Hi all, I have a brewing question with a lot of variables. I'm trying to best understand what likely happened, looking for thoughts. I am brewing a honey Pale Ale, 95% grain 5% wildflower honey (added during final 20 min of boil). SG was 1.055. Northwest Ale Yeast fermented for 4 days at 65 degrees until Krausen broke, ramped temp to 72 over 4 days for diacetyl rest. No activity for days with a stable gravity of 1.009. Racked to CO2 purged 2ndary on top of 3oz of wildflower honey. I was expecting some activity due to the honey in the 2ndary but after 10 days at 70 degrees nothing. Yesterday I added 1oz Cascade to dry hop and within a few hours I have a frothy head of Krausen and airlock activity (albeit very slow). This activity and krausen have persisted 24 hours. Very slow bubbling, like one a minute. My theory is the yeast found the honey added at 2ndary and is now chewing away. But why didn't it do this before the dry hop? The activity began within a matter of hours after dry hopping so I don't think it's hop creep. I originally thought it was just CO2 nucleation but lasting 24 hours with Krausen? Could the dry hop have added anything that jump started the yeast onto the honey? I'm thinking nutrients. Could the CO2 nucleation from the dry hop addition stirred the beer to better dilute the honey on the bottom? I'm not worried about the batch, I'm more trying to understand whats happening since I've never seen this before and I'm a routine dry-hopper. I feel like I'm overthinking this, happy to hear thoughts/opinions.
My guess is that the answer is "yes." If the honey wasn't well mixed into the beer, then yeast would have had a hard time metabolizing it - the honey itself and the immediately adjacent beer might have had so much sugar that it would be deadly to any yeast that found their way down there. Adding the hops helped spread the honey through the beer and at a lower concentration it became available for the yeast to consume. This could be a self-perpetuating process, since the fermentation will circulate the beer and pick up dissolved honey off the bottom. But you could also give the fermenter a little swirl to help the process along. This is all just a guess, I've never experienced this situation before.
Prett much what @Beer_Life said. If you rack gently onto a pile of honey, it can take a while for it to dissolve.
Thanks both, that's my strongest hunch too. Just want a sanity check more than anything. Swirling a 2ndary makes me feel pretty uneasy, although it was primed with CO2. I've never added honey during the 2ndary, I added it raw. Is it better to dilute a bit (maybe 50%) with boiled water first? Or maybe better to add near the end of the primary fermentation? I'm trying not to get full conversion, going for a touch of honey undertones.
As far as the krausen, hopping, etc., I'd agree with @Beer_Life & @VikeMan the undiluted honey was probably being worked very slowly. Adding the dry hops introduced nucleation sites, CO2 started offgassing, which would cause the beer to slowly move around against the honey stirring it into solution, diluting it, and accelerating the fermentation which gave you the krausen. For any future batches using honey in fermented/fermenting beer, I would add as fermentation peaks in primary. The diacetyl rest you did in primary was effectively nullified as you then added new fermentables that will generate diacetyl precursors that will need to be removed again. For this beer, I would have fermented for 4 days, drizzled the honey slowly into the fermenter allowing the churning beer to dilute it over the course of maybe 3-5 minutes, let it go another 2-3 days, ramp to 75, let it clean up and finish, rack to dryhops.
I'm thinking @Beer_Life might have been referring to swirling the secondary vessel without removing the lid, not reaching into the vessel with a long spoon/paddle to stir the beer. There should be minimal concern about oxygen intrusion if the fermentor remains sealed, if that's what you were uneasy about.
Thanks, will do this next time. The honey in the 2ndary was only 1% of the total amount of fermentable, is this enough to add detectable amounts of diacetyl?
I have found any time I dry hop the ferment picks up for a day or 2. the hops do add a nucleation effect for me and combine that with the non mixed sugar I think that is it. whenever I add liquid or granular sugars I dilute in water, bring it to a boil and add. brew on
Probably not, but possible. I hate diacetyl, so anything that has the potential to create it I avoid like the plague.
yes, trace amounts in certain beers is acceptable, and even "to style". But man, I get straight popcorn on way too many entries to comps.
I'm gonna disagree slightly with the others. I don't think 3 ounces of honey added to secondary is gonna do anything at all that will be noticeable. And boiling honey for 20 minutes removes pretty much all of its all the flavor components that you would have wanted in your beer-it's basically just fermentable sugar after 20 minutes.
Agree. I never had an infection adding honey to cooled primary wort and boiling just not for me for reducing its flavor.
