Adding Honey to a Wheat Beer

[coppersdad]

I have a recipe for a Hefeweizen calling for 7 lbs of Wheat Malt Extract, 1 1/2 oz bittering hops, 1/2 oz finishing hops, and a Hefeweizen yeast. As a beekeeper, I have a supply of honey and was thinking about adding 2 lbs of honey to this recipe, but don't want to ruin a beer I'm happy with. Any thoughts?

 

[Rhaop]

i recently did a honey wheat with adding some honey malt, it added just a hint of honey without increasing the alcohol alot, but i haven't done a brew with pure honey yet just the honey malt

 

[SIXFOOTER]

Honey is a nice addition to a Heffe but be carefull, wheat beers with honey and some yeasts tend to explode in the carboy.

 

[rodwha]

My understanding is hat you won't get much of a honey taste out of your honey. Steeping honey malt would be the way to get it.

 

[chickypad]

And 2 lbs sounds like a lot. If that is LME you are going from a 4.9 % ABV beer to one that's over 7%.

 

[duboman]

Honey ferments out, I add it at the end of the boil and it helps retain some of the flavor, if you boil it too long it tends to dry out your beer

And yes, use a bow off or you will be cleaning beer off the ceiling!

 

[william_shakes_beer]

+1 honey malt for flavor, honey to increase the ABV.

 

[Calichusetts]

Try honey malt...bottle with your honey, you'll get a nice upfront flavor from it, I only use honey for bottling.

 

[fxdrider]

Does anyone add Honey to secondary? If so, how does that work out?

 

[passedpawn]

I've made a wheat with honey at flameout. It definatley retained some honey flavor. See my Recipe pulldown, under my avatar. Notes and pics there.

 

[Schumed]

I make a honey weizen as one of my signature beers I add 3lbs of honey..my goal is to increase ABV -8.5%

I get a hint of honey but not a lot

 

[bkl63]

Anything added before or during Fermentation will generally ferment out. If you want to bring some Honey Flavor, you can Cold Crash the Beer before you keg, boil up some water, let it cool to 160° add 1/2 lb of honey (add a pound if want a little bit more honey than a hint) to dissolve in the water and help to sterilize it. Add this to the beer as you are racking to the keg. Adding straight honey to the keg can clog the dip tube as it tend to sink to the bottom of the keg.

 

[Jayhem]

I brewed an American Wheat a week ago with 16oz of pasteurized clover honey added after the wort was cooled down to about 160F. This was the best smelling fermentation I've ever brewed...entire fermentation pantry smelled like honey and fruit. We will see how this turns out, it's only a 5.3 abv brew.