I started a wheat beer a few days ago (Sep 1) and planned on turning it into a honey wheat by adding 1 to 2 lbs of honey to the wort at high kraeusen. Unfortunantly, I may be a bit late for that. It is now the morning of Sep 4 and it is just over 3 days since I first put the wort in the fermenter...a plastic pail. I will probably add it anyway to see what happens...who knows. I have done a lot of research on using honey to brew beer and have found much information that is contradictory. Most peopple say that it adds little flover and can make the beer drier and biter. I think it may be possible that they added the honey incorrectly. Here is my plan at this point anyway.
First, I will pasteurize the honey according to standard practices...heating it to 176 degrees F for 2 1/2 hours in the oven. Then I will dilute it with cooled, boiled water to reach the original specific gravity of the wort. I will then remove the airlock, pour the cooled solution in and replace the airlock. Hopefully using this method (obtained from the National Honey Board), I will be able to retain some of the honey esters and maybe some honey flavor as well. My only concern is that I guess I missed "high kraeusen"...any comments on this or my methods?
First, I will pasteurize the honey according to standard practices...heating it to 176 degrees F for 2 1/2 hours in the oven. Then I will dilute it with cooled, boiled water to reach the original specific gravity of the wort. I will then remove the airlock, pour the cooled solution in and replace the airlock. Hopefully using this method (obtained from the National Honey Board), I will be able to retain some of the honey esters and maybe some honey flavor as well. My only concern is that I guess I missed "high kraeusen"...any comments on this or my methods?