When to add honey to boil?

[Paulbill]

Hi All,

I am brewing a Honey Ale kit from B3 this weekend. I contains 4lb of LME and 3lbs of Honey.

The directions for the brew are generic directions packaged with every kit and does not state when to add the honey.

I do full 60 min boils.

My question is, do I add the Honey with the LME for the entire 60 min boil, or do I add it at later time? My gut is telling me that it does not need to be boiled for the full 60min.

Is this correct?

Thanks in advance..
Paulbill

 

[Blender]

Everything I read about that beer and mead is to not boil honey. No experience with it so take this advice into consideration. What yeast are you using?

Jerry says add it at flame out mixing it well into the wort.:rockin:

 

[Brooklyn-Brewtality]

do half the LME for 60 min. half the LME at 10 minutes. do the honey at flame out.

 

[MikeG]

I have read the same advice, if you boil the honey all the flavors and aroma you want from the honey will be gone, left with expensive sugars for fermenting only.

 

[Freezeblade]

Whenever I have honey with a brew, I don't add it during the boil at all, opting instead to add it directly into the fermenter on the third day of fermentation, this also promotes yeast heath and will let it attenuate further.

 

[Nurmey]

With my honey ales, I add the honey at flame out to retain the "honey" flavor. What's the point of making a honey ale if you lose the aroma and flavor by boiling it? If you are using honey for fermentables only, then it doesn't matter and you can boil it.

 

[TonyAngelo]

From How to Brew:

"Honey contains wild yeasts and bacteria, but it's low water content keeps these microorganisms dormant. Honey also contains amylase enzymes, which can break down larger sugars and starches into fermentable sugars like maltose and sucrose. For these reasons, honey should be pasteurized before adding it to the fermenter. The National Honey Board recommends that honey be pasteurized for 30 minutes at 176 F, then cooled and diluted to wort gravity. To retain the most honey flavor and ensure best fermentation performance, the honey should be added to the fermenter after primary fermentation."

I don't buy the argument that heating honey results in it losing it's taste. Honey baked Ham is coated with honey and usually baked at 200 degrees for 6 hours and still retains it's honey taste.

 

[Nurmey]

From How to Brew:



I don't buy the argument that heating honey results in it losing it's taste. Honey baked Ham is coated with honey and usually baked at 200 degrees for 6 hours and still retains it's honey taste.

It is also not diluted with 5 gallons of water and alcohol on a ham.

 

[Freezeblade]

From How to Brew:



I don't buy the argument that heating honey results in it losing it's taste. Honey baked Ham is coated with honey and usually baked at 200 degrees for 6 hours and still retains it's honey taste.

Go ahead, ask the mead forum, see what they have to say to you about your theory about honey baked ham.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/why-not-boil-honey-76634/

I'll just leave this here.

 

[Paulbill]

Freezeblade, thanks for the link. Interesting reading.

So basically it comes down to two options (for me).

1. Add at flame out. Boiling not needed. But, in both cases, might lose some of the honey aroma/flavor, but hopefully not as much when adding at flame out.
2. Add into primary once fermentation has started, or add to secondary.

Just for ease of implementation, I will go with option #1. I use glass carboys, and leave in primary for 2 weeks before kegging. Having to get 3lbs of honey into each carboy (I do 10 gallon batches, each kit uses 3lbs of honey), seems like a pain to me.

If I like, or dislike, the result, next time I will go with option #2.

Thanks for the input all.

Regards,
Paulbill

 

[ChshreCat]

Here's an article I found on the subject that was interesting.
Washington Winemaker » Blog Archive » Making Mead: Testing the controversy over boiling

 

[TonyAngelo]

Here's an article I found on the subject that was interesting.
Washington Winemaker » Blog Archive » Making Mead: Testing the controversy over boiling

Nice link. That would seem to support my argument (and that of John Palmer and the National Honey Board) that you can apply heat to honey without sacrificing aroma/flavor.

 

[Mike1947]

This may go against everything you believe, but adding honey to the primary when fermentation is almost done will give the most honey character. It's the scrubbing effects of CO2 that will remove the honey character AND most of the hop character. Heating the honey at kettle off will not drive the character out much, but the CO2 scrubbing will. Dry hopping works because it is done after aggressive primary fermentation. It's the only way I have found that actually works for me.

Mike