Hey guys, I've been brewing for about 6-7 months now and I'm now getting around to experimenting with my beer now and I have a few questions I need a little bit of help with.
A little background first...
I've got a Coopers Brewing kit so I'm pretty limited as to how I have to brew(mainly stuck using pre-hopped no boil kits) so don't shoot me for what I'm using for now as I plan on upgrading to a much better much more versatile kit sometime this fall.
Anyway I'm trying to make an Orange Blossom Honey Pilsner and I'm stuck a few things.
1)Using Honey...
How exactly do I need to prepare this honey before I use it in my brew, most of my google searching turns up that I need to pasteurize my honey to help reduce the amount bacteria and what not that may be residing in it. I understand that I need to heat the honey to 176 degrees and keep it in the oven for two and half hours at same temperature.
My problem with this exactly is how am I supposed to keep the oven at 176 degrees as well as my oven only adjusts by five degrees at a time, so could I just set the oven to 175 or 180 and be fine or will this some how ruin the honey?
Also from the same searching it says dilute the honey to match my wort's gravity, why can't I just add it directly to the wort to add to the gravity?
2)How much of what...
First of all I want the brew to be about 12% ABV and I want to use 30% honey, 35% DME, and 35% corn sugar in this batch but I don't know how much of that I need.
The yeast I plan on using has a attenution between 70 and 75% and the brewing kit can brew about 6 gallons. I don't know how much of the honey is fermentable so I'm a little lost and can't even seem to explain it the way I want. Perhaps someone can ask the right question here...
3) Perils of using no-boil kits...
As I said before I'm using a Coopers Brewing Kit and I don't have a whole lot of versatility in this area so basically I don't want to overwhelm the taste of the Pilsner with the honey I plan on using. I guess it's another question of which kit no-boil kit would be better to be used in this and how much should I be using.
Kit options I can get a hold of...
-Coopers Pilsner
-Muntons Connoisseurs Range Pilsner
-Muntons Connoisseurs Range Export Pilsner
-Muntons Premium Pilsner
-Muntons Continental Pilsner
-Edme Classic Pilsner
Normally would would only need 1 can of each unless directions explain otherwise, but In this case would 1 can still be enough or would I need more because of the honey?
Anyway thanks for your time for reading this.
Quick Edit:
Forgot to mention I plan on using White Labs WLP008 East Coast Ale yeast.
A little background first...
I've got a Coopers Brewing kit so I'm pretty limited as to how I have to brew(mainly stuck using pre-hopped no boil kits) so don't shoot me for what I'm using for now as I plan on upgrading to a much better much more versatile kit sometime this fall.
Anyway I'm trying to make an Orange Blossom Honey Pilsner and I'm stuck a few things.
1)Using Honey...
How exactly do I need to prepare this honey before I use it in my brew, most of my google searching turns up that I need to pasteurize my honey to help reduce the amount bacteria and what not that may be residing in it. I understand that I need to heat the honey to 176 degrees and keep it in the oven for two and half hours at same temperature.
My problem with this exactly is how am I supposed to keep the oven at 176 degrees as well as my oven only adjusts by five degrees at a time, so could I just set the oven to 175 or 180 and be fine or will this some how ruin the honey?
Also from the same searching it says dilute the honey to match my wort's gravity, why can't I just add it directly to the wort to add to the gravity?
2)How much of what...
First of all I want the brew to be about 12% ABV and I want to use 30% honey, 35% DME, and 35% corn sugar in this batch but I don't know how much of that I need.
The yeast I plan on using has a attenution between 70 and 75% and the brewing kit can brew about 6 gallons. I don't know how much of the honey is fermentable so I'm a little lost and can't even seem to explain it the way I want. Perhaps someone can ask the right question here...
3) Perils of using no-boil kits...
As I said before I'm using a Coopers Brewing Kit and I don't have a whole lot of versatility in this area so basically I don't want to overwhelm the taste of the Pilsner with the honey I plan on using. I guess it's another question of which kit no-boil kit would be better to be used in this and how much should I be using.
Kit options I can get a hold of...
-Coopers Pilsner
-Muntons Connoisseurs Range Pilsner
-Muntons Connoisseurs Range Export Pilsner
-Muntons Premium Pilsner
-Muntons Continental Pilsner
-Edme Classic Pilsner
Normally would would only need 1 can of each unless directions explain otherwise, but In this case would 1 can still be enough or would I need more because of the honey?
Anyway thanks for your time for reading this.
Quick Edit:
Forgot to mention I plan on using White Labs WLP008 East Coast Ale yeast.