Added too much honey to my red ale!

[grimes28]

Im new to home brewing and made a mistake! lol imagine that.
I made a kit of 5gls of red ale according to directions but the specific gravity came out only to 1.04. So i thought maybe i would throw a little honey in there to give it some flavor and up the alcohol just a tad. Little did I know that 2 3/4# is more than just a little honey. I started this brew 2 1/2 days ago and added the honey after day two directly to fermentation. did not boil.
Anything I can do?? Any recommendations?
This is my third batch home brew and couldn't help but tinker. I started making wine just recently and had to mess with my third batch of that too! You'd think I would learn. I was sooo looking forward to my red ale.
Im officially hooked on homebrew and look forward to getting to know some of you guys.
Thanks

 

[WayFrae]

Well now you will just have a dry, honey, red ale! It should be fine. It might end up being a lot dryer than you initially intended it to be. It will still be beer! I doubt you will have any adverse effects from not boiling the honey.

EDIT: Welcome to the forum!

 

[johngaltsmotor]

Honey is supposedly naturally antimicrobial, so it should be fine that you didn't boil it. The quantity on the other hand... it will end up dry with that much easily fermentable sugar but as WayFrae said, it will still be beer. I've got a keg of session IPA that got an infection in primary somehow. It's not my thing, but I'm still drinking it. It's amazing how much better a less than good beer tastes if you're the one who made it ;-)

 

[grimes28]

LOL. thank you for the quick response and the welcome.

 

[dobe12]

+1.... just let it go. Your OG to start was pretty low anyway. You just upped it while drying out your beer. You may really like it. If not, you learned a lesson, but either way it will still be beer and I bet you still enjoy it.

 

[JimRausch]

Potential mistake #1- if this was an extract batch and you added the right amount of water and everything that came in the kit, then you probably were much closer to the stated OG than you think. Mixing errors frequently give lower SG readings than they actually are.
Potential mistake #2. With a 5G batch, 1 lb. of honey will generally give you right around an additional 8 points. So with 2.75 lb you've added maybe an additional 22 points. And honey is almost completely fermentable.
So, what will you have? A much stronger, drier, probably thinner red ale than the recipe calls for. But who knows, sometimes out of mistakes come our best brews. Take lots of notes, so that if you like it, you can reproduce it. Good Luck!

 

[MindenMan]

There are a couple of things to think of: if the ale is too dry, adding fermentable sugar will make the problem worse, and then there is priming. If your ale is too dry, you could add Splenda, or another non fermentable sweetener to take some of the pucker out. I wish you good luck.

 

[Arrheinous]

It's been said that honey malt is a better way of getting honey flavor into a beer than honey itself. Since you added a bit more than expected you might end up with better flavor but a bit drier of a red ale.

 

[grimes28]

Wow! You guys are great! I will definitely enjoy it. I always appreciate anything homemade and anyone who puts in the effort of doing it. My neighbors often make wine in a crock with whatever fruit they have and yeasts from the grocery store. Sometimes it turns out great, sometimes not. But I always think it is a treat!
my first batch has been bottled for 6 days and i am getting ready for my first taste. Im super excited!! Ill probably be the most excited to try my honey red, lol, just because….

 

[JimRausch]

Just have to add that experimentation is a major part of this obsession/hobby.
With my 1st batch I followed the recipe slavishly and the batch turned out real good. By the time of my 2nd and 3rd batches, I had done a lot of reading and really went overboard on the experimentations. Those batches were so-so, and took a loooong time to mellow out and become drinkable. After that I toned down my weirdness and batches have been better and better. I still experiment, but I keep my changes under control.
Brewing is the perfect combination of Biology, Chemistry and Cooking. Plus you get beer! And Beer is Good! Welcome to your next obsession.

 

[grimes28]

And yes. It appears as someone mentioned already that i didn't mix properly before taking the gravity test. Wow, so much to learn.

 

[grimes28]

Thank you guys of the reassurance. Mindenman I may have to try that. And Arrheinous, I will definitely remember that.

 

[rodwha]

I added ~3 3/4 lbs of honey to a wheat beer after a week of fermentation, and that one did come out a bit too thin, and with an odd wine-like taste. After a few months it mellowed out a bit. If you find yours less than stellar set it off to the side and try it again after a month and then two. It may be that several months will make it nice.

I recently used 2.25 lbs of honey in a wheat and it's teetering on the right amount for me. I think I'll drop down to 2 lbs for a 6 gal batch. But I also use 1/2 lb of honey malt too.

I've found honey malt lacking, though I've gone by recommendations and used a little and a lot. A lot is horrible! Maybe I need to try more things with the malt.

I've tried a LOT of thing with both honey and honey malt, and the combination of them.

