carbonation with honey

[bull080383]

can you carbonate using honey instead of sugar to get sweeter taste. not seen anything bout it ? ?

 

[wilsoa1111]

it will add a taste (varys by honey, cheap stuff wont add anything pleasant) but the final beer will if anything be dryer (same as for adding sugar. still provided its not the really aweful value stuff will be nice if it suits the beer style

 

[bull080383]

brewing a mead half batch trying a new recipe and thought adding honey might go nice with it but wasn't sure if it would carbonate properly or not.

 

[jonnymorris]

...provided its not the really aweful value stuff...

Should I assume you get what you pay for with honey? I've bought 900g for a planned honey beer but its the cheap stuff.

 

[rpt]

I think the OP is asking if you can use honey to prime your beer when bottling. You can, but whether it makes the taste sweeter I don't know as I've never done it.

 

[jonnymorris]

I think the OP is asking...

I got that, thanks. John Plamer suggests that, as the water content of honey varies, it is difficult to know how fermentable it is although a quick search with Google suggests 90-95% fermentability (as a guide). You can use it for carbonating but whether you'll notice the taste is another matter.

My somewhat rhetorical question was about honey in general. Do you get what you pay for or is honey, honey?

 

[olriley]

Mass produced supermarket honey is mainly sugar syrup that has been processed by bees.

Smaller scale non-intensive beekeepers only typically feed sugar to get through the winter season and only harvest honey that is produced as a surplus during abundant nectar times in the spring and summer. If its more than 75% harvested from a particular crop they can call it something specific like "heather honey" and it will have a particular flavour and appearance.

So yep, you get what you pay for. :

 

[jonnymorris]

Thanks for that. :thumb:

 

[wilsoa1111]

yep totally agree and more logically presented than i could have- for when i really need a proper honey taste (malty, toffee smokiness) im using this stuff-:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tropical-Forest ... 088&sr=1-1

worth the extra imho and defo not much water in their, almost crystalline, closest u can get to good honest honey without a beekeeping guy or spending a fortune- i imagine the cheap stuff would be ok for uppping the abv in beers as alot of the taste will be removed by the active ferment, priming or mead wise though i would use this stuff

 

[jonnymorris]

for when i really need a proper honey taste (malty, toffee smokiness) im using this stuff-:

All 3kg of it?

 

[Markus]

My somewhat rhetorical question was about honey in general. Do you get what you pay for or is honey, honey?

I added 200g of supermarket-bought orange blossom honey to my Coopers Aussie Lager. Not value range but certainly not the expensive kind either. It definitely added an odd taste to the beer which did subside a bit with time but was still there. Didn't ruin the brew but gave it an unwelcome twang it has to be said.

 

[bull080383]

so it is not worth doing then with so much uncertainty might try it one time but just a 1 gallon batch.

 

[DethApostle]

I recently did an experimental batch to try different priming sugars and the honey one didn't really gain much in the sense of taste or aroma (although it did a little bit) however it did make the beer extremely clear! Bonus!
I'll be posting the results of this experiment on my website later this week.
DA

 

[Markus]

Must say, the brew I added honey to came out very clear and it was the best carbonated brew I've done yet. It was a Coopers Aussie and it was my first time making it so I don't know yet if they honey made it turn out so well or if it's just a very good kit. I'll have to try it without next time to be sure.

 

[Gayle]

You do get what you pay for with honey. I used "value" honey for a mead, and it's not great (though it's only a few months old yet, so could get better). I got a jar of nice orange blossom honey for backsweetening and was amazed by the difference - it smelled and tasted delicious and was certainly worth the extra couple of pounds for the jar. If you are backsweetening/carbonating mead, then do use honey but use a nice one :thumb: Beware cheaper honeys called "blossom" honey, they're not the same as orange blossom and vary in quality.

Mead takes a long time to age, at least 6 months before the harsh alcoholic and rough honey taste mellows out a bit (although it depends on the recipe, some are nice much sooner) and changes to a nice drink. If you were to carbonate beer with honey it could also take a few months taste good with the honey.

I'd love to try a sparkling mead but haven't been brave enough to do it yet, what sort of bottles are you using to carbonate?

 

[munkian]

I used mid -range honey when putting my IPA in the keg, tastes lovely !

 

[DethApostle]

Just to let you know... i've now posted my results on my website here!

Not just honey, other priming sugars too.
Cheers
DA

 

[Markus]

Very interesting DA. So the white sugar looks to be far and away the best in terms of carbonation. Can I ask were all the pint glasses treated the same and rinsed well prior to pouring?

I think my attributing the carbonation of my Aussie lager to the honey added at primary ferment was a little premature. I do think it helped with clarity but from the looks of your experiment the excellent carbonation was down to priming with good old demarara.

 

[bull080383]

sounds like it was a fun experiment. might split my batch and try a few different ones although being a mead might have to wait a while to try them.

 

[RobWalker]

I recently did an experimental batch to try different priming sugars and the honey one didn't really gain much in the sense of taste or aroma (although it did a little bit) however it did make the beer extremely clear! Bonus!
I'll be posting the results of this experiment on my website later this week.
DA

orange blossom is notorious for adding...well, orange flavour. which isn't good in most beers :lol:

as a rule of thumb, you need to prime with 1.25x the amount to reach the same carbonation. so for 100g, you would add 125g honey/golden syrup/maple syrup/treacle/whatever.