APA with Honey Underway

[Nick]

no worries Chad...and dont worry too much about the lobotomy, it doesnt hurt a bit[biggrin]

[Canadian Eh!L]

Nah...they'll be back sooner, all with diff username and profiles. i had a look at the AHB site earlier, boring as shite and dead as a nuns nasty. No fun for them there!!!

 

Everyone claimed they won the "lets spot lusty". These blokes might be a lot harder

 

 

I thought I noticed someone in the back corner of the pub that looked like NEDG...

 

But, when I looked again these where the only things that remained![biggrin]

 

 

[guest1525228310]

Getting back OT, does anyone know where we can get any "definitive" advice on whether honey needs to be pasteurised when adding to a brew.

 

 

Do not pasteurise it. You can only really do that by boiling it and that defeats the purpose. If you want the flavour do not even add at flame out. Add on about day 3 of fermentation is my advice.

Do not worry about infection - the Egyptians embalmed bodies in the stuff.

[Guest]

My understanding, and I started this thread and have done some independent research since, is that you should warm up the honey, but not boil it, as boiling will reduce the flavour of the honey. As honey has antibacterial properties (you never find honey with mould or bacteria growing in it), there should be no need to do anything more than blend it with your other ingredients, granted you may need to warm it up to make it viscous enough to stir through.

You also want to watch your quantities and ratios; if you go over 30% using honey as a fermentable ingredient you are actually making Braggot rather than beer. If it is mostly honey it becomes mead.

Some may choose to use honey for carbonation in place of sugar, and the flavour may be more pronounced if you do this.

 

There was some conjecture about the fermentability of honey, but typically it's somewhere between 80 - 95%. Bees don't make their honey in a lab, so you can't make a blanket statement to cover every variety of every batch of honey.

 

Obviously there are many variables in beer making, and equally so in the production of the ingredients, that's why home brewers may find one batch varies from another that seemingly was made with the same ingredients under the same conditions.

 

That's why professional brewers blend their products, so that each batch ends up consistent, much like with some wines and many spirits.

 

I'm really glad this thread got back to what it was supposed to be; a discussion about making beer with honey, and not the ego contest it was turning into.

 

Thanks Coopers, and thanks to those who had a genuine interest and made worthwhile contributions, that were not just having shots at each other or trying to look more knowledgable than they were without providing justification or evidence to back themselves up.

 

Cheers.

 

Ben.

[Guest]

My understanding, and I started this thread and have done some independent research since, is that you should warm up the honey, but not boil it, as boiling will reduce the flavour of the honey. As honey has antibacterial properties (you never find honey with mould or bacteria growing in it), there should be no need to do anything more than blend it with your other ingredients, granted you may need to warm it up to make it viscous enough to stir through.

You also want to watch your quantities and ratios; if you go over 30% using honey as a fermentable ingredient you are actually making Braggot rather than beer. If it is mostly honey it becomes mead.

Some may choose to use honey for carbonation in place of sugar, and the flavour may be more pronounced if you do this.

 

There was some conjecture about the fermentability of honey, but typically it's somewhere between 80 - 95%. Bees don't make their honey in a lab, so you can't make a blanket statement to cover every variety of every batch of honey.

 

Obviously there are many variables in beer making, and equally so in the production of the ingredients, that's why home brewers may find one batch varies from another that seemingly was made with the same ingredients under the same conditions.

 

That's why professional brewers blend their products, so that each batch ends up consistent, much like with some wines and many spirits.

 

I'm really glad this thread got back to what it was supposed to be; a discussion about making beer with honey, and not the ego contest it was turning into.

 

Thanks Coopers, and thanks to those who had a genuine interest and made worthwhile contributions, that were not just having shots at each other or trying to look more knowledgable than they were without providing justification or evidence to back themselves up.

 

Cheers.

 

Ben.

well said[biggrin] why dont you have name on post??its a bit of a different site this one?

[GregT5]

It has been a bit interesting on here of late. I have found over the past 2 years that it is not the norm for this forum.

 

There is a wealth of brewing knowledge & experience here. Hopefully it gets back to what it has been.

 

I personally haven't tried honey in a brew. I wouldn't think priming your bottles with honey would be that practicable unless you were bulk priming. Measuring a small dose of honey & getting it in a bottle would be messy at best. I think I will to stick to bulk priming with dex.

[Hairy]

I guess you could make a liquid of water and honey and then syringe it into each bottle, but two things:

 

1. I'm not sure if you would get a consistent mix, and

2. I reckon it would be a pain in the A.

 

I have never used beer in brewing; I don't mind the odd beer with honey but it isn't something I would drink often. If the fermentability of honey varies as much as is stated then I wouldn't want to prime with it. I don't mind a little unpredictability in the brew but not with my carbonation.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I have never used beer in brewing.

