tweaking a cooper's wheat kit

[chelero]

OK, i've been cruising with the search engine and have learned quite a bit, but can't find exactly what i'm looking for. I bought a cooper's wheat canned extract kit a while back, and my LHBS said i could add honey as my extra fermentable, instead of the 600g DME like i did with my 1st cooper's kit(IPA). i'm wondering:
1. how much honey should i use? and can i use it at knockout-flameout in order to actually impart some honey flavor?

2 could i rack this beer onto some fruit in secondary or would that be tricking it up too much for this kit?

i'm thinking a honey blueberry deal where i can actually taste some honey and BBs. is this overkill? i tried the kennebunkport blueberry wheat recently and it was awesome.
thanks for your help,
c

 

[abrew4me]

Honey needs to be boiled in order to convert the sugars to be readily fermentable (one of the reasons why unboiled meads take such a long time to ferment), but the flavor is lost in the boil. If you are seeking the taste of the honey, add it near the end of the boil (within the last addition of hops). Since the honey will still offer some fermentables, a lesser amount of DME would be required.

My suggestion: Add 1/2- 3/4 lb of honey at the last ten to fifteen minutes of the boil. If you'd like, you can also add one lb. of DME, since 600g is nearly 1 1/3 lb, if this is what you're looking for, in terms of O.G.

You could absolutely rack it onto some fruit. If fresh, freeze the fruit first, mash it and, as you mentioned, rack ONTO the fruit and not the other way around (fruit onto the brew).

 

[SeamusMac]

Adding honey to a wheat kit won't get you any honey flavour, I've tried it. I added 700 grams of honey to a Festa Brew kit and a part from boosting the ABV there was no indicator that honey had ever been added.

I'll second the notion that un-boiled honey takes a long time to ferment, although boiling it will drive off all the flavours you're looking for so you'd be better off using dried wheat extract if you took that route.

If you want a really distinct honey flavour in your beer you'll have to grab some specialty grains (honey malt aka brumalt) and steep them in some water that you'll use to top-off the carboy. Or at least this is what I've been told.