AHS Pecan Porter reviews???

[Philip_T]

Thanks guys, I think this may be the one to get. Plus, it will have plenty of time to age for the colder months ahead. I wonder if a little vanilla would be over the top in the dessert department (love vanilla porters).

 

[duffman2]

Update: Although I did my recipe different than the Austin one, it had a lot of the same stuff going on (but instead of the pecan extract I mashed with 1.5 pounds of pecans from the back yard).

Me and my brother tried one out a couple weeks ago and it is already really good. He thinks the whiskey is still too strong and he might be right. It's good but the pecan taste is still very subtle compared to the oak and whiskey. The smell is great however and I can only think that this will get better and better with age! We are very excited

This beer is being loosely called the "John Boy Walton's Midnight, Hell-raising, Pecan cracking, Prohibition defying Porter". Or something like that

Cheers

 

[Changoborracho]

Thanks for all the updates and information. I plan on this one being the next brew that i try.

 

[Philip_T]

Yep, same here. Can't start until 3rd weekend of July though, unfortunately.

 

[duffman2]

Update 2

Well, this is the best beer I've done. No question. It is smooth, silky, and simply wonderful. I'm gonna have to ration this out slowly or brew it again quickly!

 

[Philip_T]

I'm getting pumped to brew this one up. Target brew date is July 23rd and I'll update at that time. I plan on using the ABV bump and soaking the chips in port....and possibly adding a vanilla bean or two...but not sure I want to create too many flavors with the 1st batch. Can't wait!

 

[Changoborracho]

I found this review on the AHB page. Does adding the American Honey sound like a good idea? I'm new to brewing (have only made one batch, and that was last weekend) and think i may make this one this weekend.

We made this one and it is AMAZING. Left in primary and secondary 1 1/2 weeks each and then kegged. As we kegged, added 1/2 cup of Wild Turkey's American Honey Bourbon Whiskey. Nice head, sweet pecan smell, smoooooth taste with a nice bourbon finish. This is going to happen every winter and fall every year from here on out.

 

[stratslinger]

This was one of my first few kits I brewed - still have a little left in the keg, and it's definitely a very nice beer. One of the best I've brewed thus far.

A couple things worth noting:

- This one calls for oak chips in the secondary. I soaked mine in bourbon for a few days then dumped them (bourbon and all) into the secondary and racked the beer onto that. Chango - this could be a perfect use for that American Honey! The alcohol content of the bourbon sanitizes the oak AND imparts some flavor.

- I read a lot of cautionary tales here about leaving things too long on the oak, so I was careful to sample frequently to see how it was coming along, and I think I bailed out on the oak too early... The oak seemed to come through much more strongly in the flat beer than it does in the carbonated beer - If I had it to do again I'd not be so gun-shy with regards to time on the oak chips!

- Lastly, while I love having this stuff available to pull a pint from the kegerator, I bottled up a few bottles with coopers carb tabs to share with a few friends and I can tell you: everyone who's tried it both ways seems to agree the bottle-conditioned beer is noticeably better than the kegged and force-carbed beer. If you plan to keg, this might be a good one to prime and keg-condition, rather than force carb.

 

[seatbelt123]

I'm brewing the all grain kit in the next few days. I'm really excited about it. My plan is to follow with one possible exception... soaking the chips in American Honey Bourbon.

Any new comments or advice about this beer?

Thanks in advance!

 

[wiescins]

nm

 

[seatbelt123]

I'm brewing the all grain kit in the next few days. I'm really excited about it. My plan is to follow with one possible exception... soaking the chips in American Honey Bourbon.

Any new comments or advice about this beer?

Thanks in advance!

Well a bit late but I finally brewed it today. Looks and smells great.

Anybody else have any updates before I get to the oak chips?

 

[seatbelt123]

I brewed the all grain kit on 1/18/12. Was a bit high on the OG (1.057 vs 53) and am now at 1.018... that's a 70%+ attenuation so I'm probably about done. I fermented at about 64.

I have not added the oak chips yet.

The sample already tastes great! I could keg and serve it as is. But I'm going to do the chips and pecan flavoring. Here's my plan:

1. Soak oak chips in whiskey for a few days.
2. Rack to keg with 1/2 oz of pecan flavoring (based on comments that 1oz is too much).
3. Put oak chips in hop bag.
4. Pressurize and store in the 60s.
5. Sample after a few days and remove oak when it has the right balance.

Okay... I'll probably sample a early and often!

Any other updates or comments?

 

[Changoborracho]

Well I FINALLY got around to brewing mine. It's in the primary now, and when it gets to the secondary, I'm going to introduce it to rum soaked oak chips.

 

[seatbelt123]

Well I FINALLY got around to brewing mine. It's in the primary now, and when it gets to the secondary, I'm going to introduce it to rum soaked oak chips.

Did you do extract or all grain?

Keep us posted. It will be interesting to compare our results. I'm going to try to keg min this week with the oak chips in the keg. I'll put the chip in a bag w/ a string so I can pull them when the taste is on target.

 

[Changoborracho]

I did a mini mash.

It was fun to watch this one ferment. It was going CRAZY!!

 

[Larzean]

I am thinking about trying to make this as an extract batch I just had a couple questions on the chips... If soaking them in a bourbon first how much would you use, second for how long do you soak, and third would it be beneficial to add some roasted pecans to the soak or just before siphoning in from the primary? I am assuming its ok to just do the soak in the secondary, or should I use a different sterilized container??

Thanks in advance for helping a newbie out!!

 

[seatbelt123]

I am thinking about trying to make this as an extract batch I just had a couple questions on the chips... If soaking them in a bourbon first how much would you use, second for how long do you soak, and third would it be beneficial to add some roasted pecans to the soak or just before siphoning in from the primary? I am assuming its ok to just do the soak in the secondary, or should I use a different sterilized container??

Thanks in advance for helping a newbie out!!

I've heard people report that they've used just enough to cover the chips. Some drain the liquor before putting the chips in the beer... others dump it all in.

On the Jamil show they did a segment about using chips/cubes. They indicated that the alcohol is not strong enough to sterilize the chips and that you would need to pasteurize by exposing them to 150+ water for a few minutes. That's what I'm going to do.

 

[seatbelt123]

Well, here's the first pour. Fantastic! My best batch yet. I did the all grain. No special treatment for the oak chips. I used about 2/3 of the pecan flavoring.

With out the additives it would be a great robust porter (check out BJCP 12B). With the additions it's irresistible.

Bartender! Bring me another!

 

[bucfanmike]

I brewed this awhile back and it needed some aging. Definately too much going on when it was young. Let it bulk age in a keg. Bottled up a couple for the Great Northern BrewHaHa and took second place in the specialty beer category. Score sheets were very good, pecan flavor was still great and this beer is over a year old. I followed the recipe and i used about 2 cups of makers mark to soak the wood chips before they went into secondary.

 

[seatbelt123]

Thanks for the update buckfan and congrats on the score. I used only 2/3 of the pecan flavoring and definitely recommend that others do the same. Next time I might only use 1/2 the flavoring.

 

[Larzean]

I just made this using the extract kit & added alcohol boost sugar. My SG IS 1.062ish, the kit says my target is 1.053. Could the alcohol boost sugar cause this increase?

 

[Austinhomebrew]

The more sugar you add the higher the gravity number. The target on the recipe doesn't know you added the boost.

 

[Larzean]

Thanks!! That's what I figured just wanted to verify

 

[rhamilton]

Did the mini mash and it came out astringenty, I can't remember if I added the 1% boost or not but out did ferment in the upper 70's. It's gotten much much better after 2 months in the bottle so hopefully it'll clean up.