Using Honey as a Sugar Primer.

[BEZ]

Hi
Again thid may seem like a silly question so i appologise in advance.
When the wort is transferred into the keg i was advised to add sugar or spraymalt to my muntons amber gold extract lit as a primer.
If you add honey what would be the effect in the brew.
BEZ

[Tequilla6]

The effect of honey as a primer in beer would be as many as there are different honeys out there. As the honey is a sum of all the flowers the bee's collect the nectar from ,it depends on where the hive is and the plants around it. I feel that honey gives a roundness to the brew but putting it in as a primer would also give you more of the flavours and aroma of the honey used as you are not boiling in the wort and therefore losing any of honey volatiles which contribute to the flavour of the final products. Honey is 80% solids and 20% liquid in its natural state, it is in this form a very stable product not prone to infection. However adding it to a liquid can allow any wild yeasts present in the honey to multiply. There is a difference of opinion on whether for this reason you should boil honey before adding to any brew even though you are, in the process reducing the flavour and aroma slightly in doing so. I guess from my experience with both Mead and Honey beers, I would prefer to play safe and boil any honey additions for 10min at least.

For a primer you could boil the honey in some of the beer before adding back to the fermenter ready for bottling. As this is a Munton's kit you would be changing the character of the beer and may end up with something completely different from what is envisaged. I personally for this one stick with spray malt or sugar which will not change the characteristics of the brew and save the honey for use as part of an extract brew at a later date.

Cheers

[mysterio]

I've made some very nice meads recently without boiling or pasteurising. It's up to you whether you want to risk it. Me, I would just bung the honey in the keg and rack the beer on top and see what happens.

[Tequilla6]

There, You have it in a nutshell, Two schools of thought....

[Cheshire-cheese]

Aren't Clostridium botulinum spores found in honey? I know it is an anaerobe so the lack of oxygen would favour the bacteria but maybe the alcohol would inhibit it?

[umpa]

I have been told to never boil honey. You should pasterise it only.