Honey instead of sugar.

[RAY HARRISON]

Hi has anyone ever used honey instead of sugar for the secondary fermentation in the bottle. I usually put half a teaspoon of sugar per bottle to produce the gas/head on the beer. Thinking of trying honey. How much honey would you use on a 40pt gold/blonde style beer.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Hi has anyone ever used honey instead of sugar for the secondary fermentation in the bottle. I usually put half a teaspoon of sugar per bottle to produce the gas/head on the beer. Thinking of trying honey. How much honey would you use on a 40pt gold/blonde style beer.

You dont like Sugar Ray?

 

[An Ankoù]

About 5g in a 500 ml bottle. But what a pain trying to teaspoon it in. You might be better of thinning it in some warm water, say 1:2 and putting 15 ml in.

 

[JonBrew]

Use this bottle priming calculator - Beer Priming Calculator - Brewer's Friend

There are others out there of course.

I've never used honey myself to prime with but I gather it takes longer for the yeast in the bottle to consume and therefore carbonate.

 

[The Cat]

Doesn't honey contain stuff you don't want in there?

 

[QED]

You dont like Sugar Ray?

I usually put half a teaspoon of sugar per bottle to produce the gas/head on the beer. Thinking of trying honey.

Assume that you're not going to try to put a spoon of honey in every bottle? That's going to be messy!

https://www.midwestsupplies.com/blo...e 1 cup of honey,beer into the honey solution.

 

[MyQul]

The best way to use honey prime would to be batch prime. 'Dissolve the honey in some hot water and pour it directly into the FV. Give the beer a gentle stir to distribute the honey and bottle as normal.
Use the priming calc the jonbrew linked to give you the amount.
I do exactly the above but with brewing sugar rather than honey

 

[Edison]

Doesn't honey contain stuff you don't want in there?

That’s what I thought. Isn’t there wild yeast in honey that could give some unintended ‘funk’? Or is the risk low after main fermentation?

 

[MyQul]

That’s what I thought. Isn’t there wild yeast in honey that could give some unintended ‘funk’? Or is the risk low after main fermentation?

If the homey was put in some boiling water to dissovle it you could also contine use to boil for a minute or two t kill and wild yeast

 

[marshbrewer]

I think the main argument against using honey as a priming sugar (as opposed to in the malt / sugar bill) is that exact sugar content varies from jar to jar, making it difficult to ensure the correct level of carbonation.

 

[cerbera84]

You dont like Sugar Ray?

Abracadabra! Carbonation!

 

[RAY HARRISON]

Hi has anyone ever used honey instead of sugar for the secondary fermentation in the bottle. I usually put half a teaspoon of sugar per bottle to produce the gas/head on the beer. Thinking of trying honey. How much honey would you use on a 40pt gold/blonde style beer.

I was just wondering if you got a slight honey taste to the brew. I normaly dissolve the sugar in water before adding to the brew before i bottle it. I would do the same with the honey

 

[marshbrewer]

I would doubt you would get any taste. Whenever I have brewed with honey, the taste contribution had been very subtle, and that's using a whole jar in a brew. For instance, I did 10L of a sort of Dovel clone, but used 100% honey instead of the sugar addition, which made up nearly 15% of the malt bill. Whilst the honey was evident initially, by the time fermentation was completed, it was totally hidden by the Belgian yeast flavours.

So I don't think the miniscule amount needed for priming would add any detectable taste unless the host beer was very, very bland.

 

[Petrolhead]

My wife is a bee keeper and honey is my go to sugar reserve. I have used it to top up the OG of a brew, primed with it, batch priming the only way to go, and even made mead.

Sadly, I have never had the honey flavour come through to the final brew but then I have never tried.

I have never had any contamination issues either but don’t suspect you would as honey is both an antibacterial and antiseptic. It was used to embalm people, they quite literally came to a sticky end

 

[Hagrid]

I was just wondering if you got a slight honey taste to the brew.

You could always make a bragot, using some mead.

 

[Edison]

I would doubt you would get any taste. Whenever I have brewed with honey, the taste contribution had been very subtle, and that's using a whole jar in a brew. For instance, I did 10L of a sort of Dovel clone, but used 100% honey instead of the sugar addition, which made up nearly 15% of the malt bill. Whilst the honey was evident initially, by the time fermentation was completed, it was totally hidden by the Belgian yeast flavours.

So I don't think the miniscule amount needed for priming would add any detectable taste unless the host beer was very, very bland.

This has been my experience too. Honey is almost 100% fermentable so not much flavour is left. I believe ’honey’ flavoured beers often use lots of Aromatic Malt to get that flavour (or possibly artificial flavourings?).

 

[User 38108]

Put the honey in the fermentation bin and have a honey beer

 

[RAY HARRISON]

Thanks everyone, Probably not worth trying the honey then. Just an idea to get a slight honey taste to the brew.

 

[thesteve]

Pretty sure the Brewdog Punk IPA kit tells you to use honey to prime it.

 

[terrym]

Can someone do a

Pretty sure the Brewdog Punk IPA kit tells you to use honey to prime it.

Well it would wouldn't it?
Surprised it wasn't Manuka honey.
Most likely zero added value in terms of taste, but makes your Brewdog beer kit a bit more socially acceptable if you are into that sort of thing.