Creator: Will Lovell
Whereas not essentially a conventional beer ingredient, in latest historical past, honey has grow to be common amongst brewers trying to enhance each taste and energy of their product. With the broad number of honey out there in the marketplace right now, brewers have quite a few choices for including distinctive traits to their beer, although the way by which honey will get added throughout the brewing course of is a subject of debate.
Honey is thought to include many unstable compounds that contribute to every kind’s distinctive flavors, and it’s broadly believed that these compounds are delicate to warmth. For that reason, relatively than including honey throughout the boil step as one would different adjuncts, some brewers advocate for including it throughout fermentation to retain as a lot of the fascinating traits as potential.
Within the time I’ve been brewing, I’ve used honey in lots of batches, and whereas I began off including it towards the top of the boil, I used to be satisfied to carry off till fermentation with a view to retain the unstable compounds. Whereas I’ve had good experiences with each strategies, I’ve felt just like the fermentation additions have resulted in additional honey character in my beer, however has it? I designed an xBmt to see for myself!
| PURPOSE |
To judge the variations between a Blonde Ale the place honey was added both on the finish of the boil or throughout fermentation.
| METHODS |
For this xBmt, I went with a easy Blonde Ale recipe in hopes any variations could be readily obvious.
Hivemind
Recipe Particulars
| Batch Measurement | Boil Time | IBU | SRM | Est. OG | Est. FG | ABV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 gal | 60 min | 21.1 | 5.3 SRM | 1.049 | 1.006 | 5.64 % |
| Actuals | 1.049 | 1.006 | 5.64 % | |||
Fermentables
| Title | Quantity | % |
|---|---|---|
| Wildfire Pale Malt | 8 lbs | 78.05 |
| Honey | 1.5 lbs | 14.63 |
| Munich Malt | 12 oz | 7.32 |
Hops
| Title | Quantity | Time | Use | Type | Alpha % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Brewer | 14 g | 60 min | Boil | Pellet | 10.2 |
| Amarillo LUPOMAX | 14 g | 2 min | Boil | Pellet | 14.5 |
Yeast
| Title | Lab | Attenuation | Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flagship (A07) | Imperial Yeast | 77% | 60.1°F – 72°F |
Notes
| Water Profile: Ca 62 | Mg 0 | Na 0 | SO4 79 | Cl 51 |
I began my brew day by accumulating 2 equivalent volumes of RO water, adjusting every to the identical need mineral profile, and flipping the switches on my Delta Brewing AIO models to get them heating up earlier than measuring out and milling the grain.
As soon as the water for every batch was adequately heated, I integrated the grains then checked to ensure each have been on the similar goal mash temperature.
Whereas the mashes have been resting, I ready the kettle hop additions.
As soon as the 60 minute mashes was full, I eliminated the grains and proceeded to boil every wort for 60 minutes, including the honey to certainly one of them with 5 minutes left within the boil.
When the boils have been full, I rapidly chilled the worts then transferred them to sanitized Kegmenters.
Refractometer readings confirmed the batch the place honey was added throughout the boil had a better OG than the one the place honey could be added throughout fermentation, which is to be anticipated.
Left: boil addition 10.9 ˚Bx = 1.049 OG | Proper: fermentation addition 9.1 Bx = 1.047 OG
With the worts sitting at my need fermentation temperature of 66°F/19°C, I direct pitched a single pouch of Imperial Yeast A07 Flagship into every batch.
At 3 days into fermentation, I returned so as to add the honey to the opposite batch.
With seen indicators of exercise absent after 2 weeks, I took hydrometer measurements displaying a really small distinction in FG.
Left: boil addition 1.006 FG | Proper: fermentation addition 1.005 FG
At this level, I chilly crashed the beers in a single day then pressure-transferred them to CO2 purged kegs, which have been positioned in my kegerator and burst carbonated for 15 hours earlier than the fuel was decreased to serving strain. After per week of chilly conditioning, the beers have been carbonated, clear, and able to serve.
Left: boil addition | Proper: fermentation addition
| RESULTS |
A complete of 23 folks of various ranges of expertise participated on this xBmt. Every participant was served 2 samples of the beer the place honey was added to the boiling wort and 1 pattern of the beer the place honey was added throughout fermentation in numerous coloured opaque cups then requested to determine the distinctive pattern. Whereas 12 tasters (p<0.05) would have needed to precisely determine the distinctive pattern with a view to attain statistical significance, solely 7 did (p=0.69), indicating contributors on this xBmt have been unable to reliably distinguish a Blonde Ale the place honey was added within the final 5 minutes of the boil from one the place the identical quantity of honey was added 3 days into fermentation.
My Impressions: Out of the 5 semi-blind triangle checks I tried, I occurred to guess the odd-beer-out 3 instances, although I’ll admit these beers have been equivalent in each option to me. Each have been clear examples of Blonde Ale that possessed a pleasant honey aroma that got here by means of very subtly within the taste.
| DISCUSSION |
Honey is a flexible brewing ingredient that can be utilized in a broad vary of types to contribute taste, improve alcohol content material, and it might even function the priming sugar for bottle conditioning. Countering claims that including honey to boiling wort results in the volatilization of fascinating compounds, tasters on this xBmt have been unable to reliably distinguish a Blonde Ale the place honey was added within the final 5 minutes of the boil from one the place the identical quantity of honey was added 3 days into fermentation.
Whereas the obvious clarification for these outcomes is that the unstable compounds in honey are equally as reactive to warmth as they’re fermentation, it’s potential utilizing a bigger quantity of honey would have led to a extra discernable distinction. The perceptible similarities between these beers might also be a perform of the number of honey used; maybe a much less delicate kind would have had a larger impact.
As somebody who made the acutely aware determination to modify from including honey to the boil to including it to the fermenter as a method of preserving honey character, I used to be completely floored by these outcomes. Given each the blind taster outcomes in addition to my very own expertise with these beers, I’m now satisfied my notion was possible as a consequence of expectation bias. That’s to not say I don’t consider there is perhaps one thing to the claims about including honey throughout the boil, I’m simply now much more impressed to continues exploring this attention-grabbing subject.
When you have any ideas about this xBmt, please don’t hesitate to share within the feedback part under!
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