How long in secondary with honey added

[bonescole]

I brewed the below recipe and added 1lb of honey to the secondary and racked on top of the honey and water. It started fermenting nicely and bubbled away for about a week and has since stopped. I left it in there for an additional week and was planning on leaving it until the end of January, but being a wheat beer I want it to be fresh and taste so when I tap the keg. My question is what is your opinion on the time frame to keg this brew? Would the end of January be too long based on the style, or stick with the original plan of keg February 1 condition in keg for two more weeks and drink?

Thanks!

BC

PS: First go at PM, so be easy on my recipe if you care to comment.

horrific honey wheat
November 19, 2009

Category Belgian and French Ale
Subcategory Witbier
Recipe Type Partial Mash
Batch Size 5 gal.
Volume Boiled 3 gal.
Mash Efficiency 68 %
Total Grain/Extract 8.50 lbs.
Total Hops 1.0 oz.
Calories (12 fl. oz.) 184.2
Cost to Brew $37.13 (USD)
Cost per Bottle (12 fl. oz.) $0.70 (USD)
3.5 lbs. Belgian Pils info
1.5 lbs. Belgian Wheat Malt info
3.0 lbs. CBW® Bavarian Wheat Liquid (Malt Extract) info
.5 lbs. Wheat Flaked info
0 lbs. Honey info
0.5 oz. Cascade (Pellets, 7.5 %AA) boiled 30 min. info
0.5 oz. Cascade (Pellets, 7.5 %AA) boiled 5 min. info
Yeast : White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale info

Predicted Witbier Compliance
Original Gravity 1.047 1.044 - 1.052 100 %
Terminal Gravity 1.009 1.008 - 1.012 100 %
Color 4.40 °SRM 2.00 - 4.00 °SRM 80 %
Bitterness 10.6 IBU 10.00 - 20.00 IBU 100 %
Alcohol (%volume) 4.9 % 4.50 - 5.50 % 100 %
96 % overall


Apparent Real
Original Extract 11.57 °Plato 11.57 °Plato

Attenuation 79.2 % 64.3 %

Extract 2.40 °Plato 4.13 °Plato

% Weight % Volume
Alcohol 3.8 % 4.9 %

 

[cvstrat]

I think the general sentiment is to bottle/keg asap. Sometimes as soon as 10 days after pitching. I don't think that you'd be in trouble if you waited as long as a month or two. I have bottled bavarians from 10-60 days and all were just fine.

I think more importantly you need to watch fermentation temps on wheat beers. Hefeweizens get exponentially better the closer you get to the low to mid 60s. Belgian wits I don't think are going to be nearly as difficult as the fruitiness of the belgian yeast strains tends to materialize under warmer temps.

 

[bonescole]

I think the general sentiment is to bottle/keg asap. Sometimes as soon as 10 days after pitching. I don't think that you'd be in trouble if you waited as long as a month or two. I have bottled bavarians from 10-60 days and all were just fine.

I think more importantly you need to watch fermentation temps on wheat beers. Hefeweizens get exponentially better the closer you get to the low to mid 60s. Belgian wits I don't think are going to be nearly as difficult as the fruitiness of the belgian yeast strains tends to materialize under warmer temps.

OK with that information I think I will wait one more week and then keg, due to the honey I added. In the primary it sat for two weeks and remained at 66 degrees on the nose for the entire time. When I racked to secondary with the honey it was around 64ish for about a week and is now sitting at 57-60 degrees as the temps in my apartment are fluctuating. Do you think the second fermentation, or addition of the honey and its resulting fermentation, and the temperatures fluctuation affect flavor much? That may be another topic all together though.

 

[SOB]

OK...just so I'm clear, you brewed, racked to secondary on top of some honey?

First, did you do anything to sanitize (or sterilize, cant remember which one) the honey? Usually (and please correct me if wrong) honey is added at the time of boil to help kill anything "bad" just like malt extract. The longer the honey boils the less sweet the final product will be.

To answer your question, I would give one pound of honey a good 3-4 weeks. It all depends on the hydrometer readings though. I dont use a hydrometer to tell me when to transfer but I remember reading that if it reads the same for 3 days straight your good to go.

