Pass the honey, Honey

Bit of a quick one here, kids:

How fermentable is honey (ie. what's a good amount to use for a 2.5 - 3 gallon extract boil, and how much natural sugar does it add to the wort)
When's the best time in the boil to add?

Cheers,
J

jaymack said:

Bit of a quick one here, kids:

How fermentable is honey (ie. what's a good amount to use for a 2.5 - 3 gallon extract boil, and how much natural sugar does it add to the wort)
When's the best time in the boil to add?

Cheers,
J

Click to expand...

I read recently that honey is over 95% fermentable.

It won't leave much honey taste. You have to know the "tricks" to get the flavor.

One of those tricks is to slightly caramelize the honey before you add it to the boil.

Most recipes I've come across use between 1 and 2 pounds. I'd caramelize half of it to get a good flavor across.

How do you carmelize it dude? Seems cooking it would be a hideous mess.

Agreed, share the knowledge! I love a mild honey flavour in my beers.

I cannot for the life of me remember where I read this, but I went back and looked at the notes from my brew spreadsheet for the honey wheat recipe and this is what it reads:

"During boil pour about half the honey into a small pot and add 1 teaspoon of Yeast Energizer. Stir until it boils. After boiling it will start to foam/boil over. Remove from heat and keep stirring. Put back on heat until it foams up again and remove. Do this many times until honey is a dark rust color or suitable for your needs. "

I haven't tried this beer yet (primary) but we'll see.

Another trick to get a slight honey flavor is add a small amount (.25 lbs.) of gambrinus honey malt. It worked in SwAMi's honey recipe a while back.

HTH, guys.....

DO NOT BOIL HONEY longer than 15 minutes!!

You WILL lose the delicate flavor when you boil longer.

I make lots of mead. I can taste the sweetness of the honey. I follow the rule above.

When boiling honey you need to skim the surface of wax and proteins. If you fail to do this you are heading for a hangover (IMO).

I've only ever added honey to beer once, but if I were to do it again I would brew my beer as usual and boil my honey seperately and add it to the beer at the end of both boils. I'm fairly certain that will help you retain the honey flavor you're looking for.