Questions about Adding Honey in Grand Cru Recipe

[BigDog007]

Hi All,

I'm entering my Grand Cru into Beer Smith and the instructions say to add the 2lbs of honey at 30 minutes for a mild honey flavor or last 10 minutes for more of an aroma.

Was wondering if it would be ok to add 1lb at 30 and 1lb at 10, possibly best of both worlds? The honey is in two 1lb containers so the additions and measuring would be simple.

Feedback please?

Thanks,

RP

 

[Calder]

Adding honey to the boil will just boil a lot of the flavor and aroma away.

If I were adding 2 lbs of honey (and that seems like a lot to me), I think I would leave it out of the brew until fermentation slows down.

Make the beer as normal minus the honey. When adding wort to fermenter, leave out about 4 pints.

After about 3 days (as the fermentation slows down), dilute 1 lb of honey in about 1 pint of water (you want about 2 pints total with the 1 lb of honey and water).Do not boil, just heat enough to dilute. The honey is already sanitized (too much sugar for much to grow on it), and I assume you usually just add water without boiling it. If concerned, heat to about 150 F and hold for 10 miinutes - that will pasteurize it. Add to fermenter. This will re-start fermentation.

Add the second lb in a similar fashion a day later.

 

[flatlanderHQ]

Plus one on above comment. In the future, you may want to consider using honey malt to add honey flavour.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[NewBrewB]

Hi All,

I'm entering my Grand Cru into Beer Smith and the instructions say to add the 2lbs of honey at 30 minutes for a mild honey flavor or last 10 minutes for more of an aroma.

Was wondering if it would be ok to add 1lb at 30 and 1lb at 10, possibly best of both worlds? The honey is in two 1lb containers so the additions and measuring would be simple.

Feedback please?

Thanks,

RP

Do you mind sharing the Grand Cru recipe you're using? My neighbor and I are going to brew 10gal of this style in the next few weeks so I've been sifting through recipes online. I'm mostly curious about the Pilsner malt to Wheat malt ratio. I've found recipes as varied as 7 lbs Pils to 5 lbs Wheat on one end, to 13 lbs Pils to 2.5 lbs wheat on the other end...

As for your honey question, I think that in the Grand Cru style, it is more for fermentable sugars than sweetness. I plan to add it late in the boil, maybe 10mins left, just long enough to get everything dissolved and pull a reliable gravity reading.

 

[Oceantendency]

As for your honey question, I plan to add it late in the boil, maybe 10mins left, just long enough to get everything dissolved and pull a reliable gravity reading.

You'll get plenty of honey being dissolved, yet retain the aromatics, and some of the taste (depending on how much you're adding) by adding about a minute before flameout. Anything more than a few minutes in the boil and you've gone past the point of sanitizing and dissolving the honey. Besides, think about how long it takes to cool down below say 120-140*, let alone how much stirring you do during the cool down. Imagine it this way, how long does it take for a tsp of honey in a cup of hot tea to dissolve?

 

[NewBrewB]

I see your point. thanks!

 

[BigDog007]

Do you mind sharing the Grand Cru recipe you're using? My neighbor and I are going to brew 10gal of this style in the next few weeks so I've been sifting through recipes online. I'm mostly curious about the Pilsner malt to Wheat malt ratio. I've found recipes as varied as 7 lbs Pils to 5 lbs Wheat on one end, to 13 lbs Pils to 2.5 lbs wheat on the other end...

As for your honey question, I think that in the Grand Cru style, it is more for fermentable sugars than sweetness. I plan to add it late in the boil, maybe 10mins left, just long enough to get everything dissolved and pull a reliable gravity reading.

It's an extract kit, I'm linking it below, they also have the all grain recipe. I haven't graduated to all grain yet but I'm actually working on my first original all grain recipe (well, I should say as original as I can get).

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/grand-cru-beer-recipe-kit.html

 

[danath34]

If it were me, I'd add the honey after primary winds down. When adding that much simple sugar up front, it is possible the yeast will eat up all the honey first and do a poor job attenuating the more complex malt sugars.