Newbie Cream Ale question

[tuckertonrr]

Hello, I've searched through this site before, and this is my first post here -

I'm wondering if some more experienced brewers can help me out -

I'm brewing Midwest brewing's Cream Ale extract kit. This is my 3rd batch of beer, the previous two being an American Amber ale & an English - style Pale Ale.

To keep this post organized, I'll just separate my questions -

-I added 1lb of honey to the beginning of the boil in addition to the hops & LME. How will this affect the batch (with the second condition / question below)

-I left the boil on for 15 more minutes (for tot time of 1 hr 15 min). I added the aroma hops @ 3mins before the end of the boil)

Anyone care to tell me potential outcomes of the two issues above? Thanks in advance!

 

[Subdivisions]

1) You should add extra fermentables at the end of the boil. Honey is usually added at the end of the boil or at flameout. This keeps it from getting too dark. Other than that it will just increase the gravity and potential ABV.

2) Your 60 minute hop addition will add more IBUs since you left it boil for 1.25 hours . Your 3 minute addition will be normal if that's the length of time it's supposed to boil

3) It will be beer, maybe a few shades darker than planned and a little more bitterness.

 

[rodwha]

Adding a fair bit of honey will thin the beer out a little.

I add 2+ lbs of honey to my wheat beer, and I add it at flameout to better preserve the flavor it gives. It's different than straight honey, but it is honey-like, though I also use honey malt.

 

[javaking]

I just brewed a cream ale and added the honey at flameout. It should raise the OG slightly. I would be cautious about boiling longer than necessary. Since your bittering hops are added at the beginning of the boil you may end up with a slightly more bitter beer (aka the longer you boil the hops the more bitter flavor you extract). Overall, I don't think that what you did will hurt the beer too much. Cheers!

 

[tuckertonrr]

Thanks all for the replies. My goal with adding the honey was to increase the alcohol a bit, and make the beer "sweeter". It's day 3 in the primary, so I'll give it a bit more time. At this point, is there anything I could do (or not do) to minimize any extra bitterness? Thanks!

 

[rodwha]

Google hop utilization chart. You'll see that after about 60 mins the bittering levels out quite a bit. I doubt your extended boil time made it overly bad, but if you are concerned about all you could do now is dilute it at bottling.