Adding honey to brew kit

[colin_rudolph]

Hey all,

I'm not certain if this is the right place to post this or not, but here goes. I've got a Muntons Mountmellick brown ale kit, and I'd like to add some honey to it. I've got some light all natural honey that I picked up at the local health food store. My plan was to take the kit, add some dark spraymalt and to add some honey. I generally like honey brown ales/lagers like Rickards, Sleeman, and while it briefly lasted Keith's honey brown.
So my question is, how much honey should I add to the mix? and should I add more yeast to help it ferment out the additions of spraymalt and honey?

 

[loopmd]

Honey is extremely fermentable and will not need any extra yeast as what you have in there will do the job just fine. I would experiment a time or 2 with a few batches to see what you like. I generally add 1 lb of honey to my 5 gallon batches.

loop

 

[Blender]

What type of yeast do you have now? If it is the Munton's 6 gram packets I would get another pack.

 

[stinkiestbink]

Here is a recipe that i added honey to. it came out great and i have made it twice. just don't go more than 20 % with the honey.

6.6lbs Muntons Wheat Malt Extract - 75 min
1oz American Hallertauer - 75 min
.5oz Williamette - 15 min
1/4tsp Irish moss - 15 min
1.5lbs Local Maine Honey - 10 min
.5oz Williamette - flame out 3 min
1oz Cascade - flame out 3 min
1 pkg (11.5g) Fermentis Safale US-05 Dry Ale yeast
5oz Priming sugar - Bottling

Starting SG: 1.052
Final SG: 1.010
ABV: 5.3%

 

[Blender]

Looks good, the Safale yeast works great. Did you add the honey at the end of the boil?
That's not really a brown ale though with wheat malt.

 

[stinkiestbink]

yeah i added the honey around the 10 minute mark. its definitely not a brown ale, but i just wanted to give you an example of adding honey to an existing kit/recipe.

 

[colin_rudolph]

Yeah, I just have the 6 gram pack of Muntons yeast that came with the kit, so I should add a pound of honey or maybe a pound and a half. Should I get another packet of yeast to add to the brew?
If I add more yeast will it make this taste funny?

 

[cclloyd]

I make a blonde ale with 2 lbs of honey in it - you don't really taste the honey at all but it ferments out very clean. I have gotten a final gravity of 1.009 both times I've used it and I have another batch in primary now. More yeast shouldn't affect the flavor profile as long as it's the same type. You shouldn't need it though, once the yeast gets going it propagates anyway.

 

[colin_rudolph]

alright, thanks cclloyd, I'll add the regular package of yeast then.
so I've got a mountmellick brown ale kit to which I'm going to add Muntons dark spraymalt and 2 pounds of honey. I'll let you guys know how it turns out once I make it

 

[Blender]

Yeah, I just have the 6 gram pack of Muntons yeast that came with the kit, so I should add a pound of honey or maybe a pound and a half. Should I get another packet of yeast to add to the brew?
If I add more yeast will it make this taste funny?

I would add another packet. It should not make your brew taste funny at all.

 

[colin_rudolph]

Alright, thanks, I'll put in two packets.

 

[BrewPuppy]

I took the recipe from Austin Bomebrew Supply for a Nut Brown Ale (mini mash) and added 1# of clover honey at Flame Out. Half of the Mead making world says boiling honey takes some of the auroma and flavor nuances away. The other half says that not boiling it invites "bugs" into the mix. My compromise was to add honey to a near boiling pot of wort.

It is still in the primary. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[loopmd]

I would add another packet. It should not make your brew taste funny at all.

Why would you add more yeast? Yeast propogates.


Loop

 

[Bobby_M]

The 6 grams is actually a bit underpitching for a mid gravity brew so 12 would be better for the elevated gravity with the added honey.

 

[skou]

The 6 grams is actually a bit underpitching for a mid gravity brew so 12 would be better for the elevated gravity with the added honey.

Yep, I'd agree.

OTOH, I don't like to boil my honey, and I make a LOT of Mead. I just heat up enough water, to thin out the honey, and put it in my carboy. I'd probably add the honey to the wort after the boil, if I was doing a honey beer.

steve

 

[colin_rudolph]

I'm currently making some mead, I'm among the 1/2 who think boiling the honey is the answer, so I figured I'd boil the honey for this beer for about five minutes, the mead I made called for 15 pounds of honey, so I boiled it for 15 minutes, as per my instructions called for, I figure where this is a substantially less amount of honey I'll boil it for less time..

 

[skou]

Since I use Crockett honey, and they process the he**out of it, I don't boil. But, it costs me about $1.00 a pound. (Yes, I do have 90 pounds, or 6 batches stored.)

steve

 

[loopmd]

The 6 grams is actually a bit underpitching for a mid gravity brew so 12 would be better for the elevated gravity with the added honey.

Not to jack this thread, but I've got a few questions. Is it the vigerous start you want here? If you pitched 6 grams it would eventually get going, but if you pitch 12 it would take off faster. Would a starter help or hurt or change anything?

loop

 

[Blender]

Not to jack this thread, but I've got a few questions. Is it the vigerous start you want here? If you pitched 6 grams it would eventually get going, but if you pitch 12 it would take off faster. Would a starter help or hurt or change anything?

loop

You will get a better explanation here than I could give you. This man knows how to make great beer.

 

[loopmd]

You will get a better explanation here than I could give you. This man knows how to make great beer.

Cool, thanks for the linky.

loop

 

[JodsterBrewMan]

ccloyd--
If you added the honey, but didn't really get the honey taste, what is the reasoning for adding honey? I ask this because I too am trying to add honey to a kit (Edme Wheat Beer kit)--you can see my current thread here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=52961

Any additional help that you can provide this noobie as well would be great, and thanks for this thread, colin_rudolph!