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Having done yet more research; here is my conclusion when it comes to the impact of adding honey to your brew:

 

Honey has antibacterial properties, meaning that it will kill off bacteria.

Low levels of bacteria will be present in all but the completely sterile environments, which can only be created in a laboratory, or other completely controlled environment, such as a commercial brewery or the like.

 

As honey eliminates bacteria, it eliminates the competition of the yeast (in nature yeasts, bacteria and virus's are generally in a war for supremacy of the environment, including within the human body), which therefore means the yeast is better able to get on with the job of converting sugars into alcohol.

 

This in turn means that adding honey to your wort will not only add flavour, colour, texture and depending on quantities alcohol, it will also help the yeast more efficiently convert the sugars into beer.

 

The end result being a change in the character of your beer, and less unfermented sugars in the beer, so a "dryer" feeling and tasting beer. Presumably that may also mean a lower calorie count, though I am happy to be corrected on this point.

 

Brewing is both a science and an art, there are no absolutes, and even if you COULD control ALL of the variables; would you really want to take all the fun out along the way?

 

All the ingredients in a beer contribute to its taste, character, feel, texture and colour, and in turn all the variables that impact on the ingredients in their way also have in influence.

 

That in a nutshell is all I had to say on the matter of adding honey to beer.

I'll be bottling mine in the next few days, and by all accounts, it's the best tasting beer I've come across, incluing home made, commercial and craft beers.

Not bad for my second batch with my Coopers DIY beer kit (though I made numerous brews in other kits more than ten years ago)

 

I'll definitetly be making some beer with honey again, and I've learned two important lessons from this experience:

 

1) don't be afraid to experiment, even if it means going against the advice others might give.

2) if someone tries to take your thread off topic, keep on topic and don't take the bait - they'll bring themselves undone, and it's not worth getting involved in an arguement with someone who has nothing better to do than take petty shots for their own gratification.

 

One more thing to add, to quote the Dalai Lama:

"When you are warm-hearted, there is no room for anger, jealousy or insecurity."

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AdamH1525226084

AdamH1525226084

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Hey Ben

Continuing on with beer related stuff..

 

I made a gluten free beer and boiled the honey I used (1kg to go with the 3 kg of Sorghum) - but that was because I had to put the hops in something. It's not ready to taste yet - only just gone a week in the bottle.

 

It's not really a beer I can say what different it's made, cos it's something completely new for me. I just hope it tastes better than the commercial gluten free beers I've had. I added a crapload of hops [love]

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Guest

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Gluten free beer? Sounds interesting.

I have no idea if the whole gluten free thing is beneficial,unless you're gluten intollerant, but either way, it's always good to experiment with new ingredients.

That's where cooking and home brewing have some similarities; if you keep making things the same way it starts getting a bit bland and boring, so spicing it it with something new will always be worthwhile.

 

I really need to get some new bottles for my nearly finished brew.

I went past Kmart countless times thiking I should get some, and of course now when I go there, there are none in stock.

 

Let me know how the gluten free works out, I'm always keen to try something new and share experiences with others.

 

So glad that not everyone on here is into the whole ego trip that spoiled my original APA with Honey thread - though there's now a whole thread about the incident that looks like it's going the same way...

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LordEoin

LordEoin

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If you keep continually bringing it up, this one is likely to also. I created the 'what the hell happened?' thread to stop it from spilling into other threads and to get some facts about what actually happened.

 

Honey has antibacterial properties, meaning that it will kill off bacteria.

.........

As honey eliminates bacteria, it eliminates the competition of the yeast

Wow, that's quite a leap of reasoning... Honey won't eliminate bacteria. If it did we'd probably all use it as a sanitizer and our hopsitals would be full of honey.

 

Honey actually contains some bacteria and even yeast.

That's why you shouldnt give it to babies, it can make them very sick because of spores of this bacteria

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SteveM33

SteveM33

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Honey has antibacterial properties, meaning that it will kill off bacteria.

Antibacterial Properties does not necessarily mean that it will "kill off bacteria". My understanding is that it could just inhibit bacterial growth.

 

Low levels of bacteria will be present in all but the completely sterile environments, which can only be created in a laboratory, or other completely controlled environment, such as a commercial brewery or the like.

Does this mean that Commercial Breweries do not have infections because they are completely controlled environments?... I don't know for sure but I have experienced infected brews, I'm just asking the question.

 

As honey eliminates bacteria, it eliminates the competition of the yeast (in nature yeasts, bacteria and virus's are generally in a war for supremacy of the environment, including within the human body), which therefore means the yeast is better able to get on with the job of converting sugars into alcohol.

+1 to other posts above stating that honey does not eliminate bacteria.

 

This in turn means that adding honey to your wort will not only add flavour, colour, texture and depending on quantities alcohol, it will also help the yeast more efficiently convert the sugars into beer.

How does honey help yeast turn sugar into beer. I actually thought honey was considered a sugar itself and that yeast turn sugars into alcohol and fermented wort = beer. Therefore, a percentage of the honey is most likely to be consumed by the yeast.

 

The end result being a change in the character of your beer, and less unfermented sugars in the beer, so a "dryer" feeling and tasting beer.

I would have thought unfermented sugars in a beer would actually make the beer sweeter, not dryer. How is it so that it will make it dryer?

 

I'll definitetly be making some beer with honey again, and I've learned two important lessons from this experience:

 

1) don't be afraid to experiment, even if it means going against the advice others might give.

2) if someone tries to take your thread off topic, keep on topic and don't take the bait - they'll bring themselves undone, and it's not worth getting involved in an arguement with someone who has nothing better to do than take petty shots for their own gratification.

Who is taking petty shots for their own gratification?... it appears you are here. Have I missed something?

 

 

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guest1525228310

guest1525228310

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Steve' date=' LESS unfermented sugars [wink'] so it would be slightly thinner and 'dryer'. You're right though, the more unfermented sugars left, the more residual sweetness and fuller body in the brew.

 

I'll agree with the rest of your post though.

 

+1

You took the words out of my mouth Kelsey

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