Another Honey Wheat beer

[Takasonfletcher]

Hi guys,

Looking for some advice on a brew Im looking to put down this weekend

Thomas Coopers Wheat beer 1.7kg
Wheat DME 1kg
light DME 5oog
Honey 500g
25g Hersbrucker @ 30
WB06 (no starter)
23l

I haven't done this type of beer before but I usually leave in primary for 2 weeks before bottling anyone have any suggestions with this yeast,

I have also read so many different ways of adding the honey, some say with everything else, some say a couple of days before bottling (obviosuly still 2 days of same OG reading before bottling)some say not to boil as you lose any honey aroma and characteristics, any tips on this? i was thinking of the 40g or 2 navel orange peels (added in the boil)

Your thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

Chuur

 

[grantsglutenfreehomebrew]

G'day.
I use honey in some of my brews. I find it best to add it at flameout or 5 mins before. Keeps the flavour and doesn't allow it to caramelise.
For an extra honey hit I also prime my bottles with honey. Mix 300g of honey with 1 cup of water and boil for 10 mins to sterilise. Then add 4 mls of liquid per 330ml stubby. I use a kids Nurofen syringe to get correct dose. Just make sure you sterilise that too.
I hope this has been of some help.

 

[grantsglutenfreehomebrew]

As for the yeast. I've only used it once. I made a Belgium Whit style beer with raw millet. Came up fantastic. Very impressed with its work.

 

[menoetes]

Hey Taka,

Your recipe looks solid, with you choice of yeast and hops it seems like a traditional german style wheat beer with the honey addition. I did one like it as one of my first brews with less malt and without the hops addition and it went great. I'm putting down a wheat beer this weekend myself, same recipe as you but replacing the honey with raspberries and using a little less malt (as there is plenty of sugar in the fruit).

You might find that the wb-06 does it's work very quickly (especially if you rehydrate it and/or have temp control) and could finish your fermentation in 6 days or less but leave it in the fermenter for 2 weeks by all means, it won't do anything but improve the beer.

As for adding the honey there's a lot of talk about this as I'm sure you have probably read. some people add it to water and boil it thoroughly saying that they get more honey aroma from this method but less honey taste. the benefit of this is it the safest method when worrying about introducing an infection to your wort. Others pasteurize their honey, adding it to hot water and bringing the temp to between 65 - 70'c and keeping it there for 10 -15 minutes to kill off the greater majority of any nastiest that might be in it before adding it to the wort.

Another (riskier) way I've read of is to add it directly to warm water and just add it to your beer wort. As most honey you buy in the supermarket has already been pasteurized and/or filtered it shouldn't be carrying any nasties, after-all honey has antiseptic qualities and can be used as a preservative.

Personally I tried pasteurizing using a pot on my stove and a milk thermometer I bought a kitchenware shop for $10 and it gave my beer a lovely slightly-burnt honey aftertaste. Grants advice is good, it basically equates to the same thing with less effort. As he said if you're looking for a stronger honey flavor hit, try priming with honey or even adding the honey to your secondary fermentor (or if you don't do that maybe try adding it on day 3 or four of the fermentation?).

A final piece of advise, though you have no doubt heard it already if you have searched 'honey beer' on this forum. Steer clear of eucalyptus honey for your brew, over time it will give your beer a menthol after-taste. Woolworths sells different types for about $5 for 400g and they tell you what type it is, eg. golden wattle etc.

Well that my two cents, I hope some of my ramblings is useful for you.

 

[Takasonfletcher]

This is after almost 1 week in bottle, very strong honey taste I'm hoping will mellow out over time

 

[menoetes]

The honey taste will fade, I made one back in August and I can barely taste the honey at all now (I'm sorry to say). If I did it again I would prime with honey too as I love the taste of it in beer. Also I would use saaz hops to compliment the taste. I'm pretty sure that the Matilda Bay Beez Neez doesn't actually have any honey in it at all, the flavor is just a combination of the wheat malt, yeast and the Saaz.

Your beer looks awesome though, nice head and an excellent color.

 

[Takasonfletcher]

Honey taste is gcomoletely gone except for a slight hint not much head retention after a couple of minutes but a decent lacing, I'm thinking all the honey has dried or thinned it out but that's my drunk prognosis

Here's a pic with some home made biltong any Africans reading this will understand this combination

 

[TimT]

Honey can take very long to ferment so be wary when using it in brews and expecting to be able to bottle them in the normal 1-2 week time frame.

I just bottled a honey altbier that had been slowing down over a series of months - took it about 3.5 monhs to stop.