BeerBorg

Did a search for honey carb and didn't find any info. So was just sitting here watching the bubbler and yeast working in the fermenter and was thinking about bottle carb using honey instead sugar? Any ideas if this something to try or stay away from. What flavor it would give beer. I am fermenting HME extract BD Dantes Wit. Mad scientist feeling i guess. Lol.

Used honey a few times when I first started. Don't remember it adding any flavor but it did produce smaller bubbles and whiter head. Have not used honey for bout 8 years or so, my memory does get a little foggy... LOL

It would give the beer no flavor. Carbing with anything beyond plain table sugar is a waste of money. The small amount you add to a bottle is not enough to impact flavor, if in fact it would (which in this case it won't).

In fact, if you brewed your beer with honey you won't get any honey flavor. Honey, like most sugary things, has its sugar eaten by the yeast. What you get is more ABV from the sugar, and a much DRIER beer. I made both White House beers - Honey Ale and Honey Porter - several times, and after comparing them with non-honey similar beers I can say that a drier beer is not to my liking.

If you want honey flavor, you need to steep some honey malt. Honey malt is very strong, 4 oz in a Mr. Beer / Brew Demon batch is plenty.

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like I'll be skipping that thought. I drank a very good grapefruity German beer in Epcot and was wondering how do you make a beer that flavor? It was very refreshing sweet citrus flavor . Not a beer I can drink more than two beers at time but wouldn't mind having every once while.

HOPS. As you get into brewing, you'll learn that instead of using a can of Brew Demon or Mr. Beer (or in addition to using a can), you can add hops for bittering, taste, and aroma. Brew Demon and Mr. Beer adding the hops already, but they can be supplemented.

Hops and yeast can add flavors to beer. A strong citrus flavor is most certainly from hops, but the sweet part is from either grain or adjuncts that are added during brewing.

Here's a good hop guide - https://ychhops.com/varieties. See Amarillo and Cascade as two examples of grapefruit aroma.

Tmike wrote:I drank a very good grapefruity German beer in Epcot and was wondering how do you make a beer that flavor?

Was it Schofferhofer? If so, that flavor doesn't come from hops at all, it comes from actual grapefruit juice. This beer is a blend of Hefeweizen and grapefruit juice. I've tried to get grapefruit flavors in IPA's using grapefruit peel. It didn't give off the amount of flavor I was looking for, but I'm sure with some more research on how it's done, it can be duplicated fairly easily.

50/50. Sounds like a Shandy.

Not sure the name. Appreciate this forum and all the awesome members helping out , stop us newbies from creating another loch Ness monster in our fermenters. Lol. Not enough study yet to do own boils just crazy ideas. I'll stick to HME cans lil longer.

Smart idea. Getting the process down right - with a focus on following steps and great sanitation, as well as temperature control, is key to success in this hobby.

Here was my progression, which means it was right for me, may not be right for you:

Mr. Beer HME cans.

Mr Beer cans plus LME (liquid malt extract). DME (dried malt extract can also be used).

Mr. Beer cans plus grain steeps as well as Mr. Beer recipes, which were cans, plus LME, plus dry hop additions and/or fruit additions.

Extract recipes - Grain steep, then hop boil with LME.

I'm now (6 years in) moving to all grain with brew in bag (I think), having not brewed for the past year while I worked down inventory and brewed 7 barrel batches for fun elsewhere.

RickBeer wrote: I'm now (6 years in) moving to all grain with boil in bag (I think), having not brewed for the past year while I worked down inventory and brewed 7 barrel batches for fun elsewhere.

You're probably aware of this and just made a typo, but biab stands for brew in a bag, not boil in a bag. You mash with the grains in the bag, but remove the bag before starting the boil.

bpgreen wrote:

RickBeer wrote: I'm now (6 years in) moving to all grain with boil in bag (I think), having not brewed for the past year while I worked down inventory and brewed 7 barrel batches for fun elsewhere.

You're probably aware of this and just made a typo, but biab stands for brew in a bag, not boil in a bag. You mash with the grains in the bag, but remove the bag before starting the boil.

Yup. Thanks for the catch. Corrected.

Tmike, I don't want to discourage you from trying honey for priming and trial and error is the best teacher, but as others have said and a lot of us have tried it. It will not change the taste when bottle priming , sugar is sugar. It is harder to calculate the amount with honey and harder too use then table sugar. I bottle but do batch prime and corn sugar most of the time but about the same. I say try some on a few bottles and see what you think, then you will know for sure too, otherwise you will wonder.

RickBeer wrote:Carbing with anything beyond plain table sugar is a waste of money.

Point of order ... Mr. Chairman.
Carbing with anything beyond speise is a waste of money.

HerbMeowing wrote: Carbing with anything beyond speise is a waste of money.

Had to look that one up. Very interesting, I may have to try that. This is what I found, is this a good rule to follow?

Amount of Speise for Priming

The higher the Original Gravity of the wort that the speise is taken from, the less one needs to prime because higher Original Gravities of wort contain more sugar. The amounts of speise for 5 gallons of beer are listed below and vary in amount of carbonation desired.<ref name="Brewbible">Snyder, S: The Brewmaster's Bible,page 37. Harper Perrenial, 1997</ref>

Original Gravity of Speise Speise Needed
1.070 1-1.5 quarts
1.060 1.5-1.75 quarts
1.050 1.75-2 quarts
1.040 2-2.5 quarts
1.030 2.5-3 quarts
1.020 3-3.5 quarts

I use this on-line calculator with good results.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/gyle-and- ... alculator/