Looking to brew an american honey blonde ale next week. SG is 1.058. I would like a subtle but noticeable honey flavor to come through. Has anyone added honey to the primary after krausen has dropped and fermentation has slowed? I plan to leave in primary to clean up for at least three weeks. I am worried about restarting the yeast (White Labs East Coast Ale) and creating off flavors and the infamous infection. Thoughts?
First off, welcome!
I think you would have no problem adding the honey to your primary fermenter after the initlal fermentation died down a bit. You will see an additional kick-start to the fermentation obviously. Be sure to leave the beer for an additional 1-2 wks to allow the "secondary" honey fermentation to finish and clean up after itself prior to packaging.
I would put the honey container into a pot of warm/hot water to loosen it up a bit prior to pouring it in directly into the fermenter. Any honey that sticks to the sides of the container can be easily loosened further with some hot pre-boiled water (I would use distilled/RO) through swirling/slight shaking and adding that back to the fermenter.
Maybe someone else with more honey experience will chime in too.