The White House Honey Ale I brewed this past autumn took 2nd place in the specialty beer category yesterday at the 2013 Chicago Cup. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f78/white-house-honey-ale-2nd-place-2013-chicago-cup-400185/
This whole "buy a kit cause it came from the white house" crap is.....kind of stupid.
It's just like how people buy things because of the name regardless of the quality. I give two ****'s that the white house is getting into beer to be perfectly honest, nothing can make me buy that kit......
you don't have to buy a kit. the white house published the recipe, you can buy the individual ingredients.deleted quote
you don't have to buy a kit. the white house published the recipe, you can buy the individual ingredients.
philshelter said:i just brewed a batch of honey porter on Wednesday, i did a gallon batch because i wasn't sure how it would turn out. so i'll keep everyone updated.
Can you post your recipe? There are probably other brewers who would like a 1 gallon version.
dahray02 said:well i was going to brew the version of it that was this:
8.5 lbs Pale Malt
1 lbs Munich Malt
1 lb. Wheat Malt
0.75 lb. Caramel Malt 20L
so you're saying keep the 0.75 caramel as grain and convert the rest to dry extract? thats very little grain, i usually do my PMs will around 4-5 lbs of grain
alestateyall said:I am planning to brew this for the 2nd this weekend also. Three changes:
1. Moving to caramel 40 from 60.
2. Moving the 45 min. EKG addition to first wort hops.
3. Changed to all grain. Replaced extracts w/ 10# 2-row.
I am brewing this for a Knights of Columbus social. These guys are old so I am hoping for a slightly lighter colored less bitter beer.
The change to all grain is just to save money.
My second batch of White House Honey Ale has turned out to be a fuggles bomb. Not bad but not what I remember. I think moving the 45 min EKG addition to first wort hops may have screwed it up. That or maybe I fermented it too cold (about 62F). At 5 weeks in the keg it has none of the jasmine or other flavors attributedto the honey. Also it seems slightly cloying or at least it seems to need a more bitter finish.
alestateyall said:My second batch of White House Honey Ale has turned out to be a fuggles bomb. Not bad but not what I remember. I think moving the 45 min EKG addition to first wort hops may have screwed it up.
That or maybe I fermented it too cold (about 62F).
....Also it seems slightly cloying or at least it seems to need a more bitter finish.
Just got back scoresheets for my version of White House Honey Ale.
BJCP National judge gave 38 pts in specialty category. He had very nice things to say. I entered as a ESB with honey. His major complaint was that the beer was not bitter enough for an ESB. That is true especially since I moved the 45min EKG addition to FWH. He also said the beer needs more hop aroma for an ESB. I thought it was quite pungent with Fuggles aroma but maybe I am confused. I am not the best at describing flavors and aromas. The judge suggested entering as a specialty based on ordinary bitter or increasing hop aroma and bitterness. On the bottom under intangibles he checked wonderful.
The other judge (not BJCP) had very similar comments but gave a lower score.
Bottom line, I am pleased.
Pappers_ said:Congrats, sounds great. I entered this beer as a specialty beer, because the honey aroma/flavor was pronounced, and took a silver medal in that cateogory in the 2013 Chicago Cup.
I brewed this beer as my 3rd or 4th batch last year and enjoyed it. I upgraded my equipment lately and decided to plan to brew an all-grain version of it. I know, others have posted their own all-grain version but I watched the original White House video and based on that and my own taste, designed my own version.
It's a 6 Gallon Batch, not a 5 Gallon Batch.
If you look at the video, when they rack it to secondary they top it with water over the 6 gallon mark. Then when they transfer it to the bucket, you can clearly see that they have just over 5 gallon of finished beer in the bucket. So it's not a 7%-plus ABV but rather something close to 5.8%-6.0%. They don't talk about it in the instructions but the instructions they give are sketchy. I'll brew this from the start as a 6 Gallon Batch, then top it with water at secondary just like they do in the video.
No more Biscuit Malt
Let's face it, it's an ESB-style beer brewed with Light Extracts. The Biscuit Malt is just there to mimic the biscuity flavour of a Maris Otter. If you use Maris Otter or any other floor-malted english grain, you don't need Biscuit Malt.
More Crystal, more complexity
I used a 80 L Crystal when I brewed this with extract. I wanted to get a similar "speciality grains" grain bill while getting the same color. I swapped the 12 oz 80 L Crystal for 12 oz 40 L Crystal. This will bring back the caramelly flavor you find in the extracts. I also replaced the now useless 8 oz Biscuit Malt by a 9 oz 120 L Crystal addition. Not only It bring back the same colour I had with the extract version, but it will bring some dry fruit notes and a dryer mouthfeel.
Bitterness
Here is where things will change the most. First, I think we all agree that this beer is somewhat not bitter enough by any standards. We're miles from any American Craft Ale bitterness and even quite far from the low-spectrum of the bitterness for an English ESB, which this beer is inspired from. Second, I hate to have to deal with half-ounces additions. I prefer adjusting the hopping schedule than being left with half or third-ounces. Plus my home-brew shop only sell flat-ounces, so I worked with that. Third, the hop schedule and the hop quantities they gave via e-mail and in the instructions don't match. I want it to be closer to a bitter hoppiness and flavor, without being harsh or getting over the honey/caramelly flavor. So I keep the same hops, adjust slightly the quantities and schedule and dry-hop a bit with a half-ounce.
Water and Yeast
I use de-mineralized water to brew. So I will add 1/2 tsp of Chalk to the 2 tsp of Gypsum. I will use the same Yeast, although
I'd be tempted to use Wyeast 1968 (Fuller's ESB) Yeast.
I hit pretty much all the same numbers in Beersmith for this recipe compared to when I enter the Extract version (ABV, Color) except for the adjusted bitterness.
Here's the recipe:
WATER
2.00 tbsp Gypsum
0.50 tbsp Chalk
MASH
10 lbs Maris Otter
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L
9.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L
HOPS
1.50 oz EKG 60 min.
0.50 oz Fuggles 30 min.
1.50 oz Fuggles 0 min.
0.50 oz EKG Dry Hop 7 days
ADDITIONS
1.00 tsp Irish Moss 10 min.
1 lb Honey 0 min.
YEAST
1.0 pkg Windsor Yeast
Mash at 152. Primary for 5 days. Secondary for 14 days. Dry Hop the last 7 days. Prime with 0.75 cup of sugar
What do you think? Should this make a good brew?
Everything except the dry hopping, but that's just me.
I was surprised how different MO is. It definitely gives a beer a stronger malt flavor, which is perfect for this kind of beer. You think adding biscuit takes it over the top?
I did this with US-05, which I think changes it some, too. Probably a higher ABV. I think using a British ESB yeast would be a better choice than that.
I thought this was good but not great. Friends thought it was great. If I make it again, I'll probably follow the extract again, but leave out the DME. I think it would be better if it were a little less potent and more like an ESB or regular bitter.
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