Food store honey?

Hey all, I'm doing a honey oat stout that requires like 3.75 lbs of honey. Would regular honey that you buy at the grocery store do just fine or should I go to a brew store for it?

BrosBrew said:

Hey all, I'm doing a honey oat stout that requires like 3.75 lbs of honey. Would regular honey that you buy at the grocery store do just fine or should I go to a brew store for it?

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I would find a local beekeeper or get something decent from the brew store. Grocery store honey has a less interesting flavor.

Moonshae said:

I would find a local beekeeper or get something decent from the brew store. Grocery store honey has a less interesting flavor.

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That is true. But for a honey oat stout, I think the delicate flavor would be covered up by the heavier flavored grains anyway. I'd go with whatever is cheapest for you- the honey will ferment out, leaving very little flavor behind but boosting alcohol and thinning the body.

I was looking for some cheap table honey for cooking and actually found like clover honey and basswood honey, etc at the grocery store, so I would take a look they might have the good stuff around as well.

As far as the density of honey goes, it is about the same as LME? I don't have a scale but my can of LME says 3.3 lbs so I can just guesstimate with the can if both honey and LME are around the same density.

BrosBrew said:

As far as the density of honey goes, it is about the same as LME? I don't have a scale but my can of LME says 3.3 lbs so I can just guesstimate with the can if both honey and LME are around the same density.

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I doubt it. You probably need to use a scale. You can find one for under $20 or so.

It should say how much it weighs on the package of honey. All the honey I've bought lists it by weight, not by volume.

The honey I get from my local guy is quite a bit cheaper than the stuff from the grocery store. I do buy it in bulk though. That little of an amount in a beer you probably won't be able to tell a difference, so just use whatever is cheapest. If you were doing a mead and the honey was the primary fermentable/flavoring I would say go for the most raw you can so you get all the flavor complexity out of it.

i agree wiht yooper and tonedef. if you were making a honey blonde or pale then i would use the good stuff. i have made honey pale ales with both cheap costco honey and really good farmers market local stuff, and would have to say the local raw wins every time.