American Porter Robust Porter - 531 Brew Haus- 1st Place 2009 HBT BJCP Comp

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

midfielder5

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Messages
1,430
Reaction score
75
Location
San Francisco
"Dark & Stormy & Yummy" Porter

Recipe Type: All Grain (*Partial Mash follows in post # 6*).
Yeast: Wyeast European Ale (1338)
Yeast Starter: Yes
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.065 - 1.063
Final Gravity: 1.016 - 1.018
IBU: 40 IBU
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: ~40 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 22 @ 66* (YMMV- see brewing note #4)
Bulk aging in secondary: 21 - 28 days @ 66*; then bottled and aged for another 2 months.
1st Place 2009 HBT BJCP Comp for Porters (BJCP # 12A-C) [37/50]

Grain bill
9# 2 Row
1# Choc. Malt
1# Crystal 40L or Caramel 40L
8 oz. Flaked Barley
4 oz. Black Patent
1 oz. Roasted Barley
4 oz. brown sugar (optional)

Mash at 150 degrees for 60 minutes. Batch sparge to get 6.5 gallons at start of boil.

Add 1 tsp of gyp to start of boil (60 min.).
Add 8 oz. of Malto Dextrin to boil at 20 minutes.
Add 4 ounces brown sugar to boil at 10 minutes.
Add 1 tsp of Irish moss to boil at 10 minutes.

Hops:

0.5 oz. Cascade (leaf, 7.2AA) at 60 min.
0.75 oz. Galena (leaf, 14.2AA) at 60 min.
0.75 oz Tettnang (pellet, 5.1AA) at 15 min.


Brewing notes:
1) Grain bill based on EdWort's RP.
2) Can sub out Galena hop for Northern Brewer or Nugget.
3) BJCP Judges scorecards mentioned mashing higher (152*-154*) for more body;
4) Aeration, pitching rates & fermentation temps vary amongst each brewer. For best results, please don't move beer off yeast unless & until you hit FG or thereabouts (a few points). Check w/ a hydrometer first. It could take 2-3+ weeks for bigger beers like this one, and with a slower yeast (OG above 1.050; WY # 1338). The yeasts are done when they decide.
 
I'm a noob and the site I am ordering my grains from doesn't have Caramel Crystal 40L. Is a 2 Row Caramel 40 similar or the same thing as this? It isn't crystal. The other selection they have is:
Simpsons Dark Crystal
Simpsons Extra Dark Crystal
Simpsons Medium Crystal
Would any of these work?
 
Hydrometer shot of Porter.
mmmmmm delicious.

hydro- porter.JPG
 
Partial Mash version for 5 gallons.

6 or so# of LME or less of DME (or a blend, to get the OG right).

Steep the specialty grains:
1# Choc. Malt
1# Crystal/caramel 40L
8 oz. Flaked Barley
2 to 4 oz. Black Patent (depends how roasty you want it).

Steep grains at 155 degrees for 30-45 minutes in ~2 gallons of water.

Standard Partial Mash technique from then on out....
If it were me, I would take wort from PM, add water to ~ 6.5 gallons [if you can't boil that much water you will need to adjust the hopping schedule].

then add first addition of extract (utilizing the late addition technique for LME), and bring to a boil.
Hops & Malto-Dextrin powder are same.
Add the last extract w/ ten min left in the boil.

I boil down to 5.5G and get 5G in the fermenter (leaving trub in kettle).
 
I'd just like to add that this is one fantastic recipe! I just cracked my first bottle and WOW I am blown away. I can see why this took first place. I tried to stay as close to the original recipe as I could, the only modifications I made were:
1. I used Notty yeast
2. Mashed at 154

I made the all-grain version and had a stuck sparge from hell! I suggest using some rice hulls in the mash to help with all the flaked barley. I couldn't for the life of me get it unstuck, so I had to add all the sparge water before I drained the first runnings to thin it out enough to flow. I got bad eff. to say the least... I had to add a 1lb of Light DME to bump the O.G. to 1.068. Even with all that it turned out amazing! This will be a staple at my house.

