Now What Have I Done?

[anemic]

I loved the Weissbier that I'd made using Charlie Papazians incredibly simple recipe. So I made it again. This time I was able to bring home LME from the LHBS instead of the DME I'd used the first time. (cheaper)

When I'd made the batch directly ahead of this one (again a repeat recipe, now using LME instead of DME), I was shocked to see that the OG was 043 instead of 048.

Since I'm reading Brew Like a Monk, I made an executive decision to adjunct 1# of honey into my 60 minute ingredients to make sure the OG was high enough so I would not throw the balance off with too low of an OG.

With 5# DME I hit 051. With 6# LME + 1# honey I hit 055, slightly higher.

I also had to replace my hydro recently and I don't trust it as much. It doesn't seem to be consistent - even in water!

Anyway, what would a brewer expect from boiling 1# of honey for 60 minutes, generally speaking?

 

[beerkrump]

More fermentable sugar. After 60 minutes in the pot, most of the aromatics and flavor will be gone. Your beer will finish a little drier than your previous batch.

 

[Mutilated1]

you'll get some extra sugar from the honey, but any honey taste will be gone from the boiling

don't boil the honey

the way you use honey is go ahead and do your boil, and then when you're chilling the wort keep an eye on the temp - when the temp gets down below 150F, go ahead and put the honey in

that way its hot enough to kill any bugs that might be in your honey, but you don't end up boiling all the honey flavor and aroma away

your brew will be fine, it just won't have any honey flavor and aroma that it might have had otherwise

 

[anemic]

Hey that might be alright anyway. I recall the Patersbier I'd made turned out just a tad dry. Gave you a very slight pucker - very slight. If you weren't paying attention you might not even notice it.

I think next time I'll just buy more LME and add 7# !

Thanks again

 

[Gremlyn]

150F isn't enough to kill off all the bugs, though if you use pasteurised honey you shouldn't really have a problem.

Are you making sure to correct your hydro readings for temperature? Did you sub pound for pound DME and LME?

 

[Arkador]

With 5# DME I hit 051. With 6# LME + 1# honey I hit 055, slightly higher.

Anyway, what would a brewer expect from boiling 1# of honey for 60 minutes, generally speaking?

1# of DME = 1.25# of LME
If the recipe called for 5# of DME, you would use 6.25# of LME to be equivilent.

1# of honey will add .006 to your gravity in a 5gal batch.

 

[anemic]

Thank you Arkador, that adds up nicely. I needn't have panicked. It will forever be a mystery as to why I was down 005 on that other one.