Hey everyone. I’m a total newbie, getting ready to brew my first batch with my new 1gal. small batch kit. I am using the Honey Ale kit. I was wondering if it would be safe to add more honey to get a more honey like taste. If so how much, when, and what kind of honey would leave the cleanest most pure honey flavor. I don’t even know if this is able to be done. Any help would be good. Thanks all
You can but I wouldn’t suggest doing it with your 1 gal kit in your 1 gal fermenter. You’re already risking substantial blow off due to the limited headspace of the fermenter. If you add honey you not only increase the OG but also decrease the headspace which will cause even more blowoff. Blowoff equals loss of beer.
I would suggest looking into getting the 2gal fermenter for your 1 gal kit. This will prevent blowoff thus giving you more beer.
Brew this one as is. Buy another kit and a 2 gal fermenter and more honey. Add additional honey after primary has stopped as this will provide the most flavor impact. Honey is about 100% fermentable which will really dry out the beer.
Edit for my miserable spelling…
adding a little chamomile flowers within the last 10 minutes of the boil can add a nice honey flavor. But be careful, because it’s easy to over-do.
As a word of caution, if you do use chamomile be sure to not serve it to anyone with ragweed allergies. Cham is a member off the ragweed family and can cause problems for the allergic.
Cheers
Best way to get honey flavor in beer is to use Honey malt. For a 1 gallon batch, I’d think crushing and steeping about an ounce or two would do. Honey ferments out and looses it’s flavor to the point where I’m not sure why anyone adds it to beer.
FWIW I brewed a honey blonde this fall and put a pound of “honey blend” at flameout (for 5 gallons). After fermentation I didn’t really get a honey flavor so I added another pound into the fermenter. Now my beer is nice and dry and crisp and has some subtly flowery tones but also a very slight green apple tinge to it. Not sure how to get a “pure honey flavor” but I’m guessing my “honey blend” was wildflower and something else to get those flavors. Not bad by any means just not “honey flavored”.
Make sure you look at the ingredient list for something called “Honey Blend”. It might be a blend of different types but sometimes it’s like 95% corn syrup and 5% real honey for flavor. I’ve seen this at the dollar store. It will ferment for sure, but it might not be what you were looking for.
It was 100% Wisconsin honey but it didn’t say what the specific blend was. Figuring it was probably a mix of wildflower, clover and maybe something else. Next time I make it I may hit up a co-worker who has a family member that has some bee hives.
