Honey Addition

[Jim W]

We thought we would brew a double batch this weekend, and try adding honey to boost the alcohol in one of the batches, then comparing the two.
At what point should we add the honey in the process. I believe Ron told me that you could use a 5# jar.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks. They Wheaty Bastard is not BA-BA-BA-AA-AA-AA-D. Please reference earlier farm animal posting. I wanted to bring it by for thoughts and opinions last night, but a family emergency kept me from being able to come by. It is much darker than most wheats, and has that hoppy, bitter aftertaste which would be expected from the way we brewed that batch. But by God, I'll drink it!

[Chris Alvey]

You should add honey very late in the boil if you want to preserve any of its honey-ness. Five pounds you say? What's your recipe?

[Jim W]

We did not really have a recipe. Yikes. We thought we would just experiment with a kit.
What is your suggestion, and we will do that? Less? Remember we are just newbies. We still think it is jsut cool to add stuff and drink it. Insert a 'Homer Simpsonian' laugh here. It really isn't so much for the taste in this case, as to just perk up the alcohol. We were giong to buy a couple kits from the CO-OP this weekend, and go from there. If you think it best to just stick with the kit for now, that is good enough for us. Did anyone take notes from the kegging demo on Wednesday?

[Chris Alvey]

You could compare this way ... by my calculations a pound of honey is yields roughly the same (well 95%) the potential alcohol as a comparable pound of Liquid malt Extract.

A pound of honey yields 88% the amount of potential alcohol of the same weight of dried extract.

By all means add the honey, nothing wrong with experimentation at all - you just might want to work up these ratios with how much ever extract you're throwing in there so that you don't make wicked-tasting rocket fuel.
This depends on what sort of kit you're doing also - some recipes with a malt backbone can handle a good portion of alcohol (IPA, Porter, Stout, Belgian, or Amber ale even.)

This is a good use for some brewing software like BeerSmith, BeerTools Pro, or ProMash (in my order of preference, others may vary.) These are relatively inexpensive and allow you to toy with recipes and see what O/G, IBU, etc. would result if you added this or that.

In the end, it really doesn't matter. It'll be beer - it'll be drinkable - it'll be fun to brew - and you made it - and that's a cool thing

Chris wrote up very good notes for the kegging demo, by the way... i'm sure he could rustle up a copy for next meeting.

[Chris Alvey]

here's a good book for getting ideas for some BIG beers written by the guy that started Dogfish Head : http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Brewing-E ... 1592532934

[Jim W]

Thanks for the advice. We will give it a whirl. When you use the hydrometer when you are done brewing, would you just stick it in the fermenting bucket, before you put the lid on? Chuck read that you put some of the cooled wort in a glass and measure it, but I hate to sacrifice a whole glass of beer.

[Chris Alvey]

Best thing is to get a hydrometer jar : http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=18656

OR use the tube it came in if u still have it.


It doesn't take much liquid, and you can use it without fear of contaminating the whole batch. Hydrometers are calibrated at 60 degrees and you will need to correct for temperature. Here's a link to a chart : http://www.brew365.com/technique_hydrom ... ection.php

[Jim W]

Ahh, no wonder it was easy to read the puzzlement in your post on adding 5# of honey. Thanks. We also probably need to make sure you get your fair share of these brews at the next meeting, for your help. I think you also said you were looking for some Sassafras wood. I'll bring as much as you want to the next meeting. The last fall storm knocked three over, so I have plenty.

[Chris Alvey]

awesome, I'll try some sasafrass wood out for sure .. thanks.