# Coopers Wheat Beer + Honey



## jeffyjudd (28/3/11)

hi im gunna make a coopers wheat beer with honey but i've never done this before so do i just pour the honey in with the extract at the start?
gunna use capilano natural australian honey will this be ok to use?
1 tin of thomas coopers wheat beer 
500g of light dry malt
375g of honey (the honey has about 275g of sugar so this should rise the alcoho?) 
23l 
fem at 18
what yeast should i use safale 
s-04 or us 05 i was thinking 04 but not sure 
any help would be great thanks


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## Jake.v (28/3/11)

ive done a wheat & honey brew but with 1.5kg of honey as fermentables and a little POR tea been in the bottle for 2 weeks and so far is a top drop with only a hint of honey as it is almost 100% fermentable id bump up the honey content maybe 500g of each? should be a good drop

i very gently boiled the honey as i have read it has other yeasts etc in it which could contaminate not 100% on it but didnt want to risk it should be plenty of stuff on the forum about honey and beers

cheers jake


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (28/3/11)

You can add the honey in secondary to make sure it doesn't ferment through. I have only used honey once in beer (but made mead) and it leaves virtually no flavour if added in at the same time as the malt in primary.

Goomba


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## going down a hill (29/3/11)

Lord Raja Goomba I said:


> You can add the honey in secondary to make sure it doesn't ferment through. I have only used honey once in beer (but made mead) and it leaves virtually no flavour if added in at the same time as the malt in primary.
> 
> Goomba


Wouldn't that make bottle bombs?


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## peas_and_corn (29/3/11)

When I made a kit honey beer I added 1kg of honey and it still only had a hint, so I would suggest you add more, unless you change your honey to something really aromatic.


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## dougsbrew (29/3/11)

i use to use a jar of honey with my coopers kit. i cant recall the name of the one i used, was an organic one. 
basically chosen because i found it tasted the best on my toast  . however i did chuck it in with intial mix, 
and as others have mentioned, was hard to detect in final product.


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## jeffyjudd (30/3/11)

so if i put say 750g or so of honey in on about day 12 of fermentation n leave in there for another week like that ,then cc for about 4 days then keg
u think that will give it honey flavour?
can i just pour honey in straight from the jar?


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## peas_and_corn (30/3/11)

The problem is whether it'll dissolve or just fall to the bottom of the fermenter.


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## Jake.v (30/3/11)

and as its almost fully fermentable if it might kick off fermentation again till its all gone again just bumping up the ABV% why not prime your keg with honey? done it with some of my honey wheat bottles and its alot stronger then the ones i didnt


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## Parrothead (31/3/11)

I did the Coopers Wheat with a kilo of honey last year. It came out with a very nice flavor, the honey did not in any way over power the wheat. It could have used some help in themouthfeel department. If I do it again with honey, I'd add some maltodextrine.


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## ploto (31/3/11)

fwiw I used honey for priming a coopers wheat beer and it was barely noticeable. If I was trying to make a honey wheat beer I would add at least 750g late in the ferment to see if that keeps some of the taste, a bit like dry hopping. I would also try using a honey with a stronger flavour, although some people find the iron barks etc. have too much of a eucalyptus taste.

Definitely want to dilute it with hot water to make it less viscous, otherwise as peas & corn says it may just sink to the bottom in one big lump.

Honey from the supermarket should already be pasteurised unless it says it is raw, but even then it should be ok as honey does has some anti bacterial properties much like hops. The honey I used for priming was raw and I had no problems. Boiling honey is not recommend as I believe it drives off much of the flavour & aroma.


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