Disappointed with using honey in beer.

[CanadianBacon]

I have made 2 beers with honey and 6 with brown sugar, It turns out every time I use honey I find it more dry and sour when the brown sugar, Almost tastes like an IPA when i'm making light beer. Anyone else have this issue? I think ill be sticking to light brown ( cane sugar ) from now on.

 

[hotspurdotus]

When are you adding the honey to beer, and how much are adding?

Honey can be tricky to use. If you want to retain the flavor and aroma, you'll need to add it after flameout. My procedure is to wait until the wort drops to 150F. Then, take some wort from the kettle and use it to disolve the honey. Then add it back into the kettle.

If you're only adding a lb of honey to a 5 gallon batch, the flavor won't be very noticable. It will just dry the beer out and raise the ABV, like any other fermentable sugar.

 

[Hello]

Even if adding at flameout, you still won't get that huge honey presence because it will still ferment. You'll get some, but not what anyone expects.

I found now that using honey malt is a great way to get that honey flavor without drying out the beer. I also do not risk getting that weird off flavor that honey can produce. Honey, once fully fermented, can sometimes taste tart (best word I have today) to me. The two beers I used honey in were okay but the one I used a lot in, that one had to age 6 months before it was even drinkable.

Here is all John Palmer has to say:
http://howtobrew.com/section4/chapter20-3.html

Here is what Brew Dudes has to say:
http://www.brew-dudes.com/brewing-beer-with-honey/519

 

[IslandLizard]

I've read adding honey to a secondary helps in retaining more flavor. Doing it that way also takes a month or more for the yeast to consume it, as it is not easily fermented.

Brown sugar is white sugar with molasses added back in. Not sure if it's just me but I find fermented molasses has a slight metallic taste, which I find objectionable in beer unless masked by other flavors.

+1 to the honey malt. I get more honey like flavors from that than honey itself. Using as little as 4oz in a 5 gallon batch is subtle and just detectable. Gambrinus is the only maltster that makes it, there is no substitute.

 

[Warthaug]

Doing it that way also takes a month or more for the yeast to consume it, as it is not easily fermented.

This is a myth, and I suspect stems from the poor mead-making methods home brewers used upto the late 1990's. Honey is mostly glucose and fructose, both of which are easily fermented by yeast. Indeed, mead fermentations (100% honey) complete almost as fast as equivalent gravity beer ferments, assuming sufficient nutrients and pitch rate. The slow fermentation rates honey is "known" for stems mostly from historical practices of underpitching mead musts with insufficient nutrient additions.

I've added honey a number of times to the secondary; so long as you are doing it soon after the transfer to the secondary vessel (e.g. before too much yeast drops out), and you're not adding too much (rough guideline would be no more than 10-15% of total gravity) it should ferment out in a few days.

I'd also add to Hello's comment in pointing out that "normal" honey (the stuff in the grocery store, AKA clover honey) is pretty mild tasting and even in larger quantities will not add too much honey flavour/aroma to the beer. Stronger tasting honeys are available - mesquite, buckwheat, orange, etc - and will add more of a character to the beer (although each adds a very different character). Look for filtered honey - it'll retain more of the honey flavours and aromas than pasturized honey, and is still of low infection risk. Raw honey - which is usually filled with bee legs and whatnot - carries more of an infection risk.

Bryan

 

[IslandLizard]

Myth or not, I've seen reports here on HBT where it allegedly took a long time in a secondary. I was wondering about why that was, as indeed, honey consists mostly of simple sugars, and if used in the primary the yeast goes rampant. As you said, it likely has to do with low yeast count and lack of nutrients after racking and alcohol present plays a role too. Cold crashing before racking reduces the yeast count drastically, but there should be enough left or bottle carbonation would become impossible.

I have a beer or 2 lined up for secondary honey additions and see what happens. I tend to ferment primary, and the few cases I use a secondary, on the cool side to keep fusel alcohol formation minimal.

 

[catdaddy66]

I have used honey before with excellent results, as in top 10% of brews I've done. Will use honey malt for the first time in next batch or so. I love the flavor it gives and can't wait to try the malt itself. Hmmmm... Maybe in a Red ale


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew