Adding honey to a brew

Essex_Lad · Jan 19, 2012

Hi All,

I am looking to kick off a new brew tonight which is going to be a batch of Wherry. After reading a few posts about adding honey to a brew im tempted to try this myself.

My question is to anyone who has done this with previous brews as I would like to know how much honey to add? I donât want to go OTT but I was thinking maybe 500g, do you think this would be too little or too much?

Iâm planning on a 32 pint brew. : cheers:

:

RobWalker · Jan 19, 2012

Honey leaves a slightly different aftertaste. It will also dry your beer out, so I would suggest brewing it a few pints short, but that will increase the abv of course...either that or add equal parts light dme and honey.

You can pasteuriZe it to remove any germs too. Not sure how as mine goes in at flame out...

Essex_Lad · Jan 20, 2012

Thanks for the reply Rob but I decided to kick the brew off lastnight wihtout the honey.

robsan77 · Jan 20, 2012

Honey should be sterile. It used to be used on cuts to prevent infections.

RobWalker · Jan 20, 2012

ah, never knew that! i've just heard it's useful to pasteurize. interesting :)
it's also recommended not to boil it because it'll lose the aroma, which is the main thing it supplies...

carl_saint · Jan 20, 2012

Honey is sterile. It has an indefinite shelf life also. the only reason they put a use by date on jars is it's required by law.

artiums_enteri · Jan 20, 2012

Honey is a living food if it's not pasteurized. It has a lot of bacteria in it along with enzymes. That's why it's recommended to use fresh wild honey with no preservatives to meads and honey beers.

Honey is also very delicate being very easy to destroy the flavor and aroma. It is normally advised to add it at flame out when the water or wort is still at boiling temp. This will keep the integrity of the honey while still killing the bacteria present. Another thing to be aware of is honey will ferment down fully. If the essence of honey is the desired outcome then adding it to secondary is usually the preferred method unless you are making a mead.

Adding honey to a brew

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