasting wildflower types.

And how much do you use? I've done several brews with honey, in most of which it just thinned things out and upped the alcohol. The only time I really tasted it was a braggot that used like 4 lb of honey.

Finally, what else is in your recipe? You're most likely to taste honey in something light and clean, such as a lager or kolsch. Good luck getting it to show up in a brown, IPA, or stout!
 
Good luck getting it to show up in a brown, IPA, or stout!

Yes I was very disapointed with the Sam Adams Honey Porter, had no honey taste to it at all. Of course I do like J.W Dundee's honey brown lager, I think that is what most are hoping for (as far as the honey being pronounced in the flavor that is.) I guess I understand a little better why the SAHP wasn't very honey tasting, etc.
 
The thing about honey is that it is really a very mild flavor. When thrown together with hops and malt, it can easily get buried.

So to make honey stand out in a brew, you need at least one of three things:

- Strong tasting honey
- Or a lot of honey
- Or not too much malt + hop flavor to get in the way

Or even better, two or more of the above :)

What kind of honey do you use? Most of what you'll find on the shelves is pretty mild, but there is a huge amount of variety. If you can get it, orange blossom honey is more likely to cut through the blend, or one of the stronger tasting wildflower types.

And how much do you use? I've done several brews with honey, in most of which it just thinned things out and upped the alcohol. The only time I really tasted it was a braggot that used like 4 lb of honey.

Finally, what else is in your recipe? You're most likely to taste honey in something light and clean, such as a lager or kolsch. Good luck getting it to show up in a brown, IPA, or stout!
Great answer.Yes I intended to keep the malt flavors down.It consists of 4lbs. 2-row,3lbs flaked wheat,1lb. dextrin(to counteract the dryness honey imparts),and maybe 4-6oz of cry20.I'm thinking of about 3 lbs. of honey in primary after kraeusen drops.
 
That sounds good to me. My braggot had a little more honey and slightly less malt, but it also had I think 10 oz of darker crystal, which in retrospect covered up the honey more than I wanted. I bet that will taste pretty good, especially if you can find a nice floral honey variety (anything more interesting than clover, really).
 
That sounds good to me. My braggot had a little more honey and slightly less malt, but it also had I think 10 oz of darker crystal, which in retrospect covered up the honey more than I wanted. I bet that will taste pretty good, especially if you can find a nice floral honey variety (anything more interesting than clover, really).

Just re-figured it to 3lb. 2row& 3.5lbs. honey w/ 11.2IBU's hallertau- rest of recipe the same.I'm shooting for a Dundeeish beer for my wife and some other BMC drinking freinds I have.They'll just have to deal with the haze.:eek:
 
:cross:

From everything that i have read, you are not supposed to warm / boil / heat honey. Just throw it into the primary after a few days. If you heat it, you destroy the compounds that make it so good.

+1 to that. If you pour it into the boil, you may as well pour it down the sink.

I put 24oz of plain-old-grocery-store honey in an xmas ale, about 3 days into fermentation. I got a FG down to 1.08, a bit dry and thin, and just a bit of honey aroma, no burst of honey flavor.
 
Well, I brewed this beer
4lb. 2-row
1/2 lb wheat malt
1.5lbs. flaked wheat
.6lb. carapils
.4lb cry 20
.6oz hallartau @60min.
3.5lb. clover honey after 3days of fermentation at 62F w/ Notty
The honey sank to the bottom of the fermenter below the trub and stopped fermenting.I have since swirled the wort with the lid on the bucket and airlock in place to minimize oxidation and fermentation has started.I still can see the 3/4in. of honey below the trub.If fermentation stops again should I take off the lid and attempt to stir it in?
 
I added a pound of raw honey at flame-out to a blonde ale recently. Being such a light beer with only a small amount of hops for bittering, the honey really comes through well. However, it does dry the beer out some. I will probably use less next time around. Still a nice, refreshing brew tho :mug:
 
+1 for the honey malt suggestion from me as well.

I brewed a Belgian blond ale last year (my first AG, done BIAB) that had a small amount of honey malt, and then 1 lb. of honey tossed into the primary. It was really nice, had a lot of honey on the nose, and a slight honey taste without being sweet or overpowering (I used the Unibroue yeast strain, which has a nice citruisy quality to it).

My friends loved it!
 
Holy thread resurrection Batman!

The beer I brewed in post #18 came out terrible. It just ended up tasting weird. It broke me from bothering with adding honey to beer. I have since added a little honey malt and found it to be nice in the right beer.

But as far as using actual honey--I add it to my oatmeal.
 
I add honey to beers all the time, only I do it to dry them out and up the ABV in a way IMO that is slightly more subtle than dextrose. Never had any funny flavors and I use fresh unfiltered / unpasteurized local honey.
 
Honey malt otherwise known as grambinus does not in part a honey like flavor, instead you get a soft almost nutty flavor from its contribution to your grist .
 
Honey malt otherwise known as grambinus does not in part a honey like flavor, instead you get a soft almost nutty flavor from its contribution to your grist .
Funny how this old thread keeps getting resurrected. I started it over 6 years ago. I quit dorking around with honey after the post where I added 3lbs or so to a batch and it tasted like crap.

I brew mostly Continental lagers now and don't much mess around with non-beer flavored beer anymore.
I can tell you this though. If you really want honey flavor in a beer then brew a batch using Weyermann Floor malted Bohemian pilsner malt. It definitely has a honey flavor to it. Probably the best malt I've ever used. Cheers.
 
Honey malt otherwise known as grambinus does not in part a honey like flavor, instead you get a soft almost nutty flavor from its contribution to your grist .

grambrinus? hmm. Are you talking about http://countrymaltgroup.com/our-suppliers/gambrinus-malting-corp/ ? Gambrinus makes a honey malt. But gambrinus also makes plenty of other malts.

Funny how this old thread keeps getting resurrected. I started it over 6 years ago. I quit dorking around with honey after the post where I added 3lbs or so to a batch and it tasted like crap.

I brew mostly Continental lagers now and don't much mess around with non-beer flavored beer anymore.
I can tell you this though. If you really want honey flavor in a beer then brew a batch using Weyermann Floor malted Bohemian pilsner malt. It definitely has a honey flavor to it. Probably the best malt I've ever used. Cheers.

I know what you mean. There are some funny thread necro's that have been going on lately. One thing that I have never understood in the weird flavor combinations that people come up with. It cracks me up.

I guess we will see you in another 6 years! Cheers!
 
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