Adding Honey To Beer Kits?

[capitalfinancial]

Might taste a bit more like alcoholic herb tea

 

[bconnery]

I made a brown ale with leatherwood honey a few years back. 500g of honey mostly added inside the last 5 minutes.
It dried the beer out quite a bit, it finished fairly low for a brown ale.
You had to like leatherwood honey though.
I loved the beer because I do but others thought it tasted like medicine

 

[benny_bjc]

So I should boil the honey on the stove in water before adding it to my kit concentrate?

 

[barls]

do not boil it you will loose the aromatics out of it. if you feel the need to sterilize it use ether potassium metabisulfate or sodium metabisulfate to do it. mix it in as if you were sterilizing fruit to add it

 

[benny_bjc]

Is it best to add the honey during secondary fermentation only? Will this allow for more honey flavour?

or is it better just to add it all in the primary?


Also would honey go well with a coopers real ale kit?
Colour - 230EBC, Bitterness - 560IBU

or should I choose something like a blonde or pale ale?

 

[new2brew]

Is it best to add the honey during secondary fermentation only? Will this allow for more honey flavour?

or is it better just to add it all in the primary?


Also would honey go well with a coopers real ale kit?
Colour - 230EBC, Bitterness - 560IBU

or should I choose something like a blonde or pale ale?

It would depend if you want to taste the honey in the beer or not? If you want to taste the honey flavour, I would add it during fermentation so it has more time to influence the other ingeredients

 

[benny_bjc]

It would depend if you wantr to taste the honey in the beer or not? If you want to taste the honey flavour, I would add it during fermentation so it has more time to influence the other ingeredients

I have just started brewing up some coopers real ale so I thought I would let that ferment for about 2 weeks than split the batch and put 9 Litres into the secondary and add maybe 500g honey??? Then the left over real ale I will bottle.
Does that sound reasonable? How long would I leave the 9L in the secondary?


As for taste... I want a noticeable honey aroma and flavour but not over the top. Still want it to taste like beer!

 

[new2brew]

I made a brown ale with leatherwood honey a few years back. 500g of honey mostly added inside the last 5 minutes.
It dried the beer out quite a bit, it finished fairly low for a brown ale.
You had to like leatherwood honey though.
I loved the beer because I do but others thought it tasted like medicine

beer007, when the guys talk about something beeing added "in the last 5 minutes" or whatever, they are talking about the pre fermentation boil. This is the point of the brew where the flavours and the fermentables are combined with the boiling of the hops to get the flavour of the beer the brewer wants.

the honey would have been added 5 minutes before the boil part of the brew was completed to add the honey flavour to the brew

 

[Blackfish]

Has anyone tried using Manuka honey in a wheat beer or perhaps had a commercial beer that uses it?

Never used it before but I've been handed a Kilo of it by SWMBO who doesn't like the 'medicinal' taste. Its pretty distinctive if you've ever tried it, but I hear that honey flavours tend to be more rounded in a finished beer.

I'm thinking of something like:
22L Batch
2kg BB Pils
2Kg BB Wheat Malt
1kg Manuka Honey (added at 15 mins)
Bittered with something spicy to about 23 IBU
CPA cultured yeast. (18degs for a mild Banana ester)

Adjust the above for an FG of about 1.008 or 4% ABV for easy drinking on hot days.


Thoughts?

 

[DKS]

Ive been looking at doing a wheat with honey so I had a look in the pantry and found "Creamed Honey" Capilano brand Says "Creamed honey is 100% Pure Australian honey. The cosistency is obtained by using a blend of superfine candied honey ( Sugars naturally occurring in honey. 82.5g per 100g)" I havent seen any posts on creamed honey or candied honey.
Anyone clued up on using creamed or candied honey as alternative? I want the flavour to go with the wheat but not a syrup like result. :icon_cheers:
Daz

 

[rclemmett]

Has anyone tried using Manuka honey in a wheat beer or perhaps had a commercial beer that uses it?

Never used it before but I've been handed a Kilo of it by SWMBO who doesn't like the 'medicinal' taste. Its pretty distinctive if you've ever tried it, but I hear that honey flavours tend to be more rounded in a finished beer.

I'm thinking of something like:
22L Batch
2kg BB Pils
2Kg BB Wheat Malt
1kg Manuka Honey (added at 15 mins)
Bittered with something spicy to about 23 IBU
CPA cultured yeast. (18degs for a mild Banana ester)

Adjust the above for an FG of about 1.008 or 4% ABV for easy drinking on hot days.


Thoughts?

I did one very similar to this about 8 weeks ago and it has turned out nicely. I used 1kg pale, 1.5kg wheat, 1.25kg honey, 250g LDM, Super Alpha, Tettnanger and cascade. I threw the honey in at flameout for 10 min before cooloing and fermented with s-23.

 

[quantocks]

Walking through Chatswood Mall I seen a guy with a tiny stand selling Clayridge Honey, its the Stringy Bark variety and 100% natural, no preservatives, etc etc.

I got 500gm for $6, it smells absolutely beautiful. Would I be able to do a k&k using only 500gm and get a real honey flavour out of it or is that not enough honey? I'll be kegging it and doing an 18L batch only.