Not that it matters but the only thing that was way off from the original recipe was the color. Beersmith estimated mine at 38.5 and the original was 20. Mine was pretty dark. Here is a pic

Porter.jpg
 
Thanks for the comments NewBeerGuy.
Sorry to hear about your stuck sparge. I mash in a SS 10G pot with a bazooka screen and haven't had any problems.

About the SRM, I double-checked my brew program [a freebie, hopville.com] and yep, it said 20 SRM. But my hydro sample picture (Post # 5) and your pic look nearly identical, so I will update the original post.

Cheers!
Wendy
 
Midfielder5 / Wendy,

I liked the sound of your Dark & Stormy porter recipe, so I brewed it about a week ago. It was the first time I got to use my new 9-gallon brewpot and wort chiller (this is only my third brew). It was a great experience...thank you!

The OG was 1.068, as I was using your partial mash version, and had some extra LME, about 1/3 pound left over, that the LHBS guy advised to just add to the brew.

Eagerly awaiting the result, at about Xmastime. Cheers!
 
Racked it to secondary (a glass carboy) a couple days ago, about a day or two earlier than the recipe called for, but I was heading out on a multiday trip.

It looked and smelled fine, and tasted fresh, sweet and yummy. Looking forward to the final result!
 
Hey all, I like this recipe and have some questions about fermentation and supplies.

Is a secondary necessary for this brew, and if so - why?

Also, how do you all transfer your beer from primary to secondary, and from secondary to bottling? I assume some sort of siphoning, but knowing exactly how you all do it would help me out with my purchase of more supplies.
 
Secondary is just a way to "bulk age" it. There are many arguments pro/con. It is a personal decision. I don't need to drink it fast-- i'd prefer if it was as good as it can be. In my opinion, high alcohol beers with black patent malt/ roasty flavors benefit from aging.

I use an autosiphon. Stick siphon end into my plastic fermentation bucket and put hose end into another container. Same for bottling, but add a bottling wand on the hose end.

Good luck!
Wendy
 
My batch is still in progress, and looking good.

I figured I'd need a secondary regardless, since it wasn't fully fermented after 3 weeks, and I wanted to get the beer off the trub in the primary. On reflection, though, maybe I didn't need to do this, if it wasn't finished fermenting?

It looks lovely in the glass carboy...gentle bubbles, a 1-2 cm layer of rich foam on top, just under the neck of the carboy. It's completely full of beer.

I don't have an auto-siphon, and I should probably get one some day. However, I've got two other methods that work well for me:
- My primary is also my bottling bucket, and has a spigot, so I can easily transfer the beer from primary to secondary by just using a transfer hose after sanitizing the spigot, hose and carboy as best I can.
- Then to get beer out of the carboy, I use the "carboy cap" method of siphoning with positive or negative air pressure, exerted carefully by mouth on the carboy cap's "mouthpiece."

Thanks again Wendy!
-Tom
 
Tom-- what was the gravity reading when you transferred? it should finish off in the secondary if it was not too high.
 
Wendy,

It was 1.038. I thought that was great, but maybe not enough fermentation. Now, after 2 weeks in secondary at 66 to 68F, it's only fallen to 1.030 (on its way to 1.016-1.018).

I wonder if I need to keep it warmer to keep the fermentation moving?? There's one week left in its scheduled bulk aging, but I doubt it will be fermentation-complete by then.

Thank you for your help!

Tom
 
I brewed this up a few days ago (partial mash as I haven't made that leap yet). Not only does it sound like it will be delicious, but it sure smelled tasty as well. I have a little beer tasting gathering in a few months that I needed a good Porter for and this one seems right up my alley, so thank you for sharing.

I just recently started using the BeerSmith software (free demo, though I'll probably purchase b/c of all the handy features) and it estimated an OG of 1.077 which is what it came out at. Also estimates that it'll end at 1.024, which is a little higher than I expected, but makes sense.

Can't wait to get this bottled up and take it for a taste test.
 
Hi Tom,
1.038 is too high. Each fermentation is different-- I don't move mine off the yeast until it is finished or close to terminal gravity.

