Honey in Recipe

[nhannath]

Hi.

I have a recipe (Holiday Ale) that calls for 1lb honey but doesn't state at what phase of the brew to use it.

What's the most common way to use honey

In the boil (and for how long)
Or into carboy prior to primary fermentation (after wort has been moved post cooling).

Thanks.

Neal

 

[VonAle]

My research led me to add it to the primary after the activity starts to slow.

I warmed the sealed plastic container of honey in hot water to make it more viscus, and then poured it straight from the container into the fermenter.

The airlock took off like a rocket and then subsided after a few hours.

My understanding is this process will keep more of the flavor than if added into the boil.

In bottles now, will find out in a couple of weeks how it turns out.

 

[Quaker]

If you do a search on here, you'll find plenty of threads and resulting suggestions.

In the boil, you will lose some of the aromatics. But you do at least sanitize it by boiling it for 5-15 minutes. If just adding it for a drier finish and higher alcohol, then this works fine if only about 10% of you fermentables.

I would not put it in the primary at pitching time. It is well known that honey won't spoil, so people often assume it's sanitized naturally. Actually bacteria and wild yeast could be present, but they aren't active and can't propagate in honey. If you dilute the honey, it can spoil (that's why bees fan it with their wings to concentrate it prior to capping it). Most likely a healthy pitch of yeast will overwhelm them though.

I recommend adding into the primary after a few days of high krausen. I use honey frequently (I have some beehives, thus it seems free). I usually add it after a week of fermentation (due to having time for brew chores on weekends). The alcohol will stymy any bugs. Also adding the simple sugars after the bulk of fermentation is complete avoids the yeast gorging on the honey's simple sugars before finishing their dinner of maltose.

My 2 cents. Do a search and there are plenty more.

 

[nhannath]

Thanks for the quick responses. It's probably just over 10% of sugars (9lb grain @ 75%). I will add it to primary after 3 days (assuming good primary).

Thanks again.

Neal

 

[DonMagee]

I've always added honey right before flameout (1 to 2 minutes). I've found this to be the best for me.

 

[Tippsy-Turvy]

I too have been adding the honey late and loved the results each time. Usually 2-5mins before flameout and another time at flameout.

I haven't tried adding during fermentation but I think I will next time as that might give the aroma an bigger boost.

 

[jonmohno]

Youll probably get the most out of honey if you add it to secondary or after primary ferment. I havent done it this way yet but its the most effective with alot of things like fruit. So if you have good honey use it as late as you can. The key is good honey if your not going to boil it otherwise its just another fermentable sugar like regular sugar. If its overprocessed honey its probably not going to matter much.

 

[Carrollyn]

I used orange blossom honey as the priming sugar (in hot water to kill germs) and it retained a lot of the orange honey character in the ale. Just to be extra sure I did use processed honey rather than raw honey.

 

[hoffmeister]

To build on what everyone else has posted, it all depends on what you want out of the honey. If all you're looking for is an increase in fermentables while keeping the body light, go ahead and add it to the boil. However, by doing so, you will lose most if not all of the aromatics from the honey. If you want to keep the honey aroma and flavor intact, warm the honey (and possibly dilute it with a little warm water) and add it to the secondary. This will allow the honey to retain its character in the finished beer, and the yeast that are hanging around after the primary fermentation should be strong enough to overpower any residual wild yeast that are still present in the beer. Hope this helps, and good luck with the brew!

 

[scutly]

just picked up a "Good Cheer Christmas Beer" kit today for brewing on Saturday that includes a pound of honey and a bag of mixed spices from my LHBS. the directions with the kit calls for honey addition for the last 2 minutes of boil

 

[rodwha]

Either add it at flame out or a week after fermentation.

I've also used some for priming.

My latest and most prevalent was 1 lb at flameout in a light ale. And I've been working a bit with it and honey malt for a nice strong honey flavor.

 

[jonmohno]

just like hops, time can start diminishing honey character. Ive used it as priming sugar and it is present at first but after a month or so its basically gone. Ive also made a 30 percent honey ale and did it last 5 min or flameout,cant remember exactly but it was nicer at first and as it aged it kind of got blander-Ive also found that the honey I used wasnt as good as I could have gotten.

I have also learned what good honey is latley since making meads and there is a huge difference in good local in season(particularly spring)honey compared to what is in the store. Beers with honey do make good light dry kind of beers,depending what your making but they do make a nice addtion to those kind of summer ales. Although you can make some pretty heafty braggots,barleywines and imperials with it. Otherwise with regular ales, in my experience, you can get a pretty low finish with the use of honey-depending how much you use.