Cascade Honey Porter- opinions

[scanman]

G'day fellow breologists.
Great guy at work gave me his fav recipe to try. He says he has refined this to the point where its all he makes now. He has given up making anything else. Being impressed by this, he wanted me to try it. He says its the best brew he has ever made.
Anyway I think the recipe could probably be improved on even more, so I though I would bring it here to be pickd at with the fine tooth comb that many of you have. I would love to hear what you have to say about this recipe. Anyway here it is:-

Howies Cascade Honey Porter.

Ingredients.
1 can or Morgans Iron Bark Dark Ale
500g of Dex
Half a tin of Morgans Master blend chocolate malt ( 500g tin )
Pride of Ringwood Hops ( teabag style )

Method.
Place hops bag and half a tin of the choc malt into 2 litres of water in a pot and bring to the boil. Boil for 3 minutes then remove form the heat. Add in Darl ale kit and dextrose and stir until disolved. Place into the fermenter and add 21 litres of water mixing vigorously- aerating as much as possible. Add yeast form the kit, seal and brew till SG reaches 1006.

For Bulk priming, mix 150mls of Capilano Blue Gum honey + 15 full measures of white sugar into 400ml of hot water. Bulk prime and bottle. Leave for at least 2 weeks before drinking.

Well thats the recipe. I think a couple of things could be improved. Maybe ditch the dex and use LME maybe. Also prime with dex would be easier I think along with the honey. Maybe not use BlueGum honey either. Not sure if priming with this will give you eucalypt overtones.

So go for it. Give me your suggestions/opinions/fixes for this one. The guy at work I think wants me to give it a go to see where it could be improved. I believe that you can always impove on any brew you do. If anything, thats one of the great things about home brewing. Its like an artwork your always improving on.


p.s. I put this down yesterday as the recipe states to see how it goes. Not bubbling after 12 hours which has me worried. Im about to go check for leaks.

[Danis]

I agree with not priming with the honey. I'd just chuck (a fair bit more than the 150mL) some in at the start. I just can't see that small an amount giving off a noticeable flavour. Using malt instead of dextrose sounds good. I don't know that much about different types of honey, but what I would do is try some different hops. Its all personal taste I guess, but I wouldn't mind seeing an English variety in there.

As an aside, you probably know this, but 12hrs isn't all that long for the brew to have not started up yet.

[Kevnlis]

First thing I gotta say is...that Iron Bark is bloody good stuff. My father in law made one of these and I tried it a few weeks ago, was good then, but had another last night and it was better yet!

I must say for a K&K I would agree it is something to brew regularily.

There are two things which will really make this brew much better, fresh grains (the morgans tin is good but..) and fresh hops (those teabags are unreliable).

I would suggest something like 250g Dex, 500g DLME (or LLME is dark is not availabke at your local like mine...grrrr) 150g choc malt extract, and 200g carapils (because this beer deserve a nice thick rich head!)

For the hops maybe 10g of cascade for the last 15 minutes of a 3L boil (hops added once it reaches rolling boil) with the liquid from the steeped grains adding the extract and dex at flame out. I would consider 10g more for 60 min for a bit more bitterness.

I would suggest Nottingham yeast.

The honey sounds like a good idea, I have never tried that before.

As far as yours not taking off after 12 hours, don't worry too much. But what exactly did you do? Kit yeast? The Morgans kit yeast tends to be a bit iffy sometimes. Was it rehydrated first?

[timmy]

I'd beg to differ on the honey-used-for-priming opinion... I think it makes a lot of difference.

I made a Canadian Blonde with 300g of honey + other stuff and then bulk primed with a honey/dex mix. The honey flavour was very pronounced, even more so than the recent brew I did that contained 750g of honey in a 15L batch...

Cheers,

Tim

[Kevnlis]

Scanman did not say not to use the honey to prime he said to use Dex along with the honey rather than white sugar. I would use yellowbox rather than bluegum...but I do think it is a good idea in general.

Who would have thought a bit of honey would create such a fuss?

[drsmurto]

First thing i noticed was there is POR not cascade and honey used for priming rather than added into primary.

So why is it called Cascade Honey Porter? Looks like a dark ale to me.

Best brew in the world ey? You were right to bring it here for *cough* adjustments.

Wassa's honey porter, which contains both honey and cascade hops is a far better base for playing around than this recipe.

