Honey Ale

[dzamba]

Good afternoon,
I brewed a batch of ale and added honey 48 hours after fermentation started. I took a hydromatic reading before I pitched the yeast, but not before I added the honey.

I think the beer will more dense with the honey added. Is there a way to take an accurate reading when adding honey after the yeast is pitched?

Thanks!

 

[FlyingHorse]

Honey adds more sugars to your beer, so it will increase your SG. The amount can vary widely depending on the type of honey, but it's generally in the area of 35 ppg (so 1 lb of honey adds roughly 7 points to a 5 gal batch).

The honey will ferment out almost completely, though it may take longer than a non-honey brew. So your FG shouldn't change much from what it would have been without the honey.

 

[dzamba]

Ah. So if I use 2.5 lbs of honey, then my ppg will go up to 17.5. How does that translate to my alcohol content?

 

[malkore]

Honey adds roughly 1.034 gravity points per pound of honey, per gallon of water.

so, do some math and you can just add these gravity points to your OG, and then do the normal calculations with OG and FG to get ABV.

 

[Augie]

I have a honey ale in my secondary right now. I added my honey at the last 15 min of the boil. What would be the benefit of adding the honey to the fermenter instead of the boil?

 

[FlyingHorse]

I have a honey ale in my secondary right now. I added my honey at the last 15 min of the boil. What would be the benefit of adding the honey to the fermenter instead of the boil?

Honey flavors and aromas tend to boil off pretty quickly. Adding honey to the ferementer rather than the boil can help preserve them.

 

[FlyingHorse]

Ah. So if I use 2.5 lbs of honey, then my ppg will go up to 17.5. How does that translate to my alcohol content?

Roughly 2.3%

ABV = (OG-FG)*131

In this case, (.0175 - 0) *131 = 2.3

 

[Aspera]

I would generally assume about a 12-16% moisture content for honey (thick=less water) with a 100% fermentability. Post-boil additions of honey can dramatically increase your ester content and the hangover potential of the beer. Age it a bit longer and expect a better taste if you didn't use that nasty crap, blended, imported HCFS adulterated stuff from the grocery store. I recommend local wildflower honey harvested by people you know, originating from non-migratory bee colonies.

 

[dzamba]

Thanks for all the help guys.

Augie, I found this article helpful:

http://www.firststatebrewers.com/brewtips/honey/

 

[Augie]

Thanks for all the help guys.

Augie, I found this article helpful:

http://www.firststatebrewers.com/brewtips/honey/

Thank you for the info. So far from samples the batch tastes good and I should hopefully have it in a keg by next week. Worst case I will have to try again and add the honey 24-48 into the fermentation and see if there is a dramatic difference.