Brewing Master » Brewery » Priming with honey… How much?
Priming with honey… How much?
Question:
Can someone offer any advice in regards to how much honey to add to 5 gallons of beer to ensure proper priming? I am getting ready to bottle a "Cat’s Claw Blackberry Ale" made from a Cats Meow recipe. The recipe itself states to prime with 2/3 of a cup, but this sounds a little on the low side (if they are talking 2/3 to 5 gallons which I’m sure they are). If anyone can tell me how much to add to either the individual 12oz bottles or to the entire 5 gallon lot, I would be extremely grateful. Thanks in advance! Now to go check out "The Brewery" page for my next concoction! Michael Haip Royal Columbian Hospital Patient Care System Specialist New Westminster, BC Simon-Fraser Health Region Canada http://vanbc.wimsey.com/~mhaip (604)520-4814 voice
Response:
I have had pretty good success with a ratio of 5/8 of a cup, up to 3/4 of a cup, per 5 gallon batch. My most recent batch was a Honey Amber Ale where I primed with 5/8 cup and I am very pleased with the results. Regards, Rick
Response:
Can someone offer any advice in regards to how much honey to add to 5 gallons of beer to ensure proper priming? I am getting ready to bottle a "Cat’s Claw Blackberry Ale" made from a Cats Meow recipe.
Honey is about 18% water and the rest sugar (fructose and glucose) so it is a simple matter to compute the weight of honey you need given that you have the weight of the corn sugar that gives the desired level of carbonation. Wt. Honey = Wt Glucose/0.82 AJ
Response:
Can someone offer any advice in regards to how much honey to add to 5 gallons of beer to ensure proper priming? <snip
I used 3/4 cup in a 5 gallon batch of honey porter. Worked fine, but not much carbonation. Next time I plan to use a full cup.
Response:
Try 1 cup for 5 gallons. This is the amount recommended in Papazian’s "The Home Brewer’s Companion" page 182.
In another place he also says 3/4 cup (oh well consistancy is a product of small minds). IMHO, one cup is too much for a 5 gal. batch. 3/4 works just fine. Main thing is give it a little bit longer to bottle condition, honey just works a bit slower.
Response:
Try 1 cup for 5 gallons. This is the amount recommended in Papazian’s "The Home Brewer’s Companion" page 182. In another place he also says 3/4 cup (oh well consistancy is a product of small minds). IMHO, one cup is too much for a 5 gal. batch. 3/4 works just fine. Main thing is give it a little bit longer to bottle condition, honey just works a bit slower.
The "correct" amount of liquid honey to use to equal 3/4 cup dry corn sugar is 1/3 cup(math not opinion). Because honey ferments out slower, you might see good carbonation levels after two weeks if you used 3/4 cup but after a month you would have gushers and worse. Corn sugar is just too consistent for me to want to mess with and that much isn’t affecting the flavor of my beer. Phil Slotter Flying Goat dog Pico Brewery
Response:
Yes, I found out about the "honey gusher" problem firsthand over the last few weeks. Live and learn (and wipe). Phil
Response:
Yes, I found out about the "honey gusher" problem firsthand over the last few weeks. Live and learn (and wipe).
Uggh, I used 1.5 cups to prime 5 gallons of a rasberry honey lambic. I could have sworn that I read somewhere to use a bit more than a cup of honey… :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: I collect rare ‘alternative’ music and video bootlegs. Your list gets my list of over 600 items. I am also interested in all forms of video and audio. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::