First try without using a kit

[CitizenKirk]

I've been lurking on this site long enough, figured it was time for me to join up and post.

So I just racked my first non-kit beer into my primary bucket and I'm curious to see if any of you have any thoughts or suggestions about it. It's the Who's in the Garden Grand Cru recipe from The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, slightly modified.

Started boil with 2.5gal of distilled water (I've got a smaller stockpot)
5lbs LD Carlson Briess Pilsen Light DME added at 100 degrees.
Brought to a rolling boil
1oz Hallertau Pellet Hops (Alpha Acid 4.3%), started 60min timer
.5oz Hallertau Pellet Hops (Alpha Acid 4.3%) at 15min left
1oz crushed coriander seed at 15min left
.5oz bitter orange peel at 15min left
.5oz Hallertau Pellet Hops (Alpha Acid 4.3%) at 5min left
1lb honey added at flameout and stirred in
Chilled down to 70 degrees with wort chiller (first time using it and I love it)
Racked into primary bucket, added another 2.5gal of distilled water (just shy of 5gal)
Pitched vial of White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit
OG at 70 degrees = 1.048
Sealed, currently sitting in my closet

Now, here's where I'm wondering if any of you have some thoughts. I wanted to make sure that the beer had a good honey note to it, so I decided to not add the full amount into the boil in fear that the temp would kill some of that honey flavor. What I'm planning on doing is adding another pound-ish of honey before or after racking this into a secondary bucket. I figured I would do my primary for about a week and then the secondary for about a week or a week and a half (from what I've read, WLP400 seems to take a little while and might need a lot of aerating).

Think this is a good idea? Anything you would suggest or recommend at this point?

 

[beergolf]

Sounds good. Brewing your own recipe is one of the fun things about this hobby/ addiction

Just leave it in the primary for the full time. Most do 3 weeks. No need to move the beer to a secondary. Let the yeast do its job.

DO NOT aerate after fermentation starts.

Get another fermenter and brew another batch. The waiting gets easier if you have a full pipeline.

Cheers

 

[boo boo]

You put that honey into the beer at any stage and I'll bet it starts fermenting it.
I think what some guys do to get a bit of honey flavour is to add it at primary, doing a pasteurizing stage before to kill off any unwanted bugs that might be lurking
Too much honey and your beer will be fairly dry.

 

[Ckarsanac]

Hmmmm... Only question I have is the honey addition. Take my though with a grain of salt since I'm by no means an expert...

If you add more honey, the yeasties will just ferment it into more EtOH and you end up with a dryer (more alcoholic) beer. Do you want a honey taste without the sweetness? Then I think you'll be ok, but make sure the yeast is done with the extra honey-sugar in secondary, else you risk bottle bombs. If you want honey flavor AND sweetness, you have to add a non fermentable sugar prior to (or with) bottling.

Just my two cents.

 

[CitizenKirk]

So do you guys think I should just go ahead and mix in the other pound of honey I was going to use right now? I was thinking secondary to avoid the trub at the bottom and was told that adding the honey in a secondary would give the beer a more distinct honey aroma and flavor.

 

[boomtown25]

I think you should leave it be as is. The more honey you add, the more fermentable sugars you add. That is yeast food and turns into more alcohol which could jack your beer up into "liquor" tasting levels. Go with what you have now and if not good enough, you know to add more!

 

[TheDom]

At this point I wouldn't deviate too far from the original recipe. When I was first starting out, I messed up a few batches by modifying proven recipes without knowing what the original tasted like. What did the original recipe call for? If it is just moving a pound of honey from the boil to secondary, that isn't huge. If you're adding a whole extra pound of honey, I'd say leave it out and see how you like the original.

I'll second the "forget the secondary" thing. It really isn't necessary to get clearer beer, autolysis just doesn't happen except in fairly extreme conditions, and it introduces more possibility of contamination and oxidation.

 

[barrooze]

I'd say leave it for this batch. If you really like it but want more honey flavor, brew it again with some honey malt. The malt will provide the honey flavor you're looking for. When you add actual honey to the fermentables the yeast typically converts it as t would cane sugar, leaving you without the honey flavors you wanted.