Your experience with honey in secondary.

So, I brewed an American Wheat Ale. I originally was going to add apricot or peach puree to secondary, but have been thinking about going the way of honey. I have seen conflicting info on this, and some say that the honey does not add any flavor, and you cannot tell that it was even added. I would think that adding it to the secondary, though restarting fermentation, would still leave some of the honey characteristics behind. Have any of you guys tried this, and what was your experience? Could you taste the honey afterwards?

I have added a pound of lime blossom honey after primary fermentation before and holy hell YES you could taste it. I guess what I am saying is it depends on the honey, and lime blossom honey does not belong in beer, not even a saison.

You won't get much if any added flavor after the yeast gets done with it. You're probably considering adding 1# per 5 gallons. A mead may have between 3-5# per gallon. You'll get it at those levels but not so much in a beer. It's 100% fermentable so it will increase the gravity but it will also thin the beer out a bit. Just keep that in mind.

try adding it a couple days into the ferment so the yeast has time to get the sugars you want them to get

lol. What would you think about orange blossom?

I add honey to secondary all the time, I prefer to use the darkest honey that I can find. I've tried at 10 minutes left in the boil and flame out as well, and found that adding to secondary gives a much more attenuated beer. When added before primary I've had to rouse the yeast to get it to finish everything on 1.080+ beer.

winterc said:

I add honey to secondary all the time, I prefer to use the darkest honey that I can find. I've tried at 10 minutes left in the boil and flame out as well, and found that adding to secondary gives a much more attenuated beer. When added before primary I've had to rouse the yeast to get it to finish everything on 1.080+ beer.

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Can you taste the honey when you add it to secondary? I just want to be able to taste it without adding too much. I planned on a lb or so.

Poobah58 said:

It's 100% fermentable so it will increase the gravity but it will also thin the beer out a bit. Just keep that in mind.

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I almost never jump on people for statements on this site but that is simply not true. 85-95%, which nearly every reliable source sights, is the general agreement. Palmer puts it at 85-90% and beersmith at 90%. Unless your situation is ideal for secondary fermentation, you won't get much higher than 90%. Being 100% fermentable and fermenting 100% are two different things.

A big consideration in term so taste is the type of honey, as pointed out by another poster. Clover is virtually useless. Orange blossom is decent. Buckwheat and a few others are considered quite potent but not always the "honey" flavor we think of.

I stand corrected. It still won't do much flavor wise at 1# per gallon. At least not in my experience. I've tried Pumpkin Honey in a Tripel and Orange Blossom in a Honey Wheat. Can't say that I could really notice the honey at all.

Well I got 2lbs of Orange Blossom I was going to use for my honey wheat. I was just hoping I would get some of that honey taste. Got some conflicting opinions here. Guess there is only way to find out!..

Calichusetts said:

Clover is virtually useless.

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Uh oh...I just bought some Clover honey (only 1#). Why do you say it's useless? The flavor to delicate to notice?

USMCPayne said:

Uh oh...I just bought some Clover honey (only 1#). Why do you say it's useless? The flavor to delicate to notice?

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Yeah...I used it three times and hardly got anything. I've heard similar complains from others but who knows how they used it. There is hope though, there are a few people on this site that use it. It just is not as strong of a flavor profile as some of the others.

I should clarify that statement, clover isn't bad, but there are other honeys that work better.

Again, my opinion but I have used honey in maybe 25-30 batches. I'm no expert but I certainly have had my share of experiences, often doing the same technique or using the same honey several times

Cali, can you elaborate on a few of the methods you have used to add honey and their results? I've got a cream ale that I'm considering adding honey at secondary and/or bottling and wondering if I am wasting my time. Thanks!

USMCPayne said:

Cali, can you elaborate on a few of the methods you have used to add honey and their results? I've got a cream ale that I'm considering adding honey at secondary and/or bottling and wondering if I am wasting my time. Thanks!

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I am interested as well. I was just going to heat it up a bit and dump it in there lol

Honey flavor can be very subtle, but it depends on both the honey varietal (as has been noted) as well as the base beer...honey will not show up as well in a rich porter as it does in a light wheat beer, and the more robust the honey (dark wildflower, or perhaps something like buckwheat vs clover) the better the chance the flavor will be appreciated.

I've had the best luck getting flavor from added sugars like honey, molasses, or brown sugar late in primary, after things have started to slow, before the yeast start to floc. This seems to preserve some of the aromatics by avoiding the aggressive CO2 release in the peak of primary, but still allows you to keep all fermentation in the primary. Generally, I just heat up some water to help dissolve the honey/sugar and just dump it in...no worry about boiling, etc.

I brewed a wit with a lb of orange blossom honey that medaled in competition. That being said I never noticed much flavor but overall it was good. My lhbs asked me once if I just wanted alcohol or flavor and suggested honey malt instead of honey. It imparted the flavor that I really wanted and was noticeable. My $.02

LouBrew13 said:

I brewed a wit with a lb of orange blossom honey that medaled in competition. That being said I never noticed much flavor but overall it was good. My lhbs asked me once if I just wanted alcohol or flavor and suggested honey malt instead of honey. It imparted the flavor that I really wanted and was noticeable. My $.02

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This, use a little bit of honey malt for a little more residual sweetness.

USMCPayne said:

Cali, can you elaborate on a few of the methods you have used to add honey and their results? I've got a cream ale that I'm considering adding honey at secondary and/or bottling and wondering if I am wasting my time. Thanks!

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Bio hit it on the head, don't even both with it with a strong flavor profile beer like a supper hoppy DIPA or something. Its really subtle. I actual didn't like honey malt but it does work well. Personally, I take a 3-prong attack with light beers when I use honey. I add 50% of whatever I'm using on day 4 of fermentation or right at the tail end...but before the krausen falls, add the other 50% to the secondary and rack on to it. Finally, I bottle with it, I bottle almost any beer, regardless of style with honey. Bottling probably doesn't do much but in really light beers, I've found you can get a nice hint of the aroma when you pop the bottle just from bottling with it.

I think the main thing to remember here is the later the better. The later into your process of making beer you add your honey, the more likely it is to show up. I personally prefer orange blossom honey, the end result taste very good. Take into account the fact that it will thin out the beer, either mash higher or add some body-building malts/ingredients to balance it out. Its really a tough thing to gauge in that sense, the more you want the honey flavor and use it, the drier it gets.

And strangely enough, sometimes less than ideal situations in terms of fermentation help. I cold crash the primary and keep it low in the secondary. Make it tough for the yeast to work through it. Generally, honey will ferment out 85-90 percent. If the situation is ideal, you can get up to 95%. The lower the better so make it hard for the yeast.

I did most of my experiments with honey on a 4% ABV, pilsner malt recipe. Anything light with minimal hop flavor will help. And I've tried everything. I even added honey to the mash (don't do this, it will redefine the term stuck sparge) Unfortunately, I can only give this advice, everyone's palette is different and you really need to try it a few times to see what works for you. I don't want an overpowering flavor so I am happy with the way I do it, outlined above.

something I did not see mentioned. Honey malt. I never had much luck with getting honey flavor in a beer otherwise.

I don't think I have seen honey malt. next time I will have to keep my eyes open and try it out. Good suggestion