I will be brewing a nut brown ale later in the week and would like to add honey to it. Is it ok to add the honey with the LME or do I have to wait? I know when I made mead wine honey should not be boiled. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
You have a bunch of options here. You could add it toward the end of the boil or at flameout but either one of those is likely to drive off some of the aroma and flavor. Or you could add it a day or two into fermentation. I have only used honey once but this is what I did and came away with a nice complexity to my IIPA. Of course, adding it this way risks some infection but I say go for it.
The later in the process the better, especially for delicate honeys. I’ve read that really strong honey can come through after boiling it, though.
I picked up 2 12 oz jars at local supermarket today. They are clover honey. My plan is to add the honey at flame out, stir well for couple minutes,then it is off to ice bath. Considering adding some maple syrup a couple days into fermentation.
I think the maple syrup flavor might cover the honey flavor.
I prefer to add either honey or syrup to the primary, after fermentation is mostly complete. I would pick one or the other rather than use both.
Honey or any sugar I add goes in the at the last few minutes of the boil or flameout. I find that it is hard to even detect it in beers. If you really want honey flavor try a little Gambrinus honey malt but go easy with it.
