Honey Beer

[jvp1]

Hi y'all,

I have a recipe that calls for 8lb of Pale Ale LME and 1lb of honey. I've read that honey will typically result in a dry beer, but I've also read that adding honey at he start of the 60min boil will burn off a lot of the sugar and leave more aroma -- any truth to this? If not, it seems like 8lbs of LME and 1 lb of honey will result in a very dry beer.

Also, the recipe calls for 2/3 cups of honey for priming...

 

[Pezman1]

Hi y'all,

I have a recipe that calls for 8lb of Pale Ale LME and 1lb of honey. I've read that honey will typically result in a dry beer, but I've also read that adding honey at he start of the 60min boil will burn off a lot of the sugar and leave more aroma -- any truth to this? If not, it seems like 8lbs of LME and 1 lb of honey will result in a very dry beer.

Also, the recipe calls for 2/3 cups of honey for priming...

Doesn't matter when you add the honey as far as sugar content goes. The amount will be the same. True, honey will be drying as it is almost 100% fermentable, but honey beer recipes will take that into account with other malts or specialty grains. 8 pounds of LME will NOT dry out a beer. In fact, LME is often mixed with some crystal malt and will tend to do the opposite.


Adding the honey at flamout verses 60 minutes is a technique used to preserve the volatile flavor/aroma compounds of the honey. These compounds CAN boil off, leaving you with little honey flavor, just more alcohol.

I use one to two pounds of honey at flameout along with 6 ounces of Gambrinus honey malt in my honey brews. Plenty of honey aroma and flavor.

Residual sweetness in the beer will depend alot on the yeast strain and how attenuative it is.

Tastybrew.com has a nice priming calculator you can use.

Pez.

 

[MikeWI]

I've used honey in a couple of my batches. In one where I just added it to the boil I got nothing. Then for my Honey Amber I added 8oz of honey malt, 1 lb of honey to the boil, and bottled with honey as the sugar. Even with that the honey flavor isn't overwhelming, but a nice counterpoint to the bitterness. Another batch I used 4 oz of honey malt and got some sweetness and maybe a hint of honey, but very light.

So I recommend using honey malt for honey flavor (even though it's not exactly the same), and bottling with honey for aroma.

Mike

 

[Jayhem]

I'm conditioning an American Wheat with 1lb of honey I added after boiling. I really can't taste the honey at all and it finished super dry. I wasn't going for honey flavor but if you want that honey malt makes more sense.

 

[jvp1]

I have some honey malt but wanted to try to get the bulk of the flavour from honey itself. I do like dry beers, so im not terribly concerned on that front. I'll add at flameout.

 

[Jayhem]

I have some honey malt but wanted to try to get the bulk of the flavour from honey itself. I do like dry beers, so im not terribly concerned on that front. I'll add at flameout.

Super dry as in my 1.054 OG beer finished at 1.007 because of the honey!

 

[Pezman1]

Honey is the world's oldest beer adjunct. All you got to do is acount for the sugar in the recipe and maybe use a yeast that's not highly attenuative.

I've made several honey wheats and some honey browns. All came out just fine, with some nice honey aroma and flavor overtones. Some honey malt helps, but there is no reason at all to be afraid of honey when making a honey beer! In other words, put some HONEY in your HONEY beer!


Pez.


EDIT - OP, use the honey malt also, maybe 6 oz. One or two pounds of honey at flameout will add aroma/flavor overtones, NOT a heavy mead-like honey presence.

 

[Calichusetts]

honey malt is the way to go...I bottle with honey and LOVE the results, I usually dont even need the honey malt but I'm not after a true honey beer

 

[jvp1]

Added the honey at flameout and pitched. Managed to cool the wort down perfectly -- the entire brew process actually went flawlessly (I did a full extract kit literally hours before where I had a boilover and managed to get caramelized sugar all over one of my burners...)

My OG is in the low 1.050s, interested to see how this goes...

 

[dcott]

If you pasteurize the honey first to kill off all the little organisms living inside, you can also add it directly to the fermenter to preserve maximum honey character in the finished product.

 

[Streeter]

If you pasteurize the honey first to kill off all the little organisms living inside, you can also add it directly to the fermenter to preserve maximum honey character in the finished product.

