Honey For Priming?!?

[PeteyAwol]

We are brewing a 5 gallon batch of a "Rye P.A." and the recipe calls to bottle with a cup of honey. The est ABV is supposed to around 6.5% . Is this going to carbonate well? Does it take the usual 3 weeks? How do I use the honey in this means; heat some water and make a concoction for the bottling bucket?

Help.

I've done priming with corn sugar and DME but never honey. This will be my third batch.

Recipe:
9.0 lb Marris Otter
2.0 lb Rye malt
0.8 lb Caramel 60
0.5 lb Caramel 20

1.5 oz Northern Brewer
1.o oz Williamette

Wyeast 1050 American Ale

 

[shawnbou]

I've never used honey, but I've used agave nectar and the concept is basically the same. Boil water, mix in honey, cool and add to bottling bucket before racking.

Note that honey is less fermentable than corn sugar (95% vs. 100% fermentable according to John Palmer) and has water in it, so generally you will need more honey to achieve the same level of carbonation. Since your recipe tells you to use 1 cup, you should be okay following that.

Some people will tell you not to bother using honey, that corn sugar is easier and more consistent. While that's technically true, I think experimenting with ingredients and procedures is the fun of homebrewing, so I salute you.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

Yep, same processes as with dme or corn sugar. Dissolve it in about a quart of water so that it will mix well into the beer. Check the nutrition information label on the honey. It should tell you the number of grams of sugar in a serving. From this you can figure out how many grams of sugar you are adding. 100 grams or a little less is pretty normal.

 

[twistr25]

Just doing a quick search, here's a thread I found on it. Seems like it should take about the same time, but if it doesn't let it sit a little longer.

 

[PeteyAwol]

You guys are all aces. I will dissolve a cup of honey into a quart of water on the stove and use it.

I've been reading posts and I see this is a debated topic. Plus I couldnt figure out how long it takes. Some guys were saying months some saying 3 weeks. If it takes longer than the round about 3 weeks, I would rather just go the DME/Priming sugar route. I'm not an impatient man, just a thirsty fella.

 

[J187]

The only beer I've done that took a month to carb was the one time I tried brown sugar - and honestly, you can't taste a single difference! Makes sense too when you think about it, when you carb with table sugar your beer doesn't taste any sweeter - it's too small of an addition to a huge volume of wort to matter. I'll never use anything but table sugar again. Simple, convenient, consistent.

 

[Golddiggie]

WHEN I was bottling, I used honey for many batches. Using 1.25x the amount of corn sugar, in honey, proved to work very well. Use WEIGHT measurements NOT VOLUME with honey (or all sugars actually).

Also use a priming calculator to figure out how much to use. Either in regular corn sugar, or in actual honey (if the tool has been set to use that too).

I would also calculate to prime in the middle of a style range. That way you don't risk going far above, or below, the range for the style, depending on the actual fermentable sugar content of the honey. Each harvest/batch of honey can have a very different amount of actual fermentable sugar in it.

Also, if you want to get some of the honey flavor to come through, DON'T boil it. Simply warm it up to 100-110F (maximum) before pouring into the bottling bucket. Otherwise, you might as well use corn sugar.

BTW, I also primed with pure/raw cane sugar with good results. It's less processed (by far) than corn sugar and I really liked how the brews came out that way.

Carbonation takes pretty much the same amount of time for your brew, no matter what sugar you prime with. Provided you properly prime the batch. Higher ABV batches can take longer to carbonate depending on a few other factors (not only temperature).

 

[VegasJ]

You guys are all aces. I will dissolve a cup of honey into a quart of water on the stove and use it.

for a 5 gal batch my LHBS guy said this. ^^


the honey I bought from them was pretty much a 1 to 1 compared to sugar.

I have a honey ale fermenting now & was going to prime it with 1 cup o honey too

:rockin:

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

WHEN I was bottling, I used honey for many batches. Using 1.25x the amount of corn sugar, in honey, proved to work very well. Use WEIGHT measurements NOT VOLUME with honey (or all sugars actually).

Also use a priming calculator to figure out how much to use. Either in regular corn sugar, or in actual honey (if the tool has been set to use that too).

I would also calculate to prime in the middle of a style range. That way you don't risk going far above, or below, the range for the style, depending on the actual fermentable sugar content of the honey. Each harvest/batch of honey can have a very different amount of actual fermentable sugar in it.

Also, if you want to get some of the honey flavor to come through, DON'T boil it. Simply warm it up to 100-110F (maximum) before pouring into the bottling bucket. Otherwise, you might as well use corn sugar.

BTW, I also primed with pure/raw cane sugar with good results. It's less processed (by far) than corn sugar and I really liked how the brews came out that way.

Carbonation takes pretty much the same amount of time for your brew, no matter what sugar you prime with. Provided you properly prime the batch. Higher ABV batches can take longer to carbonate depending on a few other factors (not only temperature).

Plus one!

 

[Gixxer]

I just tried some of my brew that I primed with honey, it was 6% ABV and was decently carbed at two weeks. The honey aroma fades fast though. Have to adjust the honey malt in the grain bill so the honey flavor sticks around longer. I boiled maybe a quart of water, let it cool, mixed in the amount of priming honey, stirred it up, then into the priming bucket. Zero heat to the honey.

 

[Calichusetts]

I only use honey. To get around 2.5 vols you want to use 3 tablespoons or 63 grams per gallon. The type of honey will play a role in getting some flavor and aroma to come through. I prefer orange blossom but there are so many out there you should experiment. I have found clover to be very bland and give no flavor.

There are countless posts out here talking about how honey is "completely fermentable" but this is misleading. Honey ferments out anywhere from 85-95%. Even beersmith lists it at 90%. The point being, not only are you carbing with it, its like putting a drop or two in each bottle. You will get a very subtle flavor and aroma. I can smell it when i crack every bottle, but the more aggressive the flavors in the beer, the less likely you are to pick up on it.

I always give honey-carbed beers and extra week but after that, you are fine. I slowly heat up the honey in some water and swirl it around like crazy. DON"T boil it but bring it up to 100-120 for at least a few minutes and swirl pretty often. Dump it in your bottling bucket, rake, bottle. Be weary with your first time, pay attention to the pot you heat it up in and that there is very little or no honey at the bottom of your pot after you add it to the bottling bucket.

I have hand carbed with honey as well, but I do small batches and would not think this would be fun for 5 gallons. Pick up a food injector or baby syringe for Tylenol if you want to give it a try. I heat up the honey in a cupcake baking pan in the oven. I used to add water when I did this but have done it with just honey and it has worked fine.

You really want to make sure you get a nice whirlpool when raking your beer. Hope this helps

 

[WoodlandBrew]

I've always been a fan of measuring things by weight as well, especially with thick sticky sugars. Here's a blog post about how to calculate the amount of any syrup or honey to use for priming:

http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/10/priming-with-corn-syrup.html