White House ale - a critique

Its not new news that President Obama has had some homebrew going on - that dates back all the way to 2012. But when a colleague sent me one of the recipes I couldn't resist taking a closer look. I'm fully in favour of the White House promoting home brew, but now I have some experience of my own I wanted to think about what I might do differently if I was making this, and what might improve the beer. There's no comment box on the site (which is understandable but a bit annoying in this instance.)

What I'd change:

1. Aroma hops - these are added at 60 mins and then the wort is left to stand, then cooled water is added to the liquid. This will add a lot more bittering to the wort - and much of the best of the aroma will be driven off at boiling temperature. Instead I'd add the aroma hops at the stage when the cold water is added (when the temperature is 70 - 80C) and let them stand for at least 30 minutes before removing the hops and chilling.

2. Honey - honey does two things - it adds sugar to boost the fermentation in the wort and it adds flavour. Honey can have some lovely delicate flavours and aromas, but if you add the honey at the boil stage these will be driven off. People add honey at the boil to make sure that the wort is sanitised, so that any bacteria or wild yeasts lurking in the honey are killed off. But this is at the expense of the delicate honey aromas. Instead I'd add the honey in at the end of the fermentation  (which will cause a secondary fermentation) because by this point the alcohol in the wort will limit the activity of any other yeasts or nasties lurking in the honey.

3. Yeast - Dried Nottingham yeast is fine - but it is a bit dull and has a distinctive finish. Personally if going with dried yeast I'd use Danstar Windsor (which is a bit more estery and would work well with this darker beer). If I was using liquid yeast, I'd go for a liquid english ale 

Here's the full recipe:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/09/01/ale-chief-white-house-beer-recipe

Ingredients

• 2 (3.3 lb) cans light unhopped malt extract
• 3/4 lb Munich Malt (cracked)
• 1 lb crystal 20 malt (cracked)
• 6 oz black malt (cracked)
• 3 oz chocolate malt (cracked)
• 1 lb White House Honey
• 10 HBUs bittering hops
• 1/2 oz Hallertaur Aroma hops
• 1 pkg Nottingham dry yeast
• 3/4 cup corn sugar for bottling

Directions

1. In a 6 qt pot, add grains to 2.25 qts of 168˚ water. Mix well to bring temp down to 155˚. Steep on stovetop at 155˚ for 45 minutes. Meanwhile, bring 2 gallons of water to 165˚ in a 12 qt pot. Place strainer over, then pour and spoon all the grains and liquid in. Rinse with 2 gallons of 165˚ water. Let liquid drain through. Discard the grains and bring the liquid to a boil. Set aside.
2. Add the 2 cans of malt extract and honey into the pot. Stir well.
3. Boil for an hour. Add half of the bittering hops at the 15 minute mark, the other half at 30 minute mark, then the aroma hops at the 60 minute mark.
4. Set aside and let stand for 15 minutes.
5. Place 2 gallons of chilled water into the primary fermenter and add the hot wort into it. Top with more water to total 5 gallons if necessary. Place into an ice bath to cool down to 70-80˚.
6. Activate dry yeast in 1 cup of sterilized water at 75-90˚ for fifteen minutes. Pitch yeast into the fermenter. Fill airlock halfway with water. Ferment at room temp (64-68˚) for 3-4 days.
7. Siphon over to a secondary glass fermenter for another 4-7 days.
8. To bottle, make a priming syrup on the stove with 1 cup sterile water and 3/4 cup priming sugar, bring to a boil for five 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 1-2 weeks at 75˚.