I suggest you make one of them and give it to your mate and see what he thinks.

Nothing helpful to add all been said re dex, honey , hops, grains etc.

Like Boonies LCPA, Wassa's honey porter is legendary. Just do it.

Cheers
DrSmurto
p.s of course, my porter recipes - here and here are very tasty and my mates love 'em both!

[scanman]

Thanks guys, some great tips and ideas there. Much appreciated.
I don;t know why he calls it Cascade honey porter either, when there is no cascade hops involved, but that was the name on the sheet he supplied me. I would say maybe it comes fomr an original recipe he has modified.
Same with the porter name, i was of the same opinion it is more just a dark ale. I'll be printing this thread out and showing him on Sunday when I go in to work. I think it needed to ne scrutinised myself, and thats exactly why i brought it to you guys.
This guy has been brewing for donkeys years, but i'd say he is set in his ways now.

I'm about to go look up Wassa's honey porter and take a look, I have a pilsener about to be racked so I might try wassa's porter and compare maybe.
I really like experimenting. I am not into AG brewing yet, but partials seem simple enough.

On the honey, i have read enough to know that you should avoid using eucalypt honeys in beer, so i'll have a go at priming it with maybe yellow box, or clover if I can source it around here, which so far I haven't been able to.

Once again, thanks for the feedback guys.

[rwh]

Wassa's Honey Porter
* 1 can Cascade Mahogany Porter
* 1kg Dark dry malt extract (or one tin Coopers Dark Liquid Malt Extract)
* 500gm of Yellowbox honey
* 20gm Cascade hops (dry hopped)

[DJ]

scanman..

A fellow Mt Annan brewer!!
Nice part of the world isnt it!!

[scanman]

HI DJ.

Sure is, the nicest suburb around here anyway!
Only problem is there is no local brew shop, nearest one is at Campbelltown or Casula.......

Still, nice and quiet where I am, perfect for sitting out the front on the porch and downing a cold one.

p.s. found out why it wasn't bubbling when i cheked it this morning. The lid was not screwed on straight. All good now and bubbling away nicely.

[scanman]

G'day all.
well caught up with the guy who gave me this recipe today. He filled me in on a few things with this recipe.
One thing when i questioned him about the name of his beer. He thats incorrect. Apparently this beer is a clone of a James Boag Porter, which apparently cost $80 a case, though i cant say if thats true.
The use of dex instead of LDM is because using LDM makes it makes it to malty compared to the original James Boags brew. Apparently this is as close as you can get to this brew.
Anyone out there in brew land had this James Boags brew??

[Kevnlis]

Who is this James Boag?

If he is happy with it then why argue? As long as you know you can make it better, and you enjoy your version of it, that is all that matters!

[scanman]

Very true Kelvnlis. I made it to his recipe, but when I first posted it, I did not realise it was a clone beer, I thought it was some made up ale that this guy states was the best brew ever ( don't we all say that about our brews but! ). He just got the naming mixed up when he said it was a cascade honey porter.
Its almost finished brewing, so ill rack and bottle and in a couple of weeks i'll post how it all went.

[Kevnlis]

If you really want to clone Boags Porter you should start in the "hops" section of this website.

Van Diemen

Low Aroma hop

A very new variety. James Boag's claims its Honey Porter was the first beer to use this hop, in 2003.

Then perhaps have a look here:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/ ... m=storyrhs

where it says:

In terms of beer styles and brewing challenges, James Boag's Honey Porter really broke the mould. "The greatest challenge was getting the leatherwood honey into the beer," says Tim Penton, Boag's brewery manager.

This should get you a bit closer anyway

Looking forward to your review of the recipe.

[scanman]

Now thats a good idea. MIght actually try and get some leatherwood honey instead of what this guy recommends in the recipe.
Anyone got a good source for leatherwood honey in SW Sydney??

[Kevnlis]

The Jean Claude hops should be nice as well, I may get some myself for Wassa's special little drop

[gregb]

Anyone got a good source for leatherwood honey in SW Sydney??

Try the health food section of your local Woolies or Coles. That's where I got mine from.

Cheers,
Greg

[Wassa]

Whatever you do, under no circumstances use a gum or eucalypt honey in your brew. All you will taste is eucalyptus. I know from experience, it made me throw a brew.

USe your honey as another fermentable. It will ferment out, but will leave you will good honey undertones, it's great.