Adding Honey after initial fermentation

[william_shakes_beer]

I have been experimenting with a honey wheat beer and am fixin' to add a pound of honey after initial fermentation has subsided. I plan on adding 1 pound honey to 2 cups boiled and cooled water to get it to flow, and pour it into the fermenter after 2 weeks primary fermentation. Will it be necessary to stir the wort to get yeast back into suspension and incorporate the honey/water mix into the wort or is there enough yeast still in suspension to do the job? I have read all the threads regarding boiling VS not boiling honey, I'm willing to take the risk.

 

[bleme]

They have found honey in Egyptian tombs and it was still good. Substitute honey for the sugar in your bread recipes and they will stay fresh twice as long.

Adding to the fermentor after peak fermentation is fine. I'm not sure I would wait 2 weeks though, just because I could put it in at 1 week and it would be ready to bottle that much sooner...

 

[dbhokie]

Don't worry about mixing it. Yeasties will attack it like a dog attacks a lame squirrel. It has a higher gravity anyways, so it will sink, right into the abyss of open yeast mouths.

Oh, but warm the honey up first, at least. Even if you don't pasteurize it is MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH easier to pour out warm honey than cold honey. It can take a while to ferment out, I added it to my Belgian Golden 3.5 days into primary fermentation. It did quite well. I kept it fementing for 10 more days, then racked to secondary for 10 days, then conditioned for 6 weeks, they tasted great.

 

[duboman]

Don't worry about mixing it. Yeasties will attack it like a dog attacks a lame squirrel. It has a higher gravity anyways, so it will sink, right into the abyss of open yeast mouths.

Oh, but warm the honey up first, at least. Even if you don't pasteurize it is MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH easier to pour out warm honey than cold honey. It can take a while to ferment out, I added it to my Belgian Golden 3.5 days into primary fermentation. It did quite well. I kept it fementing for 10 more days, then racked to secondary for 10 days, then conditioned for 6 weeks, they tasted great.

+1 to ^^This^^
Just make note that the honey will ferment out and dry the beer as well as thin the body a bit and raise the ABV.

There are ways to counter act this issue but needs to be addressed during the boil process and recipe adjustments.

 

[Calichusetts]

+1 to ^^This^^
There are ways to counter act this issue but needs to be addressed during the boil process and recipe adjustments.

Great point...definitely mash at a higher temp to create a sweet wort, this will help keep a balance. Also try bottling with honey. Its a great way to get an initial aroma/flavor in a beer, I do it with nearly every batch

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Great point...definitely mash at a higher temp to create a sweet wort, this will help keep a balance. Also try bottling with honey. Its a great way to get an initial aroma/flavor in a beer, I do it with nearly every batch

What do you use to calculate the amount of honey to bottle with? i have begun using the Mr Malty calculator to stay in style but they do not give an option for Honey. I'm looking for the flavor, not the ABV.

 

[bleme]

What do you use to calculate the amount of honey to bottle with?

Try the Northern Brewer calculator. Lots of options.

 

[eastoak]

2 words: honey malt.

 

[Calichusetts]

What do you use to calculate the amount of honey to bottle with? i have begun using the Mr Malty calculator to stay in style but they do not give an option for Honey. I'm looking for the flavor, not the ABV.

To get the standard 2.5 vols carb you want to use 3 tablespoons of honey PER GALLON. This is 1.5 ounces or about 63 grams. So for a 5 gallon batch you would use 7.5 ounces of honey or 15 tablespoons (slightly under a cup...liquid). I personally use 4 per gallon as I like them slightly more carbed.

They will take slightly longer to carb...I use 16oz bottles and found 4 weeks to be about right.

I highly recommend it, I started to get my honey flavor just bottling, then added honey malt. I've found that I would rather replace the honey malt with something else that provides flavor (munich, victory, etc) and just use the honey to get that upfront aroma/flavor...makes the beer a little more complex with really no extra work. It can really be powerful in a young beer, but will also fade over the months

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Do you believe you get more flavor benefit from adding honey as a late addition in the fermenter or at bottling time?

 

[dbhokie]

In my experience the "flavor" comes through a bit more when added at bottling time, but that may be because I don't let it carb up enough. When the honey is converted, it converts readily. So it really drys out your beer, you can taste it, somewhat, but to make it more evident, if you wanted to, I would make sure I have a bit sweeter wort. Add in an adjunct of honey malt, because the honey flavor from actual honey mostly ferments out.

