Type of honey used

Does anyone have any preferences on the type of honey used in a beer recipe?

I’m going to be brewing the white house honey porter soon and I’d like to use some pure local honey in the mix. Do people recommend clover, wildflower, or any other type of honey?

Based on a brief tasting session of someones beer, i’d say wildflower. Honey from citrus does add a little citrus taste. Having said this, since it is only 1lb of honey, i don’t think you will notice any difference between different types of honey. Now if you were making a mead, that would be different.

see if you can get your hands on some meadowfoam honey. It basically tastes like vanilla and caramel-dipped roasted marshmallows, and worked great in a dubbel I made previously. I would think it would work great in the WHHP and was going to try it at some point!

I do like the wildflower too if you can’t get that. Some real nice aromatics. Clover isn’t going to give you much in the way of aromatics, it will basically just bump your OG and ferment out. Buckwheat honey is a little too gnarly/musky for me, though I bet it would work in some style!

The differences between honeys are pretty subtle, and likely to be overwhelmed when added to beer in small quantities. So I wouldn’t sweat it too much. Orange blossom is always my go to honey for mead making, but I’ve used many others.

Be sure to use a high quality, unpasteurized, pure honey. Cheap grocery store stuff is likely to be half corn syrup.

[quote=“Nate42”]The differences between honeys are pretty subtle, and likely to be overwhelmed when added to beer in small quantities. So I wouldn’t sweat it too much. Orange blossom is always my go to honey for mead making, but I’ve used many others.

Be sure to use a high quality, unpasteurized, pure honey. Cheap grocery store stuff is likely to be half corn syrup.[/quote]

Not meaning to nitpick, but I don’t brew with honey that often and would like to understand more. these statements seem to be contradictory. if its all fermentable anyway, and you can’t really tell the difference, why not just add simple dextrose/corn syrup as opposed to $5-10/lb. honey?

The best example of a beer that has a great honey flavor to me is Great Lakes Christmas Ale. I need to do some research as to WHEN they add the honey and what type they use, because it comes through really well. Its almost like they add it post-fermentation after filtering yeast out.

[quote=“Pietro”][quote=“Nate42”]The differences between honeys are pretty subtle, and likely to be overwhelmed when added to beer in small quantities. So I wouldn’t sweat it too much. Orange blossom is always my go to honey for mead making, but I’ve used many others.

Be sure to use a high quality, unpasteurized, pure honey. Cheap grocery store stuff is likely to be half corn syrup.[/quote]

Not meaning to nitpick, but I don’t brew with honey that often and would like to understand more. these statements seem to be contradictory. if its all fermentable anyway, and you can’t really tell the difference, why not just add simple dextrose/corn syrup as opposed to $5-10/lb. honey?

The best example of a beer that has a great honey flavor to me is Great Lakes Christmas Ale. I need to do some research as to WHEN they add the honey and what type they use, because it comes through really well. Its almost like they add it post-fermentation after filtering yeast out.[/quote]

Well, honestly, a 1lb addition of honey probably isn’t going to taste all that much different than a pure sugar addition, particularly in a porter. I’m sure there will be a difference but it will be subtle. I haven’t done a real scientific style experiment, but the smallest amount of honey I felt like I could really taste was a 3lb addition of orange blossom honey to an IPA. The floral character mixed in with the hops, but I’ve made meads with this particular honey before, so I was pretty familiar with its flavor profile and felt like I could pick it out. But even then it was fairly subtle.

I’m not trying to say there’s literally no difference. If you make a dry mead with a pure varietal honey, you will be able to taste the difference between varieties. But when you start adding malt and hop flavors from beer, it gets masked pretty quickly.

My real point to the OP is that if he uses a good honey he will make a good beer, and he doesn’t need to worry too much about one type being better for the recipe than another.

[quote=“Nate42”][quote=“Pietro”][quote=“Nate42”]The differences between honeys are pretty subtle, and likely to be overwhelmed when added to beer in small quantities. So I wouldn’t sweat it too much. Orange blossom is always my go to honey for mead making, but I’ve used many others.

Be sure to use a high quality, unpasteurized, pure honey. Cheap grocery store stuff is likely to be half corn syrup.[/quote]

Not meaning to nitpick, but I don’t brew with honey that often and would like to understand more. these statements seem to be contradictory. if its all fermentable anyway, and you can’t really tell the difference, why not just add simple dextrose/corn syrup as opposed to $5-10/lb. honey?

The best example of a beer that has a great honey flavor to me is Great Lakes Christmas Ale. I need to do some research as to WHEN they add the honey and what type they use, because it comes through really well. Its almost like they add it post-fermentation after filtering yeast out.[/quote]

Well, honestly, a 1lb addition of honey probably isn’t going to taste all that much different than a pure sugar addition, particularly in a porter. I’m sure there will be a difference but it will be subtle. I haven’t done a real scientific style experiment, but the smallest amount of honey I felt like I could really taste was a 3lb addition of orange blossom honey to an IPA. The floral character mixed in with the hops, but I’ve made meads with this particular honey before, so I was pretty familiar with its flavor profile and felt like I could pick it out. But even then it was fairly subtle.

