Belgian adding sugars question

[mrk00k]

I just bottled my first beer last night, an Irish Red . Seems to be pretty good so far. This forum has been great for advice, so thanks all.

Now its time for brew #2. A belgian golden honey ale of sorts, mostly from a kit with a few changes.

I was thinking of adding some honey and read somewhere that it is best to do this a few days in after the initial fermentation subsides. My question is how do you do the OG and FG readings to get ABV when using this method? Do you take one reading before pitching, then before adding honey,again after adding honey, and finally when bottling? It seems like a lot of sampling but I can't think of a better way to do it...

Also, how do you actually add the honey? I was thinking add it to some boiled water, cool, and stir it in...

 

[Wyrmwood]

I just bottled my first beer last night, an Irish Red .

congrats and welcome to the club!

Seems to be pretty good so far. This forum has been great for advice, so thanks all.

Now its time for brew #2. A belgian golden honey ale of sorts, mostly from a kit with a few changes.

I was thinking of adding some honey and read somewhere that it is best to do this a few days in after the initial fermentation subsides. My question is how do you do the OG and FG readings to get ABV when using this method?

right, if you add the honey after fermentation has begun, OG isn't really a significant measurement. However, you can enter what sugars are going into your batch into software like Brewtarget to get a good estimate of what your final ABV is going to be. It's probably best to enter two recipes, one without the late addition, so you can compare you actual OG, and one with the late addition so you can get an idea of what your final ABV will be, since you can't actually measure it in a staged fermentation.

Do you take one reading before pitching, then before adding honey,again after adding honey, and finally when bottling? It seems like a lot of sampling but I can't think of a better way to do it...

nah, just take an OG prior to adding the honey and use the sw tell you what the final ABV will be.

Also, how do you actually add the honey? I was thinking add it to some boiled water, cool, and stir it in...

there are several opinions on this - the less you boil, the dryer (and higher abv) it will be, the more you boil (burn) the more honey you will taste, as it will be less fermentable.

If you add honey early in your boil to your beer, it will mostly contribute sugar (aka higher abv) without much honey flavor. Adding it after fermentation has completed (or near completed) will add more honey flavor.

You can add it without any boiling, or to whatever degree you wish. There are burnt honey meads that boil the stew out of honey, which can add to the flavor in a late addition, but you might not like the burnt flavor. On the other hand, not boiling at all may yield even less flavor (though high ABV).

My personal preference is to make a carmelized honey, where you heat the honey to about 175 F for about 20 minutes, giving it a darker hue, without actually boiling it, and adding it after the initial fermentation has subsided (48-72 hours).

 

[mrk00k]

Thanks for the great reply! I think I'll try carmelizing like you suggested.

 

[kcross13]

Would you do the same to candied sugar additions?