George Washington's Beer Recipe

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cryptofix

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I found out from watching 60 Minutes that our first president had a beer recipe. Would anyone happen to know what it is? Plus, there is a beer recipe for a White House beer. I would like to know what it is please.
 
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/northern-brewer-s-white-house-honey-ale-beer-kit.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/whitehouse_files/image/wh_beer_recipe_0.pdf

Not sure about the George Washington recipe but there is a ton of info on these two.
Starr Hill also does an ale inspired by Tom Jefferson.

http://www.starrhill.com/brews/brew_item/monticello-reserve-ale

Haven't had or brewed the white house ale's but the Monticello is a great brew day beer. Very light and refreshing.
 
I have the NB White House Honey Porter kit on the way. It will be a while until it's ready, but will definitely let you know how it goes to anyone interested in trying it out.
 
Here's my read on the recipe, scaled to 5 gallons. I'm taking "a Sifter of Bran, Hops to Your Taste" to be the correct interpretation, which makes it basically a partial mash (with some grain bran combined with some hops for a boil). I'm presuming wheat bran, but I guess any bran could be used as it probably just added some body and little else. A sifter is an approximate volume of glassware, probably somewhere between 8-16 fluid oz, again probably doesn't matter too much. I'm assuming an English variety of hops (likely) and late additions of molasses.

The boil and cooling methods are less than optimal, but this looks like it could be an OK beer. Of course in the day it would be served at Virginia summer cellar temperature and flat. Yum.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: George Washington's Brew

Brew Method: Partial Mash
Style Name: Specialty Beer
Boil Time: 180 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 3 gallons
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 4.49%
IBU (tinseth): 43.79
SRM (morey): 34.18

FERMENTABLES:
6 lb - Molasses - (late addition) (96%)
0.25 lb - Flaked Wheat (4%)

HOPS:
1.5 oz - East Kent Goldings for 180 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 43.79)

YEAST:
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Yeast
Starter: Yes
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 77%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 57 - 70 F
Fermentation Temp: 65 F
Pitch Rate: 0.5 (M cells / ml / deg P)
 
Thunder_Chicken said:
Here's my read on the recipe, scaled to 5 gallons. I'm taking "a Sifter of Bran, Hops" to be the correct interpretation, which makes it basically a partial mash (with some grain bran combined with some hops for a boil). I'm presuming wheat bran, but I guess any bran could be used as it probably just added some body and little else. A sifter is an approximate volume of glassware, probably somewhere between 8-16 fluid oz, again probably doesn't matter too much. I'm assuming an English variety of hops (likely) and late additions of molasses.

The boil and cooling methods are less than optimal, but this looks like it could be an OK beer.

Title: George Washington's Brew

Brew Method: Partial Mash
Style Name: Specialty Beer
Boil Time: 180 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 3 gallons
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 4.49%
IBU (tinseth): 30.57
SRM (morey): 34.18

FERMENTABLES:
6 lb - Molasses (96%)
0.25 lb - Flaked Wheat (4%)

HOPS:
2 oz - East Kent Goldings for 180 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 5, IBU: 30.57)

YEAST:
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Yeast
Starter: Yes
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 77%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 57 - 70 F
Fermentation Temp: 65 F
Pitch Rate: 0.5 (M cells / ml / deg P)
Click to expand...

I'd say that's probably pretty accurate actually nicely done.
 
I may have dipped a little too deeply into my private reserves, but I'm not sure I follow. Boil for 180 minutes at 3 gallons of boil size? With a boil-off rate of 1.5 gallons per hour, you're in the negative. Help me out.
 
Something to note is that "molasses" probably meant the product of the first pressing, which produces the mildest flavored molasses (light molasses a.ka. pale treacle or invert sugar). Don't try this recipe with Grandma's Blackstrap!
 
Jon73 said:
I may have dipped a little too deeply into my private reserves, but I'm not sure I follow. Boil for 180 minutes at 3 gallons of boil size? With a boil-off rate of 1.5 gallons per hour, you're in the negative. Help me out.
Click to expand...

Knowing what we know now, you can probably get away with a 60 minute boil. You might also want to steep the flaked wheat instead of boiling it, though the tannin may have been desired for body.
 
Actually, I think the following is probably much closer to the true recipe. This actually looks a nice light summer brew.

The previous one using what we call "Molasses" produces something the color of roofing tar and I can't dream of that being refreshing. I did a couple of things - substituted invert sugar for molasses, scaled everything from imperial gallons to U.S. gallons (30 imperial gallons ~ 36 US gallons), and substituted Fuggles as a round 2 ounces gave nicely balanced IBUs and you are just going to get bittering from them anyway.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: George Washington's Brew

Brew Method: Partial Mash
Style Name: Specialty Beer
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 5 gallons
Efficiency: 35% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.047
Final Gravity: 1.011
ABV (standard): 4.71%
IBU (tinseth): 48.48
SRM (morey): 1.59

FERMENTABLES:
5 lb - Invert Sugar - (late addition) (95.2%)
0.25 lb - Flaked Wheat (4.8%)

HOPS:
2 oz - Fuggles for 60 min, Type: Leaf/Whole, Use: Boil (AA 4.5, IBU: 48.48)

YEAST:
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Yeast
Starter: Yes
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 77%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 57 - 70 F
Pitch Rate: 0.5 (M cells / ml / deg P)
Click to expand...
 
I just attempted my take on this. Used organic Florida came sugar and made invert sugar with it. Also used willamette hops cause that's what I had on hand- boiled hops and bran together for an hour. Bubbling away happy now- I'll post a review in a few weeks
 
brewmaster12 said:
I just attempted my take on this. Used organic Florida came sugar and made invert sugar with it. Also used willamette hops cause that's what I had on hand- boiled hops and bran together for an hour. Bubbling away happy now- I'll post a review in a few weeks
Click to expand...

