Ask Mr. Wizard

Maximizing Honey Flavor and Aroma

TroubleShooting

Joe — Mars, Pennsylvania asks,
Q

I recently had an excellent draft honey wheat at Whole Foods. As I enjoyed the brew I realized there was a nice honey aroma and flavor, but none of the additional alcohol caused by the honey. In the past when I’ve added any additional sugars (honey, fruit, etc.) in the secondary it caused additional fermentation and additional alcohol.

I know I can add preservatives to the secondary to stop or at least limit the yeast, but if I do add these how will I then be able to bottle carbonate the brew? Won’t the yeast be prevented from processing the priming sugar and therefore prevent carbonation?

A
Joe, thanks for the good two-part question about using brewing sugars like honey for special flavors and the question about how to bottle condition beers that may contain fermentable sugars. These are
Response by Ashton Lewis.