Honey added to extract kit

GUNMAN2

Hi guys,


I'm on my 3rd homebrew batch now and decided to try something different.

I added a jar of honey from tesco.

Anyone any experience with trying this. Most of what I read is about extract brewing and not kit brewing.

I'm hoping for a bit more flavour.


Its been on for 3 days, must say it smells good and tastes alright. Doesnt seem to be fermenting as quick as my other batches, but i read somewhere that honey slows it all down.

mrtickel

I think the honey will give you a sweet taste never use it so dont no what results to expect but it should bump the alc. aswell

Carrollj

Hi gunman, i'm going through my first beer at the moment and it's going to be a honey beer. Apparently adding the honey to the secondary will give you more of a honey flavour to the beer. I've been following some advice from the guys at Beoir.org.

Here's the recipe: http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/how-to-brew/ale/strawberry-blonde

but use honey instead....

GUNMAN2

Okay... bottled this brew.. and all i can say is.. WHAT A DISASTER..!!

Theres nothing there... I used coopers carbonation drops for the first time with this one and when I opened the bottle a few weeks later... nothing.

Flat beer.

I have no idea why they wouldnt have worked.

The beer itself might not be bad, i can definitely taste the honey but theres no fizz or life in it. It tastes the same as when i syphoned into the bottles. The carbonation drops are gone but theres no fizz..

mrtickel

How many carb drops did you use per bottle also what size and type of bottles are you using.

GUNMAN2

mrtickel wrote: »

How many carb drops did you use per bottle also what size and type of bottles are you using.

One per bottle. standard 330ml....

Very disappointing, I can't understand it.

Carrollj

Hi Gunman, have you opened just one bottle or tried a few? I opened up a bottle of my honey beer 2 days ago and the first bottle was a disaster also, no carbonation. But i opened the second bottle and it was fine. I've never used the coopers carbonation drops, instead i honey to prime the bottles.

GUNMAN2

Carrollj wrote: »

Hi Gunman, have you opened just one bottle or tried a few? I opened up a bottle of my honey beer 2 days ago and the first bottle was a disaster also, no carbonation. But i opened the second bottle and it was fine. I've never used the coopers carbonation drops, instead i honey to prime the bottles.

Tried 2 last night. I'll give them another shot this evening.. hopefully I was just unlucky.

Carrollj

Yeah give it another go, what temp were they at when bottled?

GUNMAN2

Carrollj wrote: »

Yeah give it another go, what temp were they at when bottled?

I left them for 2 weeks in a warm room, not hot my any means. put some in the fridge for a few days and tried last to drink them last night.

Carrollj

maybe the temp was too low, maybe throw a blanket over them and leave them there for another few days

GUNMAN2

Been drinking this now for the past week. Best home brew I've made yet.

Was very unfortunately obviously with the first bottles I picked. Since that theyve all been lovely. Plenty of carbonation.

Possibly I a few of the bottles didnt seal properly and I was unlucky enough to pick them at the start.

Carrollj

Good to hear it, i've had a couple of "duds" in my batch as well but the rest are really tasty. I'll be brewing this one again

Martyn1989

Yesterday I transfered a 23l batch of honey ale into a secoundary fermenter.
Its an extract recipe.
I steeped 200g Pale Crushed Malt for 30mins
Then did a boil of 2kg Light DME with light hop additions (dont have my recipe on hand)
At flameout I added a 950g of honey, dissolved in hot water.
I used rehydrated safale US-05.
Got a very healthy fermentation.
Now it has a very strong banana smell and taste, its not an off flavour, but definatly too much, anyone had this before?

BeerNut

Not from US-05. Did it ferment a bit warm? I have found that banana flavours can subside after a few months in the bottle, but that's mostly with stronger beers I've made.

Which pale malt did you steep? A lot of them need to be mashed, though that won't have caused your bananas.

irish_goat

I primed a few bottles of my ale with honey, must crack one open this weekend to see if it makes much of a difference.

derra_121

Hi Gunman2 what exactly did you use. Did you use a Kit brew? I am looking to make a brew of honey beer too. Can you guide me I have the coopers micro brew starter kit and have done one batch using the kit I got with it and was not too impressed. I would love if you can help guide me to make some nice honey brew

Martyn1989

BeerNut wrote: »

Not from US-05. Did it ferment a bit warm? I have found that banana flavours can subside after a few months in the bottle, but that's mostly with stronger beers I've made.

Which pale malt did you steep? A lot of them need to be mashed, though that won't have caused your bananas.

I picked the pale malt up from My Beer and Wine, http://www.mybeerandwine.ie/product_info.php?cPath=42_73&products_id=217 it seems to just be generic, no info on it.
Im confused because it fermented cooler then my other beers, uninsulated on a cool tile floor. I can't see it subsiding to a point of recovery as it is very full on banana flavour.

I thought it could be just too much honey, but Ive seen recipes with that amount added?

Quite disappointing, I was looking forward to a thirst quencher along the lines of honey dew!

Suppose they cant all turn out

Martyn1989

irish_goat wrote: »

I primed a few bottles of my ale with honey, must crack one open this weekend to see if it makes much of a difference.

I have a 20 bottle batch of very hoppy red ale drinking at the moment, 10 primed with honey, 10 primed with 'brewers sugar'.
The honey primed bottles are great, the honey seems to have cut down some of the bitterness and resulted in a better balance of flavours.
Fortunatly the sugar primed bottles are undercarbonated, so Im going to open them up and add a "big squeeze" (the official measurement I used to prime the first half) of honey to each, a quick shake and leave them another week or two.

Ill definately be priming with honey again!