Wassa's Honey Porter

[KEG]

Sorry Jacko, I only just saw your post.

Yellowbox is a type of tree over here in Oz and therefore Yellowbox honey is made from the the Yellowbox flowers.

Manuka honey or any type of honey that is not from a Eucalypt tree will make this brew. Eucalypts (ie most gum trees) leave you with a brew that tastes like eucalyptus.

Interestingly, Yellow Box is a type of Eucalypt.. along with Stringybark, Ironbark, Red Gum, Blue Gum...

I've wondered for a while about more specific types of Eucalypt honey - for example, whether some are good for beer while others aren't. Does anyone have any further knowledge, or personal findings, on the topic? Perhaps this warrants a new thread...

[Wassa]

Made this recipe using Blue Gum honey.

All you could taste was Eucalyptus. Was undrinkable.

[Throsby]

I love this one so much I'm planning to make it again later this week.

I do have some Ironbark honey in the cupboard but based on Wassa's last post I'd better get down the shops and pick up some Yellowbox.

Thanks for the heads up.

[Wassa]

Throsby,

Yeah get some yellow box or if you can get any some clover honey.

I have the makings to put one down this weekend.

Going to use:

Cascade Mahogany Porter
1.5kg LDME
600gm Yellowbox Honey and up the Cascade hops to 20gm to offset the extra honey
make up to 20 litres

Wait 3 months and then start drinking and enjoying.

I have 30 bottles been maturing for 1 month now, so need to brew some more so I have a goos stock for winter.

[Throsby]

I'm also putting it down this weekend or so but shall be sticking fairly close to the original recipe.

I am however replacing the dry malt with liquid malt, as I have a tin lying around.


The first one I made it to 23L and just can't find any fault in the beer. It's spectacular.

Should I make a smaller batch this time to see the difference or stick with what I love? 20L you say you're doing??

[Wassa]

Yeah Throsby, I'm only making 20 litres.

I alternate, 23 litres makes a nice easy drinking porter, but 20 litres increases the flavour bases and gives a richer tasting more heavily boied brew. I am making my one out of liquid malt this time as well, only because I have a can of malt yet to be used.

Regards,

Wassa

[Jacko_NZ]

Guy's, what colour is your beer coming out at?! Just took a reading and it is down to 1016 after 2 weeks, think it's done. Was quite surprised to see it come out brownish in colour rather than darker black. I thought porter was getting close to a stout? Anyway I also have a faint aroma of banana, is this also normal, from the hops maybe? I was expecting grapefruit aroma rather than banana but never used these hops before so unsure.

By the way I tasted the sample and almost gulped the lot down, tasted great, I can tell that this is going to probably be my best beer yet already. It has bitterness, hop flavour, complexity, great stuff.

Cheers

[Wassa]

Jacko,

It comes out a darkish browwn. It depends a lot on the malt you use as well. This kit is not a dark kit to start with, it is a reddish brown. Keeping in mind that a porter can be anything from a darkish ale to rivalling a stout and you have a lot to work with.

I just find it to be a great beer, it has good taste, nice bitterness and if you concentrate you can taste the honey overtones on your back palate.

Regards,

Wassa

[Jacko_NZ]

Thanks Wassa. I used Dark Dry Malt in the recipe. Bottled it last night and it was dark brown as you described, I always thought porter was black like stout so learnt something there. How much sugar do you prime your bottles with? I made 29 bottles, first 15 were a full prime (1 teaspoon) and the other 14, 3/4 teaspoon of sugar. I quite like a porter without too much gas so have to see how both batches come out. Can't wait to start drinking it.

Cheers

[Wassa]

I always use a full teaspoon. The only time I bulk primed my then brewing mate overestimated the amount of sugar and it was terrible.

Using a teaspoon gives you a good carbonation and I find that with the honey there is a better head retention and a creamier tighter head.

Regards,

Wassa

[slayer71]

I just picked up a Cascade Mahogany Porter kit on special @ Coles $10.00 I thought too good a deal to miss.

So I'll be putting this one on soon, just a couple questions please,
Recipe :
1 can Cascade Mahognay Porter
1 kg Dark dry malt extract
500gm Yellowbox Honey
20gm Cascade Hops
Safale Yeast

Can I substitue the DDME with 1.5kg Dark Liquid Malt Extract(Coopers) is there much of a difference between the two ?
20gm Cascade Hops, Do I do a 15min boil for all the 20gm hops the teabag style then just chuck the liquid and the hopsbag in the fermenter altogether ?
What would the ideal temps for this one to ferment at as well ?

Thanks.

[Wassa]

Slayer,

The dark malt will be fine. 1.5kg of liquid malt equals 1kg of dry malt.

I don't tend to use a hop teabag or do a boil. I dry hop prior to pitching yeast. If you have a teabag just add boiling water and let stand for 10 minutes and then add liquid and teabag to the wort in the fermenter.

I would recommend using Safale S04 as the yeast in place of the kit yeast.

Regards,

Wassa

[slayer71]

Cheers Wassa, thanks for the help.

I'll probably go with the 1.5kg Dark liquid malt as I have some here already and I'll go with the Safale yeast as well.

[4x4xfar]

Sorry to be a bit of a thread grave digger!

I put down a porter last week.

1 Can Cascade Chocolate Mahogany Porter
1kg of Coopers Light Dry Malt
500g of Honey
Cascade Yeast.

Can I expect some thing similar to above, the only things I did was used LDM instead of DDM and didnt use any hops, this is mainly due to the supply of these where I live is pretty dismal.

I also did'nt boil the ingredients, I just put it together as the can instructed (kettle), this ended up leaving a lot of the LDM Lumpy! Put it down to inexperience, I'm going to start boiling everything on the stove from now on! Should I worry about the lumpy LDM or will the yeast be fine getting through it all?

[Bum]

Don't worry about the LDME lumps. The yeasties will get those, no worries.

As for the dismal LHBS situation, check this guy out: http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/ His service and range is pretty great. Dunno where you are but if you have a mailbox then he is worth using.

[Wassa]

The only difference is it will be lighter in colour and won't have the richer flavour that DDME gives.

With the hops, I use hop pellets and just dry hop. If you don't have the pellets then use the tea bag. I don't bother with a 15 minute boil. This is a simple, easy recipe that turns out extraordinarily well.

[4x4xfar]

Well, I think I've stuffed it!

Until last night, I've never had a beer that tasted like Oyster Sauce.......

It's only been bottled for 2 weeks but what I do is bottle one 330ml bottle to use as a "taster" to see if the beer will atleast be drinkable in the 30 other longnecks.

I dont know if it's infected as it actually has an underlying beer taste. It may be the unknown "Generic" Honey I used?

I will try one of the long necks in a few days, if it tastes the same then I'll tip the lot out. I really couldnt see this one improving over time.

Original Post and recipe is two posts above.

[MattyR]

Just a quick question, as I'm making this recipe today, would this be OK kegged? I don't think I'll be able to wait 3 months to try it and I keg most of my beer as I hate washing bottles. I ussully get a keg and about half a dozen 500ml bottles per brew just to compare the different tastes after letting the bottles age.

[chadjaja]

I have mine in keg at the moment and its tasting great. Best left for a few weeks though imo.

[Eddie]

Many thanks to Wassa for this recipe, sounds great, I've just put one down, except I only had 375gm of Yellow Box available, and kept the cascade hops at 15gm. Hopefully should turn out very similar even though it has less honey.