Thinking about adding honey to a kit...

ClarenceBoddicker · Feb 11, 2014

I'm about to embark on kit No3 - Brewferm Diabolo, and I fancy adding 250g of honey just to try something a little different. I'm still going to use 525g of Candi sugar (although I only have the amber and not white as the instructions suggest). Firstly, is it worth it flavour and abv-wise?

Secondly, I note that honey is not the most stable ingredient to add so I am thinking of dissolving in hot water and adding at the same time as the candi sugar prior to initial fermentation. Any thoughts/advice? Will it take longer to ferment? Could it ruin the beer?

Maybe I should just stick to instructions for now but I feel I need to progress a little. This home brew 'hobby' has taken over my life since I started 5 weeks ago!

Drinking: Woodforde's Wherry
FV1: Brewferm Triple (secondary fermentation)
FV2: Ready for Diabolo!

dennisking · Feb 13, 2014

Never use honey myself but bumping this to see if anyone can help.

ClarenceBoddicker · Feb 17, 2014

Well today's the day so I will set the diabolo off without honey just in case. Using golden syrup instead of sugar though. Thanks for trying Dennis!

LeithR · Feb 17, 2014

Reading from John Palmers book "how to brew" honey has a 95% fermentability quotient against cane sugar which is 100% so you are going to introduce a little more non fermentables which will influence the taste of Diablo, probably in a good way. You will also need to add more honey than you would have if using sugar to get the same strength.

I have taken this info from table 13 on page 111 of JP's book which is actually talking about priming sugar but the facts are the same.

Good luck with your experiment. :thumb: :thumb:

jonnymorris · Feb 17, 2014

I've used honey a few times and have never managed to get that subtle honey taste into the final product. The last time I tried I added it to an American Amber Ale after the initial fermentation had died down. After heating it to 80degC for 10-15 mins to sanitise* and allowing it to cool I tipped it into the fermenter. I think I used about 600g. Did the final product have a hint of honey? It did not. None what-so-ever.

*the trick is to kill as many bacteria as possible without affecting the delicate honey aromas. Something I clearly failed to do.

ClarenceBoddicker · Feb 20, 2014

Thanks for the advice gents, I have held off as my Triple bottling took longer than planned on the day I was to start the Diabolo. Will set it off on Saturday though, and I might leave the honey out and use for priming instead, so as to (hopefully) get some honey flavour coming through. We'll see. Definitely going with golden syrup at in the FV though.

OnlyFerment · Feb 22, 2014

I haven't tried stingers but have in TC. 2lbs of honey in 5gal of TC gave a very delicately flavour. I wou,d say that any malt of
are hops would massively overpower the honey in any beer with a sensible amount of sugars in it.

Dave

Unclejona · Feb 23, 2014

Honey will change the taste over time, from sweet to super dry.
Seeing as this will be a long term conditioning phase I think that most of the honey flavour will be gone by the time you drink.
It would be well worth having a drinking schedule over a few weeks so that you get to experience these changing flavours.

Enjoy, honey is well worth playing around with in brewing

ClarenceBoddicker · Feb 23, 2014

Unclejona said:
It would be well worth having a drinking schedule over a few weeks so that you get to experience these changing flavours.

Enjoy, honey is well worth playing around with in brewing

I like the idea of a drinking schedule! I didn't use the honey in the end after some further research. Too scared of ruining a decent brew. One day when I have a few more under my belt. : cheers:

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