secondary boil

[Mapleroots]

What would happen if i would boil my beer after being in the secondary? would this kill all the yeast cell in action, and ruin any chances of carbing this beer/ The only reason I ask is because I was thinking about adding 1 pound honey to one gal of a hefe that I made?

 

[pdbreen]

Among possibly other side effects, you'd boil off all the alcohol - it has a lower boiling point than water.

 

[martinirish]

why not boil the honey instead?

 

[Mapleroots]

I dont want to create anymore alcohol and possibly dry the beer out, so I thought if I did a quick boil and killed all active yeast and added the honey, this would give me the honey flavor that I was looking for. Then I could add a little yeast before bottling to carb it up. But in the end I just melted 1lb honey and pitched it directly into 1 gal of a Wheat I had in a secondary. Not sure what is going to happen?

 

[erock2112]

What about just using some potassium sorbate? Should stop the ferment so you can back sweeten. Wouldn't be able to naturally carb though.

 

[Hex]

Not that I know for sure, but potassium metabisulfite will do the job just nicely. Don't boil, the alcohol will all be gone by the time the water boils...

 

[beerocd]

You can dilute to your desired ABV at the end. I would rather just drink less and have a full flavored beer though. You'll probably just need to let the beer condition for a while longer for it to mellow.

Whoa just reread 1 lb honey into 1 gal of Wheat. Definitely need conditioning time. Probably gonna taste like rocket fuel for a few weeks.

-OCD

 

[Mapleroots]

yeah I'm planning on letting sit for close to a year, maybe even longer.

 

[homebrewer_99]

If it's a true German Hefe Weizen why would you do such a thing?

Anything else...OK...

 

[Mapleroots]

why not? I'm trying to find a good way to get the true honey flavor to come throu in a beer. So to take 1 gal and see what will happen was worth it.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I was more concerned with you ruining a good beer...

 

[Mapleroots]

it is a good beer, im sipping on some right now. But do you really think its ruined

 

[beerocd]

It's a braggot now.

-OCD

 

[HangLoose]

Why not use honey malt? Killing the yeast just to add more later doesn't make any sense.

 

[ChshreCat]

+1 on using honey malt. Using honey doesn't really leave much honey flavor. The sugar all ferments out leaving very little flavor behind.

If you want to use honey for something without adding a ton of alcohol, just use the honey for priming. Dissolve it in a small amount of hot water and prime as usual.

Then use honey malt next time you want some of the flavor.

 

[Mapleroots]

It was to late to use any kind of honey malt, as this was a last minute decision on some beer that I had no bottles or space for. Right now it doesn't seem to be fermenting at all. I'm new to this, so should there be any signs or krosen. My air lock is definitley not moving. This beer has been sitting for around 4 weeks, before adding honey, and I'm wondering if there is not enough yeast in action? should I add a little bread yeast to get things going, or just let it sit for an entire year without touching.

 

[HangLoose]

I have never tried adding fermentables at this stage but I would defiantly not add more yeast. Relax. Try gently rousing the yeast with a genital swirl, I just pick the bucket up and spin it around and then stop, then spin the other way once or twice to rouse the yeast. Don't Shake it! I' sure it will take off before long; give it a day or two before you even think about thinking about it.