How'd this turn out brewmaster12?
 
I loved it. Especially for the historical value, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results. I kegged and carbed to American adjunct lager levels. It turned out crystal clear, and the flavor was crisp, clean and refreshing. Inverting the sugar before using it made all the difference in my opinion. There was a subtle caramel undertone because of the organic cane sugar, but the hops were bitter enough to keep it from being cloying. I shared with a few friends after I made sure it tasted decent and they put down two growlers of it in under an hour. It took me about 2 weeks to finish the rest of the 3 gallon batch. I'd definitely make it again.
 
brewmaster12 said:
I loved it. Especially for the historical value, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results. I kegged and carbed to American adjunct lager levels. It turned out crystal clear, and the flavor was crisp, clean and refreshing. Inverting the sugar before using it made all the difference in my opinion. There was a subtle caramel undertone because of the organic cane sugar, but the hops were bitter enough to keep it from being cloying. I shared with a few friends after I made sure it tasted decent and they put down two growlers of it in under an hour. It took me about 2 weeks to finish the rest of the 3 gallon batch. I'd definitely make it again.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks. Just so I am sure i understand the recipe and process, all this is is 5lbs of invert sugar and a quarter pound of flaked wheat with some hops? I would have expected that to finish incredibly dry, but recipe says it finished at 1.011. I know that would be dry for a malt based beer but that sounds like there was a lot of unconverted sugar for such a small amount of wheat. No? So just a quarter pound of wheat gave it enough body to take it away from tasting like a hopped sugar wine or something?

Also... So you actually boiled the wheat for the full hour and then strained off the liquid, as apposed to holding it at a mash temp? I take it this is so that it pulls of more tannins and leaves more of those sugars as unconverted starches to give it body? is that the idea?

How far off did something like this taste from a regular ale or beer? Just seems so simple. I didn't know you could make a decent beer with that high of a percentage of sugar. Did you add any yeast nutrient or have any trouble with a cidery taste?

Thanks again for the info. I'll have to try it.
 
Microphobik said:
Awesome, thanks. Just so I am sure i understand the recipe and process, all this is is 5lbs of invert sugar and a quarter pound of flaked wheat with some hops? I would have expected that to finish incredibly dry, but recipe says it finished at 1.011. I know that would be dry for a malt based beer but that sounds like there was a lot of unconverted sugar for such a small amount of wheat. No? So just a quarter pound of wheat gave it enough body to take it away from tasting like a hopped sugar wine or something?



Also... So you actually boiled the wheat for the full hour and then strained off the liquid, as apposed to holding it at a mash temp? I take it this is so that it pulls of more tannins and leaves more of those sugars as unconverted starches to give it body? is that the idea?



How far off did something like this taste from a regular ale or beer? Just seems so simple. I didn't know you could make a decent beer with that high of a percentage of sugar. Did you add any yeast nutrient or have any trouble with a cidery taste?



Thanks again for the info. I'll have to try it.
Click to expand...


I'll try and cover everything.

As far as the gravity, 1.011 is pretty accurate, it may have finished a little lower, but it wasn't hard cider dry in terms of mouthfeel.

Boiling the wheat seems to have done exactly that- extracted some tannins that help provide more of a body than would be there otherwise. I added a normal amount of yeast nutrient just to help the yeast get a healthy start.

In terms of cidery flavors- inverting the sugar seems to completely prevent any of those off flavors. My BMC drinking father in law thought it tasted like a more flavorful Budweiser. That's pretty accurate in my opinion- maybe a little more hop presence and some caramel type flavor from the sugar.

I actually just finished brewing batch number 2 on Friday- I'm thinking about lagering this batch for a month or two before tapping but we'll see.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Thunder_Chicken said:
Actually, I think the following is probably much closer to the true recipe. This actually looks a nice light summer brew.

The previous one using what we call "Molasses" produces something the color of roofing tar and I can't dream of that being refreshing. I did a couple of things - substituted invert sugar for molasses, scaled everything from imperial gallons to U.S. gallons (30 imperial gallons ~ 36 US gallons), and substituted Fuggles as a round 2 ounces gave nicely balanced IBUs and you are just going to get bittering from them anyway.
Click to expand...

Hey Thunder_Chicken, how did it turn out?
 
This is not Washington's recipe, but I have been reading a book on early American beverages and it has a number of interesting recipes from our forefathers.

Here is one taken from the book "A Way to Live Well." 1849

Common Beer:

'Two gallons of water to a large handful of hops is the rule. A little fresh gathered spruce or sweet fern makes the beer more agreeable, and you may allow a quart of wheat bran to the mixture; then boil it two or three hours. Strain it through a sieve, and stir in, while the liquor is hot, a teacup of molasses to every gallon. Let it stand till lukewarm, pour it into a clean barrel and add a good yeast, a pint if the barrel is nearly full; shake it well together; it will be fit for use the next day.'

Almost makes me want to go out and gather up some spruce or sweet fern.
 
bilder said:
This is not Washington's recipe, but I have been reading a book on early American beverages and it has a number of interesting recipes from our forefathers.

Here is one taken from the book "A Way to Live Well." 1849
Click to expand...

Was the book you were reading called "A way to live well" or was that simply the source sited in the book you are reading. Assuming it was just the source sites, what is the book you are reading? I'd be very curious to find a book on early American beverages myself, assuming it includes a decent amount of recipes.
 
imagejpg1_zpsa107509f.jpg

Yards makes one and it's pretty good.
 

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