Honey Beer Recipe: Tips and Tricks To Make the Best Sweet Beer

A honey beer recipe is a top option for many homebrewers, despite this type of beer not being a popular trend. While most people don’t know about it yet, honey beer is cheap and easy to make.

It offers an excellent alternative to other beer recipes.

Here, you will learn the best ways to make honey beer with the best recipe from experts, so let’s get right to it.

How To Make Honey Beer: Top Tips for Effective Brewing

Here are the detailed steps to follow when brewing your honey beer. But first, let’s talk about the amount of honey you will need.

• 3-10 percent – Most commercial honey beers fall within this range for a mild flavor.
• 11-30 percent  – The honey flavor is more noticeable than the latter. You have to be careful when selecting the ingredients to have a balance.
• Greater than 30 percent – Here, the honey flavor will dominate other beer ingredients and tastes.

1. Add the Hops

The first thing to do is to boil the hops in a big pan containing 10 to 15 liters of water. Boil for about 20 to 30 minutes, then cool to a temperature of about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Do not forget to have the tap running.

2. Add the Yeast

Heat the malt and the honey for a while using a microwave or bain-marie. This allows for easy mixing and pouring. Gently add the mixture to three liters of boiled water and boil the mixture for about five to ten minutes, ensuring you stir constantly. Then allow cooling to about 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Put a few glasses of water at 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the fermenter. Using a strainer, add the hops and the yeast to the fermenter. Add the remaining water to make up to 23 liters, making sure that this is also 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Add yeast to the mixture and mix it properly for about 30 seconds.

3. Fermentation

Switch on the tap on the fermentor. Add water containing bisulfite into the bubbler. You have to make sure the beer temperature is always 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and it has to be constant during fermentation.

A few hours later, you will notice the bubbling from the machine. Fermentation can last up to 10 days at room temperature.

4. Fermentation Ends

When you can’t see the bubbling anymore, pour a bit of beer into a cylindrical container and put the densimeter. Observe the level to note if the beer is ready to be bottled. Don’t pour the beer before the end of fermentation.

5. Pour the Beer

Using a hose, pour the beer from one container to another one held tightly. Leave sediment on the bottom to allow the beer to be more transparent. Do this carefully to ensure you don’t pick up any sediments.

6. Preparation of Bottles

Make a solution of 1 liter of water and sodium bisulfite, pour in a bottle and shake well. Pour this from one bottle to another, ensuring you change the solution every 15 minutes.

7. Bottling

For sparkling, put a teaspoon of sugar in the bottle. Pour the beer into the bottle, ensuring the bottle is not full. There should be at least 3cm of space from the top.

Shake the bottle to melt the sugar.

These are the amounts of sugar you can use for different bottles:

• 330cl bottle – 2g of sugar
• 500cl bottle – 3g of sugar
• 750cl bottle – 5g of sugar

8. Maturation

Keep the bottles in a warm place for about seven days at about 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. This will serve as the second fermentation. You must store the beer in a cool place for proper maturation.

Once this is complete, your honey beer is ready to drink. An additional maturation for about one month will make it taste better.

– Ingredients for Brewing Your Honey Beer

The honey ale ingredients you will need are:

• 1kg honey
• 2kg Malt
• 7g Yeast
• Water
• 100-140g of dry hops
• Sugar

Here are the tools you will need to brew honey beer:

• Beer bottles, preferably 75cl bottles
• Teaspoons
• Funnel
• 15 Liters Capacity pan
• A 25-liter container for brewing the beer and a 25-liter bucket with tap
• Strainer
• Beer densimeter

• Food safe hose

Here is the important information you will end up with after following this honey lager recipe:

• ABV: 5.8 percent
• Initial Gravity: 1.058
• Final Gravity: 1.058
• Bitterness: 38
• Batch Size: 19 Litres
• EBU {Est. Color}

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the answers to some common questions regarding the honey beer.

– Why Choose Honey for Honey Beer?