 

[grimes28]

Ok, so I'm now at day 4 1/2 and it has pretty much settled down and is at 1.012. I tasted it and it is really tame, light, and uneventful, but not bad. Lol.
I realized not only did I add too much honey I also went over on my water. I now have like 5 1/6 gals. I really need to be more particular. Lol. My other two batches are looking wonderful.
Question, how much and how does the beer taste and body change throughout the carbonation and finishing process and in what ways??
Someone mentioned adding a sweetener which isn't sugar based to carbonate. This seems exactly what this beer needs? Is this a good idea? If so how do I do it? I really don't wanna screw this beer up more. Lol
Thanks for the wealth of knowledge you guys offer here and the hospitality! You guys are great and as I learn the process I will return the favors. Lol
Cheers!!
And I'll be drinking one of my new wines as my beers aren't ready yet while watching California Chrome complete the trifecta!!

 

[pablosbrewing]

Ok, so I'm now at day 4 1/2 and it has pretty much settled down and is at 1.012.

With 1/3 of the sugars being from honey I don't think you are anywhere near done at 1.012. - so be careful not to bottle too early.

Age it out a bit - you may like it. Although it's a bit low alcohol for a mead, the mead style is called braggot (see style 26B)
http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style26.php

 

[rodwha]

Agreed with 1.012 not being done. It's always fallen well below target when I've used plenty of honey. I'd guess maybe in the neighborhood of 1.008 +/- 2, though it also depends on your yeast's attenuation factor.

 

[grimes28]

Ok thanks guys. I guess it is still letting off gas, just slowed substantially. Thanks for the input!!
I'll let it sit a good week and check it again.

 

[grimes28]

Is it normal for honey to take longer and much slower to ferment?
I did two 5 gal batches but the one without the honey was started two days later and is completely motionless now and has been for awhile, whereas the honey batch is always letting tiny bubbles come up the side of the carboy. Is this normal? Is it still fermenting or doing something else? Do I wait till it stops to do anything?
I'm normally more patient, but guessing that this batch is not gonna turn out well its hard to really want to exploit the resources into extensive aging. Lol. Newbie fault I guess.

I appreciate you guys being patient with me and answering questions I'm sure you've read here 100s of times. Trust me I do research a lot instead of asking here. This batch just seems to be unique as I've read on another forum they said to treat it like a wine. Nope, I say it's a beer. I'm gonna carbonate. Lol

 

[rodwha]

I can't say how it acts as I ferment in buckets, but honey ought to ferment out no slower than normal. Being a more simple sugar it shouldn't take longer.

Have you taken another hydrometer reading?

I've been brewing now for about 3 years with over 40 brews, and the last 2 batches I made I shaved off a few days due to impatience. It obviously still happens! And I'll be shaving a few days off of my ESB as we are moving and I've been anxious to brew this for a long time!

Looking back your question about a non sugar priming ingredient wasn't answered. I've not heard of that. Even extract has been converted to a sugar.

 

[grimes28]

Thanks rodwha. I just bottles it gravity was the same the last five days at 1.085.
Actually tasted all right. We will see in a cpl weeks..
)

 

[rodwha]

Please tell me that you meant 1.0085!

 

[grimes28]

I'm new to all this. Maybe reading hydrometer wrong? It was less than the 1.01 or whatever on the hydrometer. .85?? Not sure how many zeroes or whatever.
HelpZ??

 

[grimes28]

Is that right? Fg 1.0085??

 

[passedpawn]

Honey is supposedly naturally antimicrobial, so it should be fine that you didn't boil it. The quantity on the other hand... it will end up dry with that much easily fermentable sugar but as WayFrae said, it will still be beer. I've got a keg of session IPA that got an infection in primary somehow. It's not my thing, but I'm still drinking it. It's amazing how much better a less than good beer tastes if you're the one who made it ;-)

Yes and no. Honey does not support the growth of bacteria because of its very low water content (that's why it never spoils or ferments at room temperature, too). But it might be chock full of bacteria nonetheless. This is why we weren't supposed to give honey to our babies when they were little - honey can contain the bacteria that creates the botulism spores.

So, either use pasteurized honey, or add it in the last 5 minutes of your boil.

To the OP, don't worry about any of this. Unless you got your honey from a local farm, your honey is probably pasteurized. And even if it wasn't, you'll probably be OK anyway.

To answer another question here, honey should ferment quickly since it's made of simple (monosacharride) sugars, fructose and sucrose. In practice, though, the honey settles to the bottom of the carboy and because it isn't in solution, the yeast has to slowly chew through top later to get to the bottom. If you can add the honey to warm water and stir the crap out of it, then add this thin solution to the beer, your fermentation will be much quicker.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

Thanks rodwha. I just bottles it gravity was the same the last five days at 1.085.
Actually tasted all right. We will see in a cpl weeks..
)

That's GOTTA be a typo: 1.085??

 

[WayFrae]

Is that right? Fg 1.0085??

I would bet 1.008 would be more realistic. If that is the case, it is very dry but likely accurate because you added so much honey.