Priming with honey

sirgiovanni · Post by **sirgiovanni** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:30 am

Has anyone primed their beer with honey for bottling? If so how much did you use please for 5 gal. Did you notice any residual character? Thanks

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 7:50 am

I've used honey to prime beer several times. Use 1/2 cup per 5 gallons beer. Dissolve it in a little warm water and stir to mix well. A little honey character noted but not much. Unlike corn sugar or DME, the beer tastes good even if you try it before it is fully carbonated. Good luck! Any over 1/2 cup will over carbonate big time. At least that's what I've heard.

sirgiovanni · Post by **sirgiovanni** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:37 pm

Thank you kindly!

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 8:07 pm

Great Idea. I will try that in the next week or two.

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 8:24 am

Do you boil the honey like you would priming sugar?

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 12:50 pm

I guess you could boil it, but I just dissolved honey in hot water and used it like that. Works great!!!!

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 7:55 am

OK, I just wanted to make sure there were no bugs in it, that would need to be killed. I bottled a Nut Brown yesterday, that would have been good to try the honey with. I have a Phat Tyre Amber that I may try it with next week.

sirgiovanni · Post by **sirgiovanni** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 5:23 pm

I always do a slow boil when I use honey for anything.

Chris Norrick · Post by **Chris Norrick** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 10:56 pm

And as a contrast, I don't heat the honey at all when I use it... mead, etc.

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 6:35 am

I don't boil honey for mead either. Tried it once, then pasteurized at about 170F, then just added honey to water warm enough to dissolve. More aroma and flavor when less heat is applied. Just my 2 cents worth.

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 6:37 am

Are you fellers using pasteurized or un-pasteurized honey?
And thanks for the replies.

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 5:54 pm

I'd proceed the same way either way

sirgiovanni · Post by **sirgiovanni** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:34 pm

Well I just bottled the pale ale. I used honey for the yeast starter, after the mash, I added a pound of honey, then I bottled with the 1/2 cup of honey. It was pretty tasty just going into the bottles. Looking forward to christmas now to drink it.

sirgiovanni · Post by **sirgiovanni** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 2:34 pm

Obsessed with honey this month. I found plums in Bloomington this weekend. Plum mead tonight.

Jim W · Post by **Jim W** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:27 pm

You missed some really, really good mead at the meeting on Wednesday.
Top notch!