Honey And The Honeycomb?

[unwrittenlaw]

Looking at putting down a Coopers Canadian Blonde with BE2 in the next few days. Going to add 200g Crystal, 15g Cascade and probably dry hop with Nelson Sav. US05 Yeast. Looking at adding around 500g of honey. I bought a jar of beechworth with a bar of honeycomb in it.

Would this be wise to put in? Has it been done before? I am guessing the yeast will not agree with it. Could you boil it for 10mins or so?

Did a similar brew last year but did not get much honey taste from a jar of 400g plain honey.

 

[zabond]

The honey would be fine if you mean honeycomb as in beetype then that = beeswax which is not good in beer

 

[Sydneybrewer]

been there done that, i actually made up a coopers canadian blonde kit last year with 500g wheat DME and 500g Honey that had a honeycomb in it, i took the comb out before putting the honey in fermenter and the brew was quit a good quaffer but a fair few of the bottles seemed to have little bits of wax in them and there was a shitload of wax floating on top of the surface of the fermenter. also i dont know if it was due to the wax but it took almost an extra week to get the grav down to desired fg. p.s. it is also a big PITA to scrape wax out of the fermenter.

 

[thanme]

It would have been the honey, more than the wax that slowed the fermenting down.

 

[the_yobbo]

I can't imagine wax being much good in a beer brew. I also wouldn't have thought it would cause problems other than flakey bits making their way through the process into the bottle/glass as discribed by Sydneybrewer.
If you really want to get the most honey out of the comb, I imagine heating the honey+comb in a pot to melt the wax. Then allow the lot to cool. You could be able to remove the wax 'lid' floating on the surface leaving pure honey behind to put in the brew. (I beleive that's how it is done, It's been a good 10 years since I've helped my old man rob the bees of honey and associated processes).

 

[mwd]

Boiling honey will drive off most of the unique flavour. Pasturisation is the way to go.

Some say honey is a natural antiseptic so does not need anything doing to it.

 

[mfdu]

i've done heaps of honey beers. most recently with 1.5kg honey, coopers draught kit, galaxy hops and windsor yeast. normally with 750g honey.

i have never boiled the honey - just put the jar in a tub of hot water to thin it out, and then just pour it straight it.

also, i generally find the honey brews actually ferment faster than my standard (two-can) brews.

YRMV.

 

[unwrittenlaw]

Thanks for the advice. I opted out of the honeycomb action and whilst buying the BE2 I saw some Manuka honey (NZ), so I ended up adding about 300g of that. Let it sit in hot water for about 10mins then scooped a couple of spoonfuls into a glass of boiled water, stirred it for about 20 seconds then dropped it in.

OG was 1044, hopefully will end up with something around 5%.

My last brew was a strong ginger beer which reeked out my original fermentor so I purchased a bunnings $15 special as I can't get to the HB shop during the day with work commitments. They are $15 for a reason, definitely not as well built as the ones from the HB suppliers.

Gone with the glad wrap & rubber o-ring for a lid. A+++ will do it again!