Using honey in brew

[mattjazz2000]

Hi all, This is my first post so please be gentle.

I'm a complete novice at all grain brewing, but fancy doing a christmas beer that I've seen(recipe below). My question is this, is it possible to use honey for priming my keg/bottles to add depth?

Pale Ale Malt 4.5kg
Medium Crystal Malt 465g
Roasted Barley 45g


UK Challenger 19g 90 mins
UK Fuggle 12g 30 mins
Star Anise 10g 20 mins
Cinnamon stick 3 sticks 10 mins
Chopped Ginger 30g 10 mins

 

[Eric_S]

I'm no expert but I'd say the amount of honey at bottling time is not likely to make a big difference.

Maybe reduce some of the grain and use some honey at an earlier stage?

 

[mattjazz2000]

As I say, I'm a complete novice so how would the honey change the flavour?

 

[RobWalker]

it will change the flavour as if there is honey in there. :p

the darker the honey, the more residual honey flavour there will be, so go for something dark if you're going to do this. it will still "ferment" as if it were in the actual boil/primary etc, so don't expect miracles from such a small amount, it wouldn't surprise me if it was unnoticable.

You would be better off boiling some cinnamon/ginger into the priming sugar solution and using something like brown sugar. Other than that you're basically asking for more body, and you can't really add more at this point with a few exceptions...

Honey in the main brew will change the flavour (mostly of the aftertaste/aroma) considerably, but limit it to 500g or you will dry your beer out. The Zee Zee Hop beer in my sig is VERY similar to this but there are changes I'm making to mine for the second round - 500g honey instead of 1kg, increase ibu to 20, adding some wheat malt and swapping the amber for some darker crystal. If you wanna maybe put together a recipe for us both to brew then let me know because I want to put this back on on wednesday!

 

[mattjazz2000]

Thanks for all the useful info. I'm a little confused as to where to use the honey. Would I use it in the boil or the mash, and would I need to omit something else.
Again, thanks for all the info.

 

[Wendy1971]

put the honey in while boiling wort it will be ok :thumb:

 

[RobWalker]

I've heard that adding to the wort will ruin the flavour...

You want to heat it with a little bit of water to liquify it and then mix it into the brew in the bucket to retain the mouth feel and aromatic content.

 

[mattjazz2000]

Well I've done the listed recipe as is with no honey, although I did chuck a mulled wine spice teabag thingy in for the last ten minutes of the boil. It smells lovely and went off like the clappers when I pitched the yeast. I'm doing a two stage fermentation but I'd like some advice on the amount of sugar to add for kegging. Beersmith recommends 65g of corn sugar yet Joes Brewblogger recommends 132g. Any ideas?

Matt