Adding honey during secondary - increases ABV?

[BrewingChip]

Hey all,

Still new to this whole brewing thing. A week ago I brewed a pale ale and my OG was only 1.030 when it was supposed to be 1.043. Since the intended ABV was supposed to be 4.5% and since I am guessing it'll now be around 3%, would adding honey during secondary or as a late addition to primary increase the ABV? Just curious.

I am also strongly considering splitting this 3 gallon batch next week and adding some mango puree to half of it, so if I added honey during secondary I would likely add it with the puree.

Any recommendations for any of this are welcome!

 

[btbnl]

Yes - provided the conditions are suitable (not too cool, not too high ABV) the yeast will eat any sugar you add at any point in the process. For the biggest beers people often feed the wort with simple sugars during fermentation.

 

[mulletmaster]

Was it an all grain or extract brew with top up water added to fermenter?

 

[flars]

Was this all grain, extract, or partial mash? Most likely a bad SG sample if any top water was used. Difficult to completely mix the boiled wort and top off water to get a true SG.

 

[BrewingChip]

This was my first attempt at BIAB. I had to top off with almost 2 gallons of water. I realized the instructions were botched from my LHBS (I know, there's no possible way it could be MY fault ).

After I added the top water I had a reading of about 1.025; after shaking vigorously for 5 minutes I recorded another reading and read 1.030 or slightly over. I am PRAYING the OG was higher than what I was able to record and that it did not fully mix.

Since this recipe isn't going to blow anyone away, would it be worth it to experiment with trying to boost the ABV with at least a gallon of the batch? If so, how/when would I do so?!

 

[BrewingChip]

Yes - provided the conditions are suitable (not too cool, not too high ABV) the yeast will eat any sugar you add at any point in the process. For the biggest beers people often feed the wort with simple sugars during fermentation.

How would you recommend raising the ABV after a week of fermenting? Would it make my situation worse off, do you think?

 

[Vandulus]

If you're adding honey to the secondary, you may want to consider pasteurizing fro a short time it if it's raw. You might be able to get away with adding ti directly, but with the low ABV, it wouldn't hurt.

 

[BrewingChip]

If you're adding honey to the secondary, you may want to consider pasteurizing fro a short time it if it's raw. You might be able to get away with adding ti directly, but with the low ABV, it wouldn't hurt.

How much honey would you add per gallon? Would you mix it with boiling water?

 

[biochemedic]

You don't need to pasteurize it. Average honey is ~ 1.038 pppg (points per pound per gallon). This means that for every pound of honey in a gallon, you should get 38 gravity points. Dividing that out into a 3 gal batch, a pound of honey would give you 12-13 points. The best way to add honey or any other sugar is to heat up a pint (or two, depending on how much you're adding) of water to just warm enough to dissolve the sugar/honey. You can add this directly to your fermenter. I'd be astounded if you didn't restart fermentation unless you were to cold crash at the same time (and then watch out when you warm back up!)

 

[BrewingChip]

You don't need to pasteurize it. Average honey is ~ 1.038 pppg (points per pound per gallon). This means that for every pound of honey in a gallon, you should get 38 gravity points. Dividing that out into a 3 gal batch, a pound of honey would give you 12-13 points. The best way to add honey or any other sugar is to heat up a pint (or two, depending on how much you're adding) of water to just warm enough to dissolve the sugar/honey. You can add this directly to your fermenter. I'd be astounded if you didn't restart fermentation unless you were to cold crash at the same time (and then watch out when you warm back up!)

So if I did this, would I add those 12-13 points to the original gravity even though the beer has been fermenting for over a week now? I guess I am confused how I would calculate my ABV.

I might try this, but do you think it is worth it to try it if my current beer (pale ale) is going to end up at around 3%?

 

[biochemedic]

So if I did this, would I add those 12-13 points to the original gravity even though the beer has been fermenting for over a week now? I guess I am confused how I would calculate my ABV.

I might try this, but do you think it is worth it to try it if my current beer (pale ale) is going to end up at around 3%?

That's exactly right...doesn't matter when you add the sugar, what matters for your effective OG is how many points are available for fermentation. You can add the effect of an addition directly to your measured OG.

Realize too that 1.038 pppg is an average, some honey could be 36, another honey could be 40 pppg. You can also measure a pre- and post- addition gravity to see how many points you've added, but this does require a good mixing to be sure you've fully distributed the addition.

Also be aware that adding a nearly 100% fermentable sugar can end up thinning out your body and mouthfeel. Honey does have some proteins as well though so that can help preserve things a bit. You could also consider adding some maltodextran as well if it comes out thin...