White house beer

[sloose]

Best thing is to add it in the secondary/after primary fermentation, so that the CO2 from the primary fermentation doesn't scrub out the aroma. If you do it this way (and I really do recommend it), do not heat the honey first, even if it's unpasteurized, as it will render it all pointless... the undiluted honey is a hostile environment to microorganisms (very high osmotic pressure because of the sugar density), so infection usually isn't a concern.

+1 for honey being sterile

Honey is shelf stable, unpasteuruzed. Honey found in Egyptian tombs from 3000 years ago was edible and safe.

 

[Brewskii]

+1 for honey being sterile

Honey is shelf stable, unpasteuruzed. Honey found in Egyptian tombs from 3000 years ago was edible and safe.

Due in large part to its consistency/concentration, I believe it is stable, but raw honey is not sterile.

 

[emjay]

Due in large part to its consistency/concentration, I believe it is stable, but raw honey is not sterile.

This is true, and my post about using it without heating didn't mean to imply it. Bacteria and what not can't thrive in it, but it ain't sterile. Then again, neither is anything most brewers do.

But it is, for example, the largest reservoir of botulinum in our food sources. That's not to scare anyone though... our stomachs deal with it just fine, just like it does when we eat the stuff. Babies, on the other hand, are at risk. So don't give your honey beer to a baby.

 

[Tommy1858]

Has anyone tried brewing the ones released from the white house yet?

 

[sloose]

Has anyone tried brewing the ones released from the white house yet?

Mine is getting bottled today...when I racked it to secondary it was delicious and still had honey notes in it, despite me boiling the honey as per the recipe (and using cheap SAMs club clover honey)... Tasting in about 2 weeks.

 

[Zuljin]

I drank my sample. I'd like to say I tasted the honey, but I know it's in there, so...

I can say it tasted sweet in a way that was more than just from malt.

 

[tchamber]

Don't know if anybody saw it, but Obama gave the ladies on The View bottles of WHHA today.

 

[sweetcell]

uhh... why, exactly, would any of us be watching The View???

man-card, please.

 

[Skagdog]

uhh... Why, exactly, would any of us be watching the view???

Man-card, please.

+1

 

[tchamber]

uhh... why, exactly, would any of us be watching The View???

man-card, please.

I don't. But I work from home, often on the laptop in the living room, and SWMBO happened to have it on.

Honest!

 

[emjay]

I don't. But I work from home, often on the laptop in the living room, and SWMBO happened to have it on.

Honest!

Even if we believed you (and we don't), merely paying attention is grounds for having your card revoked. Sorry.

 

[chuckpo]

Even if we believed you (and we don't), merely paying attention is grounds for having your card revoked. Sorry.

If not revoked, a corner torn off at the least. Lose 4 corners and it's over.

 

[alestateyall]

FYI the recipe for Honey Ale on the White House blog has been updated. The second hops addition has been corrected.

It now reads "For the second flavoring, add the 1 1/2 oz Fuggles hop pellets at the last minute of the boil."

Link: http://m.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/09/01/ale-chief-white-house-beer-recipe

 

[sloose]

FYI the recipe for Honey Ale on the White House blog has been updated. The second hops addition has been corrected.

It now reads "For the second flavoring, add the 1 1/2 oz Fuggles hop pellets at the last minute of the boil."

Link: http://m.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/09/01/ale-chief-white-house-beer-recipe

dammit. i followed the original recipe typo of 1/2oz at 1min... o well. it'll be close.

i bottled today. the beer is VERY alcohol hot...im sure aging will help. the honey notes were gone (or hidden by the alcohol heat), but i'm sure i'll enjoy it. I'm going to give this one a full 3 week nap before even attempting to drink one.

 

[niuguy]

I'm drinking one now. Its really good, I think. I had pretty measured expectations....nothing about the ingredients really stood out to me. I followed the recipe closely except I guessed (right) and used 1.5 late and didn't secondary. The honey flavor is, to me, much more than I expected. It has much more character than I anticipated. Really good.

Sorry, not good and explaining the beer as others are. I'm a bit of a noob with 9 extract beers under my belt.

