Adding Honey

I add honey 3 days into ferment or during 170*F hop stand. Not really sure what you mean by "one week left of fermentation" as most beers are at terminal gravity in ~ 4 days.

Edit: Honey shouldn't take any longer than table sugar to ferment...@ 4 oz, I wouldn't even bother unless you missed your OG by a mile.

 

If you add it, you need to wait until the gravity if stable before bottling, unless you are counting that as your priming sugar addition in which case.. it doesn't sound like it was enough to make it carb myself, but I didn't care enough to calculate it out.

It'll ferment out just as fast as anything else. It should be done fermenting the honey out in a week, but that much.. won't even know you added it.

 

Its sugars will still ferment out.

 

Yes. Unless you are at some ABV that's pushing the limits of your yeast. The simple sugars in honey are an easy snack.

 

Yep.

 

I'm gonna jump on your thread Tasty so I don't have to start a new one if you don't mind. It looks like you found your answer.

At the girlfriend's insistence for a little sweetness, I added about 5 tbsps of raw honey to a 4.5 gallon batch of Belgian Blonde right before bottling. The measured gravity was 1.014 (adjusted for temp) after 14 days primary, 10 days secondary. 1.015 was final OG for the recipe. The honey was brought to a light boil for about 5 minutes with 5 oz of tap water and then taken off the heat. (don't want to get into to boil or not about honey here though). I added with a slow stir to the bottling bucket. Then added 5 oz of dissolved priming sugar. Then bottled. Bottle bombs? The honey has about 16g of sugar per 1 tbsp (21g). So calculation would be 5 oz sugar - 141 grams + (5 tbsp honey x 16 gram sugar) = 221 grams of total sugar = 7.7 ounces.

But does honey have the same effect as priming sugar? Did boiling reduce it's sugar content? Was the FG good enough to not have the possibility of additional fermentation? Should I recap in a week to be safe? So many questions argh - sorry.

 

I'd be concerned. Over carbed at a minimum. Adding fermentable sugars does not increase sweetness ever! As for boiling driving off sugars? Heck no. Boiling drives off water and leaves everything else behind in a more concentrated state than before (but with the same amount of stuff there).

 

Unfortunately all the sugars in the honey are going to ferment in the bottle. They won't add sweetness.

Per unit of sugar, yes.

No. Not unless you boiled the bejeezus out of it in the presence of amino acids.

If your primary fermentation was finished, the sugars from the honey and the priming sugar are still going to ferment. That's how the CO2 is made.

Assuming your numbers are correct regarding the grams of sugar per TBSP of honey, you're looking at something like 4.4 total volumes of CO2. That's bomb territory.

 

I use honey for priming in most of batches. I know from experience that it does take longer to carbonate that priming sugar. Usually, it's a month.

On the bright side, using honey gives you a nice head with very tight bubbles (like a Guinness head).


Phil

 

yeah, I wasn't thinking of the sugar in honey as being a "fermentable". I usually don't add anything so I kinda blanked out on that. One time I added vanilla extract just before bottling which of course doesn't have the same affect. I failed chemistry in high school.

Can I save the batch by re-capping? I'm guessing about 4-5 days to let the fermentation start but not complete. That way the built up pressure can be released but b/c of the over abundance of sugar it will continue to ferment for a little while longer thus producing more CO2 after re-capping.

 

I'd say it's worth a try. Better that than explosive bottles. I would probably open a bottle a day to see how it's coming to avoid a big surprise. Too many variables (yeast health, strain, temp, ABV environment) to say that 4-5 days is the right time.

 

Good strategy. How can you tell when to recap the whole batch? When it foams more than normal, when it gushes or when there is a audible pressure pop? Should I chill before hand for a few hours just in case?

 

Well, if we're looking at 4.4 volumes total, that's about twice a typical carbonation level (for most styles). So i'd probably uncap them when the current carbonation level seems a little above normal, let it degas for a while, and recap. It's going to introduce some O2...there's really no way around that, but it's better than explosives.

 

And tell your girlfriend to mind her own business when it comes to brewing.

If she likes honey sweetness, toss a bit of honey malt in the grist next time. It's like honey on steroids.

 

At 4.4 volumes I'd imagine that beer would foam over if not gush. You really wouldn't be able to let it sit.

 

That's why I'm suggesting OP degas before it gets that far.