How much honey to add

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JulesF

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Hi, I'm a new member and a new brewer (I literally just did my very first brew yesterday from a starters kit I'd purchased). I had read that you can add honey during the brewing process to add a honey flavor and increase alcohol content. I was planning on adding some orange wildblossom honey at the end of the boil to get a nice honey flavor and a mild to moderate sweetness. The problem is I can't find any information on how much to add. I plan on making 1 gallon batches while I kind of work out the ins and outs of brewing. Can anyone help me out with how much honey to add to a 1 gallon recipe? 1/2 a pound? More? Less? I appreciate any help you can be.
 
Welcome to the forum!
So, the thing is that, honey is 100% fermentable. You will just be increasing your ABV...you may get a little flavor. The way to add some honey flavor is to steep some honey malt grains.
Good luck!
 
I don't think you will have any appreciable honey flavors last through fermentation, but it's not uncommon to add at the end of the boil - I think a half pound for a one gallon batch would be a good starting point. They only way that I have heard of someone achieving a honey flavor was by using honey as bottling sugar for carbonation, and even then it was very subtle in a very light beer. Good luck with your pursuit.
 
I have brew a few 5gal beer recipes that use honey and all use 1 lbs of honey. For one gallon I guess then maybe 3.2oz?
 
Brewed a 1 gallon batch of grapefruit honey ale that called for .13 lbs honey (about 1/4 cup) dissolved into the wort at flameout. Don't expect residual sweetness unless your yeast attenuate poorly, but it will add honey flavor and a little dryness to the finished beer.
 
Someone suggested half a pound. That is way too much. That is 16 gravity points in a gallon. It will raise your abv by ~2%, and lower the FG making the beer a lot drier and thinner.

Honey can be used, but be aware of what it does, and that you will lose a lot of the flavor, and it will not add any sweetness (it will actually make the beer drier). The best way to add honey would be to use it in place of the bottling sugar, and for 1 gallon, that would be about 1.2 ounces.

I don't like it myself because I think it gets too cloying, but the best way to add honey flavor is to use Honey malt, but use it sparingly. Some people like it, but I think 0.5 lbs in 5 gallons is too much. I have seen some recipes with more.

Sweetness, is controlled by the recipe:
- Mash temps (but you are probably using extract so this doesn't apply.
- Crystal Malt provides unfermentables and can help with increasing the FG.
- Lactose adds sweetness as it is unfermentable.
- Yeast; a low attenuating yeast like Windsor will leave a lot more sweetness vs using S-05 (Chico) yeast. or Nottingham.
 
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