adding honey

[bazooka]

has anyone tried adding honey to thier beer? I've seen a couple of recipes that call for honey, and was curious as to what kind of results it would bring.

[b3s]

it adds more fermentable sugar, so alcohol is increased. however, honey takes longer to ferment, so it may (depending on quantity) increase fermentation time. due to the small quantity i added and the dry hopping, i did not notice a significant difference in taste. the beer, overall, was drier.

[ray m]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by b3s
i did not notice a significant difference in taste.

Same here...I have, on a couple of occasions, added a couple pounds of honey to recipes. Couldn't tell a difference in taste (although it seemed to have added a smoothness to it), but definitely noticed an increased fermentation time. Maybe the non-noticable flavor was attributed to boiling the honey for an hour like everything else. My experimentation continues.............

[cyanide]

If you don't mind me asking, what about adding Maple Syrup? I know that would add alcohol, but what about flavor and time?

[Tom C]

Maple Syrup and honey would be used in similar ways and times. The most I would boil either though is 10 minutes. Also, if using these sugars you may want to consider caronating with them as well rather than corn sugar. This will enhance the flovoring.

Tom C

[mlsuggs]

If you use maple syrup, make sure it's 100% pure maple syrup, not one of the mass-produced store-bought types. Those tend to use artificial flavorings, which (in my experience, YMMV) don't get altered by the fermentation process... I've had a maple-mead that you could put on your pancakes due to this. :)

--Michael

[b3s]

actually, with honey, i don't boil it at all. i bring a honey-water solution to pasteurization temps (180F) for 5 minutes, then cool it off and pour it into the carboy before the wort...still didn't affect flavor that much...but like i said, the beer was drier and took longer to ferment.

while i've never used it, i imagine that maple syrup would impart a subtle flavor and i would probably use the same process (pasteurization temps for 5 minutes).

[wortchillergoal]

Originally posted by cyanide
If you don't mind me asking, what about adding Maple Syrup? I know that would add alcohol, but what about flavor and time?
I mentioned this in another thread. I had a beer that was primed with maple syrup. The brewer od this beer told me it took months for the maple flavor to come through. The beer tasted so-so until the maple showed up and then it was a "man this is great" beer.

[wortchillergoal]

All this talk of adding flavor to the beer just reminded of an odd one. A gent I knew in the homebrew business had a guy bring hime a beer that was flavored with A-1 steak sauce. I was told that the beer was not to bad.

[b3s]

gack! a1 steak sauce? a bit off the wall for me...i like my beer to be, well, beer flavored ;)

[sallad]

i've used honey a few times, and had great results. i've always used it with extract syrup with a ratio of about 4-5lb extract per 1lb honey. it does take longer to ferment, and i noticed that it ages VERY well.

i found that the last couple bottles of my first honey brew (a few of months after bottling) were way better than it was 3-4 weeks after bottling. now i try to not drink more than half a batch within the first month, and let the rest age for a few months before finishing them off!!

[mmmBeer...]

I’ve done 3 batches with honey in them in the last 2 months, and I really like the flavour the honey imparts. It also seems to mellow out the beer, and increase the smoothness of the beer. I used about 2.5 pounds in a 6-gallon batch with about 6 pounds of DME.