Honey consists of 95 percent fermentable sugars, which include glucose and fructose, and since it has a lot of fantastic health benefits, a beer made from honey is far better than other types of beer as it contains natural unharmful elements. Aside from that, honey also contains many enzymes, unidentified compounds, trace elements, anti-microbial compounds and plants.

Maybe the health benefit does not intrigue you. Then, you can consider that honey added to beer, like any simple sugar, would increase the alcohol level and give the beer a lighter body. There is also a great flavor that it provides beer. Honey ferments totally and leaves no sweetness for those who like bitter beer, so when properly used, honey can leave a mild sweetness.

– What Is the Best Honey for Honey Beer?

Unfiltered honey is the best choice for brewing honey beer. Natural, unprocessed honey adds vitamins, nutrients, antiseptic compounds and trace elements to the beer. Although you can also use filtered and pasteurized honey, note that this type of honey has lost all goodness, including its aroma and flavor.

As you would do with any other brewing ingredient, allow your senses to judge the quality of the honey. Taste it, perceive it, think of how it will look in a beer. There are several varieties of honey available in the United States, going up to about 300 varieties. The National Honey Board has information on the different kinds of honey and their brewing characteristics.

The general idea is the darker the honey, the stronger the flavor and aroma. Local honey is also a good option because it is easy to find. After all, you can get it from several flowers. If you do not know how to get good honey, check the National Honey Board honey locator, or you can also get it by searching in shops.

– How Do You Use Honey for Honey Beer?

The use of honey in making beer is quite similar to using sugar. Just like sugars, honey will ferment completely, making the beer drier. The main goal of treating honey is to preserve its flavor, and this can be quite hard. If sugar is to be used, the brewers add it towards the end of the brew.

This is easy because most granulated sugars often dissolve quickly. You might want to do this with honey, but it creates problems with the flavor. Most of the constituents of honey would evaporate at high temperatures, so you may end up losing most of the essential ingredients.

– How Do You Maintain the Flavor of Honey in a Beer?

In order to preserve the quality and flavor of the honey in the beer, one has to brew a beer that does not have any overwhelming qualities. For example, if you brew hop monster, you should expect that the hop will overshadow everything out of the water. The honey is the primary character of the beer, so you should use an all grain honey beer recipe.

Next, make sure that the honey comes in at a stage where there will only be a minimal amount of fermentation. This is around the time you are adding the dry hops.

– What Style of Beer Is Honey Beer?

Honey beer, in the real sense, does not have a specific style, but in 2015, BJCP style guidelines claimed that they belong to “alternative sugar beer” while assuming that the only ingredient used is honey. In this style, the sugar is the evident character, but the factor for picking beer style should be its flavor.

So we can say it is a strong English bitter beer but with a complementing honey flavor. Some people also call their beer a honey lager beer or honey ale beer. In the end, it boils down to choice.

Conclusion

Honey beer is nutritious, and it is healthier than many other beers you can drink. You have seen how you can make your brew from the comfort of your home; here is a quick recap of some of the things we discussed:

• Honey beer is an excellent beer, cheap and easy to make. Although you might be expecting a very sweet taste, it has a mild honey flavor mixed with a bitter taste.
• The honey ale ingredients are 1kg Honey, 2kg Malt, 7g Yeast. Water, 100-140g of dry hops, and Sugar. The recipes are: ABV: 5.8 percent, Initial Gravity: 1.058, Final Gravity: 1.058, Bitterness: 38, Batch Size: 19 Litres, EBU (Est. Color).
• The steps involved in making honey beer include adding the hops and yeast, bubbling, fermentation, bottling and maturation.
• Honey has a lot of fantastic health benefits. A beer made from honey is far better than many other types of beer as it contains natural unharmful elements.
• It is best to brew your honey beer with unfiltered honey. If you do not know where to get good honey, check the National Honey Board honey locator. You can also get it by searching in shops.

There are a lot of things to discover from brewing honey beer, so if you want a healthy and nutritious beer, follow the tips and tricks above to brew an exquisite honey beer today.