homebrewandbeer.com

just did one of these with a Kilo of LDME, 200g Crystal, 150g Pale choc and 40g of Fuggles.

The Choc grain smelt so good when steeping, it actually smelt like coffee!

its bubbling the hell away now, i used safale S-04 by the way.

Cant wait to see how this one turns out.

By the way this is a great forum.

Cheers

It is a good forum isn't it

Next time you try the recipe, use DDME in place of the LDME. usE Cascade hops in place of the fuggles nand use 500gm of good quality honey (but not a Eucalypt honey). You'll have a porter to die for.

NO!!! You can't substitute the fuggles! Anything but that! I love fuggles in a porter in case you haven't worked it out.

Honey, nooooooooooooo.
dont even go there man

Wassa,

I took your advice and brewed up the choc/honey mahogany porter with your recipe. I bottled it yesterday and it smelt bloody wonderful.

Can't wait for it to be ready to taste.

Dunno bout how It'll taste though. The first (& last) brew i done with honey smelt great but tasted shithouse. I believe I'll never use honey again

it comes down to the type of beer, the type (and quality) of honey, and the amount you use.. a lot is definitely overpowering, but a little can add great complexity.

How much do you normaly use? I put 100g in a brew and didn't like it. Maybe i'm just not a honey person

The type of honey is important. Never and I and I repeat never use gum or eucalypt honey. All you will get is the taste of eucalyptus. I found out the hard way and used blue gum honey and ruined a porter.

Next is the amount. I use 500gm in my recipes with 1kg of DDME and grain if I desire, usually Chocolate grain. If you use this amount you will get faint honey on the nose and if you concentrate faint honey undertones in the taste. It add complexity to your brew and helps with head retention as well.

Hope this helps guys.

Wassa

Leatherwood is fantastic in dark ales and lagers.

Just recently I also discovered that it is AMAZING in pilsners if used in low (200g per 20L) amounts.

Ive used 500g of blue gum honey in a porter - couldnt detect any eucalyptus flavours/aromas. Suspect it was scared off by the 500g of carafa II and the healthy additions of cascade.....

Come to think of it i have plenty of amarillo to give it another shot......

I dunno what type of honey it was, I got it from Aus Home brewing. The Jar only says Specialist Brewing Honey. Could it have been a mixture of all sorts. A question about the other types of honey, are the ones you buy from shops like The Honey Shack in Melton (it's not there anymore) OK or do they have to be a spec brew honey. I've been told (by someone @ AHB) not to use normal honey from the shop, that it has to be a spec brewing honey

I use honey straight off the shelves into the fermentor and have no had any problems.

Most notably in my honey wheat beers and recently I did Wassa's honey porter - bloody nice drop and its only 3.5 weeks in the bottle!

I use honey straight from the shelf at Woolworths. Usually Capilano or the rainforest or Manuka honey. Haven't tried leatherwood yet but it's next on the agenda.

I am not a fan of honey at all, I never did like it. Leatherwood is different to any other honey and not so strong a flavour. I use a bit in a brew every now and then and it always comes up nice. Though I do try to make it an ever so slight hint of flavour.

Wassa

I put your Honey Porter down as well to give it a crack. Bubbling away as we speak. I'm looking forward to the results. I was hoping to open it at Xmas time although I am cutting it fine. How long in the bottle is it likely to take?

Should be drinkable after 6 weeks, but I never touch any of my brews until they are at least 3 months old.

It takes a lot of will power, but worth the wait.