I’m not trying to say there’s literally no difference. If you make a dry mead with a pure varietal honey, you will be able to taste the difference between varieties. But when you start adding malt and hop flavors from beer, it gets masked pretty quickly.

My real point to the OP is that if he uses a good honey he will make a good beer, and he doesn’t need to worry too much about one type being better for the recipe than another.[/quote]

gotcha thanks! Part of the reason I asked for the clarification is because I have 3lbs of this meadowfoam stuff and was looking for a good way to use it. I’m not really much for mead, but I was starting to think I would be better off just using the stuff for oatmeal.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but did you find that the IPA was cidery or anything? I was trying to find that perfect threshold of honey where you could really perceive the flavors, but didn’t thin out the beer too much. Did you add it all @ flameout/late boil, or did you add some after primary fermentation?

Also looking for a style that would be accompanied/enhanced by this honey’s flavors (light caramel, floral, vanilla, some toffee)…was thinking biere de garde, porter, or maybe another dubbel.

[quote=“Pietro”]

gotcha thanks! Part of the reason I asked for the clarification is because I have 3lbs of this meadowfoam stuff and was looking for a good way to use it. I’m not really much for mead, but I was starting to think I would be better off just using the stuff for oatmeal.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but did you find that the IPA was cidery or anything? I was trying to find that perfect threshold of honey where you could really perceive the flavors, but didn’t thin out the beer too much. Did you add it all @ flameout/late boil, or did you add some after primary fermentation?

Also looking for a style that would be accompanied/enhanced by this honey’s flavors (light caramel, floral, vanilla, some toffee)…was thinking biere de garde, porter, or maybe another dubbel.[/quote]

I haven’t used meadowfoam, I understand it has a pretty intense flavor so it may be more obvious in smaller quantities. I’ve never gotten a cidery flavor from honey before, I wouldn’t worry about that. I always add honey after (or at least toward the end of) primary fermentation. Don’t rack first though, you want plenty of yeast. If you boil it you will drive off subtle aromatics.

Given your description of meadowfoam, it sounds like it would be awesome if you put all 3lbs of it in a belgian quad. Just a thought.

This is an interesting thread. I’ve been inspired recently to try brewing with honey thanks to some intriguing beers where I picked up a subtle fruitiness that I couldn’t place, but later found out they used honey. I’m guessing they added the honey late in the process.

I agree with the comment above re: Great Lakes Christmas Ale. Good example of a brew in which the honey is very noticeable, but nicely balanced.

Yes on the meadowfoam. I get a years’s worth every spring when the farmer’s market opens. I mostly use it in my morning coffee.
I brewed a batch of mead with it 11 years ago @18% to lay down for my oldest granddaughter’s 21st. It’s been in the bottle 10 years now and I plan to open one soon to see how it’s going.

unless you are using a very strong flavored honey the differance will be minimal and the sugars will ferment out 100%.

Yes on the meadowfoam. I get a years’s worth every spring when the farmer’s market opens. I mostly use it in my morning coffee.
I brewed a batch of mead with it 11 years ago @18% to lay down for my oldest granddaughter’s 21st. It’s been in the bottle 10 years now and I plan to open one soon to see how it’s going.[/quote]

holy buckets, very cool! Either post or PM me how that is tasting please!

Agree with the comments about small quantities will not make any noticable difference in a porter. What I’ve found honey adds over using simple sugar is “mouthfeel” or body. But again, it is more noticable in light dry beers than dark ones, and the more honey the more you’ll get. Flavor from honey seems to get completely washed out unless it is added post boil, and preferably after the bulk of the fermentation is over. But I’ve also never used anything more flavorful than wildflower honey in a beer, so ymmv.

Yes on the meadowfoam. I get a years’s worth every spring when the farmer’s market opens. I mostly use it in my morning coffee.
I brewed a batch of mead with it 11 years ago @18% to lay down for my oldest granddaughter’s 21st. It’s been in the bottle 10 years now and I plan to open one soon to see how it’s going.[/quote]

holy buckets, very cool! Either post or PM me how that is tasting please![/quote]

Will do, but not sure exactly when.

Anyone ever use Honey as priming sugar?

I have, but it’s been a while. I do have a coconut honey Am. hefe that I’ll be bottling next week and I plan to use orange blossom honey: three ozs. in a three gallon batch that will be going in tap-a-draft bottles, I’d use 4 1/2 ozs. if I were bottling.

That might be the coolest avatar on the NB forum.

I read a review from someone in the Honey Porter kit that recommended to add an extra pound of honey at the end of the boil.

Does anyone think that would be an excessive honey flavor? I haven’t made this before but judging on earlier responses, it sounds like most of the honey flavor would disappear through the boil.

I currently have the kit and preparing to boil this weekend. I’m not sure what type of honey comes with the kit since it just says “Honey” but I was considering adding a 2nd pound of wildflower at the end of the boil to enhance the flavor a bit.

That might be the coolest avatar on the NB forum. [/quote]

^ this guy knows… :cheers:

Yes, all the time with sparkling meads. Use about 30% by weight more than you would table sugar. I’ve actually used a number of different sugars for priming in the past, and it is a better way of getting the suble flavors from the sugars than trying to add to the boil.