Why not boil honey?

[waterse]

The problem with boiling honey is that honey is made up of hundreds of different compounds that create it's flavor profile. Many of these flavor compounds are volitile, meaning they vaporize and dissipate with the application of heat. Honey that has been heated tastes dead, just a sweet syrup. The flavors that make it taste like honey are provided by these volitile compounds. Most mead makers do not boil thier honey, and many don't heat it at all.

 

[jkunz_]

"Honey is a miracle food; it never goes bad. It was reported that archaeologists found 2000 year old jars of honey in Egyptian tombs and they still tasted delicious! Many people find it rather surprising that bacteria cannot grow in honey because all things being equal, bacteria loves sugar. The unique chemical composition of low water content and relatively high acidic level in honey creates a low pH (3.2-4.5) environment that makes it very unfavourable for bacteria or other micro-organism to grow. " = you dont heat honey.
http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/honey-facts.html

 

[DeathBrewer]

That's good info, but it's not really applied to why you don't boil honey. Once honey is diluted it CAN get infected. It probably doesn't contain any bacteria, however, at the time you make the addition.

It's more about taste. Some people do pasteurize their honey, but boiling is never recommended.

 

[lmnop]

you just dumped a 2 year old thread to chime in and agree with everyone else?

 

[preddy08]

thanks for bumping, I'm just now doing my first orange, honey, wheat beer right now. Right now I'm planning on pitching my orange right at flame out and the honey about 4 days into fermentation.

I think I got this right, anyone care to chime in?

 

[DeathBrewer]

sounds fine to me.

 

[GuldTuborg]

Ugh, why flameout? That still overheats your honey. Chill first, down to at least 130F or lower, then add honey. And yes, honey ferments very easily in wort. Oh, and honey can easily go bad, depending upon storage conditions and particulars.

 

[Bottenbrew]

Ugh, why flameout? That still overheats your honey. Chill first, down to at least 130F or lower, then add honey. And yes, honey ferments very easily in wort. Oh, and honey can easily go bad, depending upon storage conditions and particulars.

Reread what he posted, orange at flameout, honey 4 days into fermentation...

 

[MikeMayhem]

will adding honey into the fermenter after the boil still up the ABV%?

thinking about doing a summer american wheat and adding 1-2# of orange blossom honey. I don't want to overwhelm the beer with honey flavor, but would like to impart a hint of aroma and flavor while also boosting the ABV to ~5.2-5.4%

 

[rycov]

yes

 

[ajfranke]

Ugh, I wish that I'd found this thread about 3 weeks ago, before I added ~2# of honey late in the boil on a Honey Rye. I swear Papazian harps on boiling honey in TCJOHB...

Perhaps I can prime with more honey to try to squeak out a bit more flavor, but this thread leaves me discouraged about whether or not it will work.

Oh well, lesson learned, and I'll have to make it a second time!

 

[dirtymurph]

As much as I hate necroing, I was under the impression that you brought honey to a pre boil to remove the waxes and such from un processed honey because they make for a turpentine like taste when fermented.

 

[cadarnell]

so ... I want to add some honey to a cream ale i have fermenting (4 days now) ... it's in a bucket .. do i just squeeze it in? ... is that the best way? ... sorry i know the answer is in this feed probably, but I'm a Noob and want to be sure ... thanks

 

[natefrog255]

So after multiple pages I feel no resolution was had. ...is there ever one?

So here is my scenario. I am brewing a blonde like ale that I planned on using 2# of Door County (WI) raw honey I bought from a farmers market. My original plan was to add at flameout. BUT the more I read, the more I am fearful that it would be a waste to put honey in heat. I don't want to throwout $8 when I could've used sugar that I already had.

So then I thought about adding after 72 hours, just dumping into the primary fermenter. But then I read raw honey could carry bacteria and cause infection, obviously don't want that.

What do you recommend? Should I just skip the honey all together?!

My recipe:
3.3# Pilsen LME
2# Raw Honey
1# Wheat DME
1# Caramel 10 (steep)
0.5# Maltodextrin
Wyeast American Ale 1056 Liquid Yeast

 

[TimpanogosSlim]

Well, I've heard arguments that the bacteria commonly found in honey cannot thrive in beer, and cannot compete with yeast in active fermentation - at the levels we pitch anyway.

That said, when i made the ubiquitous honey nut brown ale recipe, I did taste the honey in it, but i didn't like it. In that batch, I added the honey at 15 minutes from flameout, iirc.

I primed with honey several times and never tasted the difference.

 

[danielbt]

I primed with honey several times and never tasted the difference.

The amount of honey you'd use to prime is so small, you'd never taste it depending on the beer style. You might in a very delicate or light beer, but not is something with a more robust flavor.

 

[dfaridoni]

I have a honey nut brown fermenting now. I added the honey at flameout and after reading all of these posts I'm curious to see how it turns out. Looks like a good learning experience for me.

 

[natefrog255]

Well, I've heard arguments that the bacteria commonly found in honey cannot thrive in beer, and cannot compete with yeast in active fermentation - at the levels we pitch anyway.[\QUOTE]

I did see some of those same arguments, but then of course there were stories of contaminated batches after pitching in the fermenter. I guess it's trial and error, but I'd hate to waste 2# of raw honey in doing so.

I've only made a 2 gallon batch using honey and it was store bought and I added 15 minutes before flameout. I felt that I noticed the aroma but the honey was almost 50% of the recipe too. Plus my understanding is store boughten honey doesn't need to be pasteurized.

Ideally I'd love to just add at flameout, but if I am killing the aroma and any chance at taste I'd feel it's a big waste of money. I know its only like $8 in this case, but it still is $8 I could've spend elsewhere.

 

[eastoak]

So after multiple pages I feel no resolution was had. ...is there ever one?

So here is my scenario. I am brewing a blonde like ale that I planned on using 2# of Door County (WI) raw honey I bought from a farmers market. My original plan was to add at flameout. BUT the more I read, the more I am fearful that it would be a waste to put honey in heat. I don't want to throwout $8 when I could've used sugar that I already had.

So then I thought about adding after 72 hours, just dumping into the primary fermenter. But then I read raw honey could carry bacteria and cause infection, obviously don't want that.

What do you recommend? Should I just skip the honey all together?!

My recipe:
3.3# Pilsen LME
2# Raw Honey
1# Wheat DME
1# Caramel 10 (steep)
0.5# Maltodextrin
Wyeast American Ale 1056 Liquid Yeast

skip the honey.