You've probably read about this beer in the news, or seen it on CNN. Someone at the White House - maybe the President, maybe one of his homebrewing staff - decided that it would be really cool if a beer was produced there to serve guests, heads of states, generally anyone who wanted a brew during their visit. There were two recipes made - a Honey Ale and a Honey Porter. The honey came from a bee hive on the South Lawn. This recipe is on the official White House website, and several homebrew stores even sell kits. We're listing the recipe here because it's our take on it, and there are deviations from the White House recipe in two areas: the amount of honey used, and the point at which the honey is added to the boil. We're also including gravity readings, which you typically won't find for this recipe online.
Ingredients:
3/4 lb Munich Malt (cracked)
3 lb raw, unfiltered honey
1 oz Nugget hops
Yeast – White Labs California Ale Yeast #WLP001
1/2 cup corn sugar for bottling
Procedure:
2. Pour 2.5 gallons of clean water into your brew pot and begin to heat. Pour crushed grains into grain bag and tie a loose knot at the top of the bag. When the water is within an appropriate steeping temperature (150º - 165ºF) place the grain bag into the brew pot. Steep grains for approximately 45 minutes, then remove.
3. Remove brew pot from fire and add Liquid Malt Extract, stirring. Return to fire and bring to a boil.
4. Boil for 15 minutes, and add half of the Nugget hops.
5. Boil for another 15 minutes, then add the rest of the Nugget hops.
6. Boil for another 25 minutes (a total of 55 minutes at this point) and add the Hallertau hops and the honey.
7. Remove from burner into an ice bath, and chill to ~80 degrees. Pour into primary fermenter, and add distilled water to bring to 5 gallons.
8. Pitch yeast from the starter.
9. When fermentation slows (4-7 days), you are ready to go to the secondary. The secondary fermentation will typically take two-three weeks. When the activity in the fermentation lock stops, check the specific gravity and allow fermentation to continue until it reaches the finishing gravity.
10. When ready to bottle, boil 2 cups water and add priming sugar. Cool mixture down in an ice bath. Rack from the secondary to your bottling tank, stir in the priming sugar liquid, and mix well.
11. Bottle, and allow to condition for several weeks before drinking. Enjoy!
O.G. 1.040 All text and photos copyright 2013-2014 by the Meisters of Brew. |