 

[lol] [lol] Probably a good move there. [innocent]

 

[GregT5]

Ordinarily I would agree with Hairy, but I can't on this occasion.

 

Looking back on my brewing notes most of my recipes start with "Pour 425ml of beer into the brewer" [cool] [biggrin]

[Hairy]

[pinched]

 

I had to read the above posts three times before what I wrote sunk in. I'm a bit tired from a late night last night [innocent]

 

Anyway, it is probably debatable that what I produce from brewing is called beer [biggrin]

[GregT5]

Kelsey started it [innocent]

[Otto Von Blotto]

LOL Greg. Most of mine start like that too[biggrin]

[PhilboBaggins]

I don't like arguing with people. I just like beer. Wanna argue about it?

[Andy Ale]

He is not the messiah, he is a very naughty boy! is what springs to mind. I am kinda glad I missed it all.

[PhilboBaggins]

FACT: I've had a few.

FACT: I love yous guys.

FACT: I just wanna talk about making great beer.

FACT: People who wanna duke it out should do so in real life.

FACT: I love yous guys.

[GregT5]

...and we love you too, Phil....now where's ya fridge [cool]

[Hairy]

I take it Phil is a happy drunk [biggrin]

[Scottie]

Honey (No I'm not referring to Phil)

 

As I said I didn't pasteurise, however initially I was going to place it in a pot in an oven heated to 70'C for about an hour.

Something like BeerSmith says here, although that's not where I got my initial info.

 

Anyway I will find out in about 6 weeks when this keg moves up the line, it has fermented out and didn't taste [sick]

 

If I was going to brew all the time with honey then I might reconsider the process. BTW Craigtube just added his from the tub too [biggrin]

[Hairy]

BTW Craigtube just added his from the tub too [biggrin]

So does that mean you should do it or not? [lol]

 

Sorry, I should refrain from posting potential fiery/explosive topics for a while [innocent]

[Scottie]

I think what Craigtube does is show that you don't need to be a chemical engineer to brew a decent brew. He was rapt with his Coopers stout and a kg of sugar.

But then we know if you follow the advice of those who have gone (no pun intended) before us you are going to make a truly excellent beer.

 

So in saying that honey is like a nice detour, but upon tasting my current brew its one I am wondering whether I should have took.

 

[Nick]

 

So in saying that honey is like a nice detour, but upon tasting my current brew its one I am wondering whether I should have took.

Hi Scottie, only making 2 brews with honey hardly gives me the right to advise you, but honestly, the improvement between a fortnight and a month in the bottle was unreal. try not to think about it and when you finally have a crack, you will either be pleasently surprised, or learnt a lesson. either way you dont lose

[PhilboBaggins]

I take it Phil is a happy drunk [biggrin]

 

Only danger is being hugged to death. [lol]

[LordEoin]

I missed all of the shenanigans again?

Stupid internet's been acting up.

 

I've never put honey in a beer, but from what I've gathered from others boiling it will ruin it and adding it neat is no problem to the yeast.

[Guest]

Updating on my APA with honey:

It foamed up beautifully, then seemed to stall a bit, and had seperated into layers.

So I put in about 6 Table Spoons of White sugar, gave it a good stir, and it foamed up like nobodies business. A couple of days later, the colour has now gone a nice golden amber colour, and having had a sneaky taste it's nearly ready and got a bit of zing to it.

 

I'll take my first SG test since it started ferment tomorrow, but fingers crossed I'll have it bottled by Saturday and be drinking it within about three weeks.

There is just a hint of honey flavour to it, and the texture and mouth feel is quite different to other beers I've brewed.

 

With a few minor adjustments I'll probably do this one again.

 

For a reminder, it was the stock standard Coopers APA with the BE2 as recommended, with the BE2 blended and warmed with 500ml Capilano Australian Honey (the standard one not the fancy blended stuff) and water, then added to the APA mix whilst warm, then all the usual.

 

I know it's nowhere near as adventurous as those of you who soure malt, grain or your own hops and yeast, rather than using stock standard Coopers gear, but a little tweaking with a tried and tested formula is not a bad way to go, either as a starting point with experimentation, or just to vary your otherwise standard DIY beers.

 

As I'm also a keen gardener, has anyone had experience growing their own hops? I'd like to try that, as I could have the experience of growing one of my own ingredients, adding it to the wort, and then knowing my brew was made using something I nurtured from soil to bottle.

[happy]

Cheers.

 

Ben.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Everyone's gotta start somewhere, I made some pretty kickarse beers from Coopers kits and experimenting with other bits before eventually moving up to all grain recipes. Interested to hear how it turns out.

 

There are a couple of guys on here who grow their own hops. I did an apprenticeship in horticulture but it was more centred around turf being on a golf course. I haven't yet experimented with growing my own hops though, there's probably not much point given we seem to have inherited some scrub turkeys that like to destroy everything in sight. [annoyed]