Cheers!

 

[jimbot]

i bottled today. the beer is VERY alcohol hot...im sure aging will help. the honey notes were gone (or hidden by the alcohol heat), but i'm sure i'll enjoy it. I'm going to give this one a full 3 week nap before even attempting to drink one.

I bottled mine today as well. The sample came out a tad malty in front, with some heat. Actually worked well I thought. Then it finished out with better bitter/malt balance, but the heat came through a bit more. It was fairly light color and very clear going through the siphon.

Mine finished at around 1.008, which makes it about 7.5 ABV. This is going to help make one hell of an election night party.

--Jimbot

 

[niuguy]

I brewed this beer two days after it came out and didn't secondary...I might be one of the first people to drink a finished product. haha

 

[amandabab]

I bottled mine today as well. The sample came out a tad malty in front, with some heat. Actually worked well I thought. Then it finished out with better bitter/malt balance, but the heat came through a bit more. It was fairly light color and very clear going through the siphon.

Mine finished at around 1.008, which makes it about 7.5 ABV. This is going to help make one hell of an election night party.

--Jimbot

those numbers are similar to mine. hot 7.5ABV and 1.007/1.008.
it takes a month in the bottle to really finish nice.

 

[Whippy]

Mine got maggots in it and now tastes like crap (acetobacter, I assume)

I'll try again some day...

 

[sweetcell]

wait - your kit or your ingredients had MAGGOTS in it?!?

and you still brewed with it?

 

[Whippy]

No, sweetcell LOL!! During fermentation, I got fruit flies and they got in my beer, laid eggs, an the rest is a sad sad history.

The lil maggots were around the lip of the bucket so I wiped them off as well as I could and sealed up the fermenter hoping I could save the beer, but when I took a taste it has this nasty harsh "flavor" to it. Since I have had this off-flavor before (without the maggots) I know it does not get better with age. I've not had the heart to dump it yet, but feel it is inevitable. I figure one more sample this weekend and if nothing has changed, it will be my first batch down the drain.

I THINK I have enough ingredients to re-brew the White House Honey Ale but may need to use Munich malt rather than Maris Otter and will need to buy yeast. I will brew an IPA or something this weekend and try this recipe again maybe the week after.

 

[lordmorphous]

Brewed this up yesterday. Been around 12 hours in the fermenter and bubbling along nicely. The wort tasted awesome and can't wait for this one to finish.

 

[Netflyer]

Awesome, please let us know how it finishes!

 

[MrBrewer]

The recipe calls for 2.25 qts. of water, bringing 2 gals. to a boil, "rinsing" (what ever that means) with 2 more hot gals. and adding to 2 more cold gals. And finally topping "with cold water to equal 5 gallons if necessary." Sounds like over 6 gallons to start. Am I really expecting to boil off over a gallon? This will only be my 7th extract brew but I'm confused about the quantities and what they mean by "rinsing." Thanks experts, I love the info I get in these forums.

 

[sloose]

The recipe calls for 2.25 qts. of water, bringing 2 gals. to a boil, "rinsing" (what ever that means) with 2 more hot gals. and adding to 2 more cold gals. And finally topping "with cold water to equal 5 gallons if necessary." Sounds like over 6 gallons to start. Am I really expecting to boil off over a gallon? This will only be my 7th extract brew but I'm confused about the quantities and what they mean by "rinsing." Thanks experts, I love the info I get in these forums.

You are rinsing residual sugars and flavors out of the grains. My boils are about a gallon loss per hour of boil. My all grain batches are set up to shoot for about 6.1 gallons of pre boil wort. After a 60 minute boil if I have done everything right I should hit my target gravity and have just over 5.25 gallons into my fermenter.

 

[Furrey]

Hi all. Newto the forum and to homebrewing. I modified NB's extract version of this by adding 1/2 pound of chocolate malt and 6 oz. of black patent with the one pound of caramel. During the boil, I added 1 lb of honey at 60 minutes, 1 lb at 30 and 1.5 lbs with the aroma hops after boil. OG was 1.074 (first time using hydrometer, but took it twice). Was bottling my first brew (blueberry wheat) to free up secondary last night, and noticed that my porter is now at 1.000. Is that right?
The water in the air lock hasn't moved at all - so no positive pressure yet. Is it time to bottle?

