Fermentation with Honey

[lthursdayl]

I am thinking about using honey as my sugar for my next batch of cider. I am having trouble finding out how much honey to put into my mixture. I am going to use a six.5 gallon carboy to ferment. I know that how much honey will effect the alcohol content, it is just to taste. I just need a starting point. Also I was thinking about using buckwheat honey? Any suggestions.
Thanks.

 

[DragonTail]

Buckwheat honey is strong, from what I understand.
I've used honey many times in ciders, technically cysers, usually using clover honey.
It sort of depends on who much you want to boost the alcohol and how much of the honey you want to come through in the finished product.
If you are already adding sugar in you previous recipes, you could start with that amount, but again, the buckwheat is going to have a strong flavor, so you may want to cut back, maybe by as much as half.
Hope that helps

 

[lthursdayl]

yes that does help. maybe I will do a buckwheat/clover blend. So one cup honey will be about equal to one cup sugar? Also do you dissolve the honey in water first or let it sit at the bottom?

 

[DaveAllen]

I use 3 lbs of honey per gallon for all my meads/cysers. Anywhere from 2-3 lbs per gallon should work well. What kind of yeast are you using?

 

[lthursdayl]

I was thinking about using white lab sweet mead yeast because I have some in my fridge I need to use. Any suggestions?

 

[DaveAllen]

I have had excellent results with Lalvin D47.

 

[CvilleKevin]

I did a batch earlier this season with the Wyeast sweat mead (4184) and 3lbs of white sage honey, that came out great. I stopped it 1.004 which is on the dry side, but lots of apple.

I havent got very good results from clover honey. The ones I've used have been too bland. Best results so far from white sage, orange blossom, wildflower, and basswood

 

[DragonTail]

yes that does help. maybe I will do a buckwheat/clover blend. So one cup honey will be about equal to one cup sugar? Also do you dissolve the honey in water first or let it sit at the bottom?

I do my primaries, usually, in a bucket, so I alternate adding honey and cider and use a whisk to blend together.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

yes that does help. maybe I will do a buckwheat/clover blend. So one cup honey will be about equal to one cup sugar? Also do you dissolve the honey in water first or let it sit at the bottom?

One pound of honey is roughly equal to 1 pound of cane sugar, not exactly, but pretty darned close. As far as disolving the honey goes, I like to put some juice & honey (less than 1 pound of honey) in the blender & give it a whirl. It mixes great & super aerates the must. Just be careful you don't burn out the motor by putting too much honey in at once. You can warm the honey by putting the container(s) in a hot water bath before adding it. I also mix in the yeast nutrient/yeast energizer/DAP in the blender. If you let the honey sit at the bottom undissolved, the yeast will still eat it, but you will NOT get an accurate SG reading. SG requires the sugars to be dissolved. It might take longer to ferment undissolved honey too. Regards, GF.

 

[lthursdayl]

Everyone,
Thanks for all the information, it is exactly what I am looking for.

 

[malkore]

honey should give you about 1.034 points of gravity per pound of honey, per gallon of liquid.

honey does ferment pretty completely too, and while it lacks good nitrogen or nutrients, the cider should make up for that.

 

[lthursdayl]

Started a five gallon batch last week using organic cider and wildflower honey. Wondering if anyone had any opinions on when to move from primary to secondary? The SG was 1.11
Thanks

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

Depending on what I want I usually use from 2 lbs of honey to 12 lbs for a 5 gallon batch.
The more honey you use, the lighter the end product will be and more like a mead unless you max out the yeast.
I usually rack after I hit a SG of around 1.020 or lower, usually I end up racking more at 1.015 or 1.010.
If you used a large amount of honey you want to look into doing staggered nutrient additions outlined in hightest mead FAQ in the mead thread.