How much will Honey boost O.G.?

[razyrsharpe]

i just bottled an Imperial Red Honey Ale that i brewed on 11/01. I hadn't planned on using real honey, just Honey Malt. however, when i took O.G. reading i was way off... expecting 1.082 and only measured 1.070. after one week and airlock had quit bubbling, i added a .lb of real honey. when i bottled today, there was an F.G. reading of 1.012. This is better than i thought i would get. But i had a question about how much the real honey boosted my O.G. Is there a formula or calculation for estimating that? i would like to find out my true ABV, or get as close as possible. Does honey boost gravity on a constant scale?

 

[Calder]

If your wort wasn't completely mixed, you could get a low OG reading. It happens a lot with partial boils. Are you really sure you started low?

Honey has about 32 to 33 points per lb. Just divide that by the number of gallons you had, and you have how much you need to add to your OG to calculate abv.

 

[razyrsharpe]

target O.G. was 1.082, measured O.G. was 1.070.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

using honey can be a little bit of a pain with beer yeast. it can sit for weeks with the same SG, rack into another vessel and it seems to take off again giving you a lower SG.

but with 1 lb. in a 5 gallon batch @ 1.070, that would bring it up to 1.077 (aprox).

 

[JimRausch]

using honey can be a little bit of a pain with beer yeast. it can sit for weeks with the same SG, rack into another vessel and it seems to take off again giving you a lower SG.

but with 1 lb. in a 5 gallon batch @ 1.070, that would bring it up to 1.077 (aprox).

Interesting Billy, I've never experienced that, and I tend to use honey in any recipe that calls for sugar(or if I want to boost my OG). But, I've never used more than 2lb. per 5G batch, and usually just 1 lb. Maybe the stall happens if you use a ton of it.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

Interesting Billy, I've never experienced that, and I tend to use honey in any recipe that calls for sugar(or if I want to boost my OG). But, I've never used more than 2lb. per 5G batch, and usually just 1 lb. Maybe the stall happens if you use a ton of it.

I've had it happen with only 2 lbs before. and not just once, but at least a dozen times.

 

[JimRausch]

I don't make mead(too darn expensive) but every once in a while I take a peek at their part of the forum. Because honey is relatively deficient in nutrients, they tend to add a lot of yeast nutrient, multiple times, and sometimes reoxygenate the batch partway into fermentation. I wonder if that's the source of the stall-out when you use 2 lb. or more? I would think the wort would contribute enough nutrients, but who knows.
Just speculating........