Edit: brew day was 2 weeks ago. Forgot time frame. That's why I am posting. Didn't know if gravity could/should drop that fast.

 

[itoriapt]

The hydrometer doesn't lie. You must not have had a air-tight seal on the primary fermenter. That's why you didn't see any action. Depending on temp the yeast could mow through the sugar pretty fast. With the O.G. that high I would give it a couple weeks in the secondary before bottling.

 

[lawman67]

Considering my beer kit arrived with a winemaking book in it, my first batch seems challenged from the start. I started with the Whitehouse Honey Ale. Yes, the one with typos and incomplete directions.
Wasn't entirely certain on what steeping meant, but thought I'd turn the heat back on for the tap water I had boiled earlier that had cooled down to around 140. Once it got to boiling, I put the bag of grains in the boiling water and went to the laptop to see exactly what steeping meant...yeah I know...now.
Ran back into the kitchen, slid the pot off the heat, pulled the bag and put it on a plate. Total boil time, about 9 minutes (i read slow I guess). Cooled it down to 155 and "steeped" the remaining 21 minutes at 155.
Do I just let it fly or there something I should consider doing to lessen the effect of the tannins I would have presumably released?
Also, I added the yeast at 175 and bubbles started almost immediately (within 5 seconds). I could not get the primary below 78 degrees for the first 3 days. Tried garage, basement, fan and eventually sink with water. Things settled down after 2 days. Didn't really see another bubble after 48 hours. Today is day 7 in the primary. It has been at about 71 degrees for the last 4 days. Directions say, rack to seconday and ferment for 14 more days. Will it still ferment?
The recipe and ingredients are below if needed:

WHITE HOUSE HONEY ALE
Ingredients

2 (3.3 lb) cans light malt extract
1 lb light dried malt extract
12 oz crushed amber crystal malt
8 oz Biscuit Malt
1 lb White House Honey
1 1/2 oz Kent Goldings Hop Pellets
1 1/2 oz Fuggles Hop pellets
2 tsp gypsum
1 pkg Windsor dry ale yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar for priming
Directions

1.In an 12 qt pot, steep the grains in a hop bag in 1 1/2 gallons of sterile water at 155 degrees for half an hour. Remove the grains.
2.Add the 2 cans of the malt extract and the dried extract and bring to a boil.
3.For the first flavoring, add the 1 1/2 oz Kent Goldings and 2 tsp of gypsum. Boil for 45 minutes.
4.For the second flavoring, add the 1/2 oz Fuggles hop pellets at the last minute of the boil.
5.Add the honey and boil for 5 more minutes.
6.Add 2 gallons chilled sterile water into the primary fermenter and add the hot wort into it. Top with more water to total 5 gallons. There is no need to strain.
7.Pitch yeast when wort temperature is between 70-80?. Fill airlock halfway with water.
8.Ferment at 68-72? for about seven days.
9.Rack to a secondary fermenter after five days and ferment for 14 more days.
10.To bottle, dissolve the corn sugar into 2 pints of boiling water for 15 minutes. Pour the mixture into an empty bottling bucket. Siphon the beer from the fermenter over it. Distribute priming sugar evenly. Siphon into bottles and cap. Let sit for 2 to 3 weeks at 75?.

 

[MrBrewer]

Thanks. That actually makes a lot of sense. I wound up reducing my confusion by just putting all the grains into a muslin bag and steeping for 45 mins. in 3 gals. of 160 degree water. Then boiled it up and followed directions from there, but doubling the aroma hops (since they come in 1 ounce packets and all). Bubbling away ferociously right now at 24 hours. Dark and smells pretty. Hoping for the best. Thanks!

 

[superfknmario]

I've had it in the primary since Wednesday and will add more honey this Wednesday. Have any of you already tried this recipe? If so, any suggestions?