I have been trying to find more info on Honey beers and everything I have found so far leads me to believe that Honey is 1. Already pasteurized depending on store brand 2. If wild sorts (raw), doesn't really need to be because it contains natural antibodies which is what preserves it 3. If you boil it, it will lose the enzymes that make the honey flavor thereby defeating the purpose

As I said, I have only read these things from scouring the interwebs on the topic so I am no expert, but I just felt that the statement you made warrants some more research if someone finds this thread.

I am trying to determine when the best time to add it is to get the most flavor, and not have a dry beer people speak of. Some recipes say add at 10-15 left in boil, some say add at flameout, some say when it cools to 100 degrees or so, some people say add at primary. Also a theory is to add the pound 3-4-5 days into fermentation so that the yeast is mostly spent and will not ferment it all out thus leaving the flavor. Some people also say two pounds is fine. I have read on people using it as the priming sugar instead of corn sugar (see threads below). Also there are warnings about creating bottle bombs if it starts fermenting too much in bottling and you used sugar. Many more people say to use honey malt instead.

All very confusing to a newbie.

"When honey is labeled "pure," it means that it has no additives, such as sugar, corn syrup, or flavorings. However, unless it is labeled "raw," it is likely that the honey has been filtered, heated, and even pasteurized before packaging."
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5787891_difference-honey-natural-pure-honey.html#ixzz20u3hKUsZ

Some Flavor Is Lost
The flavors in honey are delicate and easily lost when cooked.

When making products like mead, an alcoholic beverage made from honey, it is recommended not to boil the honey. Boiling is also unnecessary because honey has its own antimicrobial properties.

Some Enzymes Are Killed
All honey contains natural enzymes and bacteria. These microbes are what keep the honey from spoiling. Honey is the only food that will never go bad. When honey is boiled, the enzymes and bacteria within it are killed, leaving the honey vulnerable to spoiling.

Here are similar threads with some of the above ideas in it.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/when-add-honey-boil-111048/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/why-not-boil-honey-76634/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/can-you-prime-honey-231491/

I personally think I may add a pound of it during the wort cooling (90-100deg) so it will stir in easily but not expose it to the 212ish degree temps. If there are people who agree I'd love to hear it and also need to decide if #1 is enough or go with 1.5-2?

 

[ludomonster]

If you're making a beer with honey for summer drinking, the dryness can be quite refreshing. Now that summer is in full blast, you might not want to suck down a bunch of full-bodied beers. I made a honey wheat with 1 lb of honey and 1/4 lb of honey malt and it came out nicely. The honey charcter was in the background.

 

[rodwha]

In reference to people stating that their honey beer had a mild honey taste or in the background and such,how does that compare to the honey character of say Blue Moon's honey wheat, which I found I really like, and would like to replicate? I'll find out how my latest honey wheat revision went in another 3 1/2 weeks...

 

[Streeter]

If you're making a beer with honey for summer drinking, the dryness can be quite refreshing. Now that summer is in full blast, you might not want to suck down a bunch of full-bodied beers. I made a honey wheat with 1 lb of honey and 1/4 lb of honey malt and it came out nicely. The honey charcter was in the background.

So at what point did you add it? I wonder if the honey or the honey malt made the flavor? In this case it is hard to tell if you did both.

Can anyone describe the Dryness factor? Compare it to something if possible. Is it like drinking a dry champagne? I am not sure if I have ever had a dry beer so no idea what this is all about.

Thanks

 

[Streeter]

I also was thinking about it more on the measurements- everyone seems to talk in pounds and I wondered if they are legitimately weighing the honey or if they followed a converter like this- http://www.traditionaloven.com/conversions_of_measures/honey_measurements.html

It says one pound is actually only 1.3 cups where if you mentally go by oz you would assume 2 cups=16oz but that is volume and not weight of course. So are people putting in 1 and 1/3 cups when they say pound or two because they didn't think about it much after having a few homebrews.

 

[rodwha]

I weigh everything. Since honey coats your pouring vessel I just zero the scale with the honey container and work it into the negative and pour straight from the container. Close enough for me.

 

[ludomonster]

I pour it straight from the jar. I added the honey at flameout.