The first beer I carbed with honey, people tasted the honey right off the bat, at first, but it wasn't carbed up well. Once it carbed up well, people stopped noticing the honey at first, they noticed subtle tones of it. That particular beer was a very dry beer, which I liked, but if it were to become a more foreground "flavor" I realized I would need a sweeter beer. I thought about trying one with molasses and honey, as molasses would leave some residual flavors, but then I think the strength of molasses would perhaps overcome the honey. So I think should I desire this, next time I will add honey malt, and throw honey in 3 days into primary.

 

[Fennis]

You are not going to get much honey flavor at all from honey. Its a natural sugar and will ferment out almost completely. If you are really looking for honey flavor, you need to use honey malt.

 

[Calichusetts]

Do you believe you get more flavor benefit from adding honey as a late addition in the fermenter or at bottling time?

Bottling!

As for the fermenting out completely...I don't buy that. Even beersmith lists honey as 90%. Just because something is 100% fermentable does not mean we get it to ferment 100%. I could be wrong, but then there is no way to explain how I was getting a honey flavor/aroma if the only honey addition was at bottling time.

I've done close to 50 batches with bottling with honey in just about every way possible (I've even add the honey during the mash!?!) I began moving to honey malt because the flavor and aroma was so strong upfront with paler beers and lower ABVs. It will pass with time but there is no way it doesn't show up, try it and see.

 

[dbhokie]

Bottling!

As for the fermenting out completely...I don't buy that. Even beersmith lists honey as 90%. Just because something is 100% fermentable does not mean we get it to ferment 100%. I could be wrong, but then there is no way to explain how I was getting a honey flavor/aroma if the only honey addition was at bottling time.

I've done close to 50 batches with bottling with honey in just about every way possible (I've even add the honey during the mash!?!) I began moving to honey malt because the flavor and aroma was so strong upfront with paler beers and lower ABVs. It will pass with time but there is no way it doesn't show up, try it and see.

It does show up, but if you want it to be noticeable in the forefront, I personally think it is more evident with a sweeter wort, which kind of assimilates the things necessary for the brain to think mm "honey"

 

[william_shakes_beer]

The current wisdom for brown sugar is to use the darkest available, as it will have more impurities which we perceve as flavor. Is the same true for honey? Obviously the dark honey color comes from different nectars, not a different refining process.

Yes, I have used honey malt regularly without any noticable flavor contributions. If I were to " push the flavor" on a honey malt bill in ag, what would you consider the maximum for a 5 gallon batch? I believe honey malt can NOT be used as a base malt.

 

[Calichusetts]

I would say to start at 10%, that is sometimes considered the "max" amount to add. I'm not sure about your palete so start there, I've read on here people going more than that, maybe double but I am not sure.

Different honey will give you a stronger flavor/aroma. I personally think clover is useless, you get nothing. I use orange blossom honey because for me, it immediately reminds me of the honey taste that I am after. Buckwheat honey is far stronger but can almost become a "barnyard" flavor. There are so many out there and unforntunately, you simply have to experiment with them to find one you like.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Was perusing the meade forums the other day and came across a discussion of caramalizing a portion of the honey to give a different flavor, kinda like the kettle caramalization process for a wee heavy. Has anybody tried that? thoughts? I always thought boiling honey was a flavor killer.

 

[duboman]

I'm not a huge fan of the whole honey thing but just to throw my 02 in, we just sampled our third batch of Honey Weizen fermented at 62 with WY3068 and a true German Hefe grain bill and hops. We added 3lbs of Clover Honey at flame out (Not by my choice, I'm not drinking this) We just sampled some bottles at 2 weeks, fully carbonated but not yet fully conditioned, the beer had a nice up front honey aroma, not strong but present as well as a residual honey taste on the finish. FG was 1.012

 

[TimpanogosSlim]

The current wisdom for brown sugar is to use the darkest available, as it will have more impurities which we perceve as flavor. Is the same true for honey? Obviously the dark honey color comes from different nectars, not a different refining process.

I'm pretty sure that brown sugar flavor is molasses.

If you want more brown sugar flavor, just use molasses.