3 weeks in primary

[sefrayser]

Im going to let my Honey Wheat set in the primary for 3 weeks before bottling. Im not using a secondary. Also Im thinking I may use Honey to prime the bottles. It already has 3# of honey used for the wort. Would that be too much honey in the recipe? Im going to try it before I mix my priming mixture, if it already has a good honey taste I will use sugar. I just don't want it to be overpowered with honey.

 

[TopherM]

Honey dries out the beer, and it may or may not add any flavor, depending on florals from the varietal.

Is this a 5 gallon batch? 3 lbs is a TON already. This is going to be a dry, dry beer, and again, may or may not have any honey character. Honey itself is all simple sugars, so it ferments out almost completely, and all that's left is the florals that the bees used to make the honey, which is tough to control and keep consistent. Most brewers use honey MALT instead of actual honey because it is a much much more consistent produc.

1lb of honey is about the average that most people will add to a 5 gallon batch to get a prominent flavor. 0.5-1.0 lbs of honey malt will accomplish about the same thing, with much more consistency.

As far as priming with honey, I wouldn't. First off, you already have way too much in this batch, and second, there's not much advantage to be had. You are basically asking if you should prime with sugar that cost $5 a pound or sugar that cost $1 a pound.

Prime with the cheapest simple sugar you can realistically control. The only reason most people use priming sugar instead of grain sugar is it is just a bit easier to work with even though it's a tad more expensive. No reason to prime with honey, though. Tougher to measure and way more expensive.

Good luck!

 

[sefrayser]

I put the wrong amount. Ingredients below
5# wheat lme
1# clover honey
1 oz hallertau
Wlp 320

That's it. It was a pretty simple recipe and when I tasted the sample for the og, it tasted like sweet tea with honey.


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[TopherM]

That looks like a relatively balanced recipe, and the 1# of honey should be fine.

You CAN prime with honey if you really want to, but I stick with my experience that it is just kinda a waste of $$$, as it is going to do the same thing as priming sugar for 3X the cost.

One thing, being that you used all wheat as the base, this beer is going to be ready to drink in like 10-14 days. Check your FG like 7-10 days after brewday, and it should be ready to go ahead and bottle, 7-10 more days to carb, 2-3 days in the fridge for the carb to absorb, and ready to drink! This one will be best young, and should not be aged, just make sure you don't rack it before FG and you'll be good!

Good luck!

 

[sefrayser]

I brewed it on the 25 of January. Should I bottle?


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[TopherM]

Well, I don't know how you handled all of the variables, so you'll need to take a FG reading first to make sure you are completely attenuated.

Assuming you did everything by the book, with that recipe, I would have bottled at about 10-14 days after brewday.

Again, everything by the book, this beer is going to peak at about 21-30 days after brewday. Beers that are mostly wheat malt mature much more quickly and do not do well with long-term aging. They should be consumed young, but again, you still have to let it ferment completely first.