 

[wyzazz]

When you get 3 consecutive gravity readings in 3 days that are the same, go ahead and keg. Honey is a simple sugar and should ferment out pretty quickly, I'd bet money that it's done.

I vote you keg that bad boy and force carb, drink it while it's young that's what Hefe's and IPA's are for!

 

[SOB]

Honey is a simple sugar and should ferment out pretty quickly, I'd bet money that it's done.

I would have to disagree! Honey takes quite a while to slowly ferment out...nothing quick about it.

 

[bonescole]

I would have to disagree! Honey takes quite a while to slowly ferment out...nothing quick about it.

Thank you all for the input. I am thinking I will start FG reading in 1 week and see what I get. I think that is a Safe bet. I brewed this on December 7th and it was in primary 2 weeks and now secondary since the 22nd of December. Just worried about the new cake on the bottom effecting flavors. For the record i did not boil the honey I pasturized it at 170 degrees for ten minutes after bringing my water to a rolling boil for a few. Cooled it to 70 in an ice bath and put it in the carboy. No funk so far. Smells nice coming from the air lock. It has also cleared nicely in the 2 weeks and I am looking forward to tasting. My first PM brew!

 

[bonescole]

Thank you all for the input. I am thinking I will start FG reading in 1 week and see what I get. I think that is a Safe bet. I brewed this on December 7th and it was in primary 2 weeks and now secondary since the 22nd of December. Just worried about the new cake on the bottom effecting flavors. For the record i did not boil the honey I pasturized it at 170 degrees for ten minutes after bringing my water to a rolling boil for a few. Cooled it to 70 in an ice bath and put it in the carboy. No funk so far. Smells nice coming from the air lock. It has also cleared nicely in the 2 weeks and I am looking forward to tasting. My first PM brew!

This is just a follow up.
I tapped this beer tonight and the addition of the honey, 1lb of pasturized Clover Honey in 2 cups of water , added an incredible flavor to the beer. Surprisingly the honey added a nice citrus note, that turns into a very light honey flavor as you drink it, to the beer and so far the girl friend, who has been skeptical of my brews so far, really likes this one. With a late addition wit the extract the beer came out miller lite colored and the 1 month in the secondary worked wonders for the clarity and fermentation of the honey. Because I tasted the brew before I added the honey, and it was nothing like what I am drinking now, I can say the addition added all the flavor and it was exceptionally easy. :rockin:

 

[yeqmaster]

Sounds awesome! I am currently doing a honey blonde after trying an exceptional one from Firestone Walker Brewery in Paso Robles, CA. I am currentlly fermenting in the primary and plan to add 1lb of orange blossom honey to the secondary, similar to what you did. How long did you let it go in the secondary? When did you keg? I am trying to get this batch kegged up ASAP for a camping trip im going on? Now that your experienced, what would you say the quickest you could have done it would be? General feedback and advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[bonescole]

Sounds awesome! I am currently doing a honey blonde after trying an exceptional one from Firestone Walker Brewery in Paso Robles, CA. I am currentlly fermenting in the primary and plan to add 1lb of orange blossom honey to the secondary, similar to what you did. How long did you let it go in the secondary? When did you keg? I am trying to get this batch kegged up ASAP for a camping trip im going on? Now that your experienced, what would you say the quickest you could have done it would be? General feedback and advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

I let the honey sit from December 22nd to January 14th, so 23 days total. While I loved this beer and it came out fantastic I plan on brewing this again and will make the following changes: Mash the grain at a lower temp, probably 148, or so, to get a little less mouth feel and make this a great summer brew, add a small amount of dried orange peel and also let it sit a bit longer on the honey to mellow.
The last few pints of this were really great, but the first few had a warm alcohol taste to them, but that mellowed. If you don't mind that taste, and it really wasnt that bad at all, then my guess is you could do a week, or so less than what I did on the honey. I followed a lot of advice I read online and they all say this style should be good to go in about a month. The entire recipe is very simple and can be done fairly quickly, but the honey is what made it for me and in my opinion needed to sit longer than what it did.

 

[yeqmaster]

Thanks! That helps a lot.