Did you pitch the yeast as is, or make a starter?

I would take another gravity reading, and if it is still in the '30s, I would get some dry Nottingham yeast & add it. **I have never done that before, but you might have a "stuck" fermentation. There is more info to be had on this issue in the Yeast section of this website.

Good luck!
Wendy
 
This is probably a stupid question that should go somewhere else, but I'm asking specifically about this recipe.

The hop schedule and spice schedule is around 60 minutes. Now when you say "at 20 minutes" or "at 10 minutes", does that mean 10/20 minutes INTO the boil, or with 10/20 minutes REMAINING in the boil?

Part of me thinks it's that much INTO the boil, but my previous brew could have been screwed up for other reasons.
 
This is probably a stupid question that should go somewhere else, but I'm asking specifically about this recipe.

The hop schedule and spice schedule is around 60 minutes. Now when you say "at 20 minutes" or "at 10 minutes", does that mean 10/20 minutes INTO the boil, or with 10/20 minutes REMAINING in the boil?

Part of me thinks it's that much INTO the boil, but my previous brew could have been screwed up for other reasons.

You set your timer for 60 minutes and add the additions when those numbers come up on the timer

@ 60 minutes means you add it right when you start your timer.
@ 20 minutes means you add it when the timer says 20 minutes (after it's been boiling for 40 minutes etc.)
@ 1 minute means when there is one minute left in the boil etc. (after it's been boiling 59 minutes).
 
I need to brew this up again. I even have the grains all measured; just waiting to be milled. aghhhh the holidays!
 
Update on Tom's batch:

The beer was in secondary, "bulk aging," in a carboy. But the SG wasn't dropping. I finally went and bought a belt heater and carefully draped it around the carboy, and used a sanitized turkey baster to stir up the bottom every few days. It raised the temp alright, but having racked to secondary before fermentation had advanced nearly far enough, I was fighting an uphill battle to get the SG to go down.

But eventually, in about 4 weeks, I finally got the SG to reach just a point or two over target. So then I bottled it, a few days after Christmas, which means the beer was about 3 months fermenting, total, or about 2x the hoped-for schedule. Lesson learned: Next time I do this I will definitely do a gravity reading while still in primary and not rack unless it's nearly fully fermented.

I built a platform with a hollow space under it, and put the bottles in boxes over that in my closet, and put the belt heater on the floor underneath (in the hollow space) hoping the additional warmth would help the bottle carbonation occur, as it is otherwise too chilly in the house in winter. Three weeks into this process, I took one test bottle, chilled it in the fridge for 3 days, and tried it.

Pretty tasty, but practically no carbonation or head to speak of. I'm guessing that once again, my temperature is too low, which I believe was an issue during secondary "bulk aging" as the SG was way too high for much of this period, and now the bottle carbonation isn't happening very fast. So I'll keep the bottles in this "warm" chamber a few more weeks and try again.

Probably there's a lot about high SG beers I need to learn first. :)
 
sorry to hear, Tom! all of these HBT recipes should be loosely followed re: the fermentation stats. The yeast don't read a calendar :) the yeasts are done when they decide and obviously aeration, pitching rates & ferm temps vary amongst each brewer.
for others-- don't move any beer off yeast unless & until you hit FG or thereabouts (a few points). it could take 2-3+ weeks for bigger beers (OG above 1.050).
i will update the OP.

cheers,
Wendy
 
Definitely giving this recipe a try.

However, I am fairly new to partial mash brewing (like 1 previous batch that I made some mistakes on), although I have brewed a number of extract only.

I was just a little curious with your partial mash instruction. Are you replacing all of the 2 Row with LME/DME? Or do you keep some of it for the mash?

And are you putting all of the remaining grains (outside of the brown sugar) into the mash? Or are some simply steeped later on?

Thanks for any input. Really looking forward to trying this.
 
I was just a little curious with your partial mash instruction. Are you replacing all of the 2 Row with LME/DME? Or do you keep some of it for the mash?
And are you putting all of the remaining grains (outside of the brown sugar) into the mash? Or are some simply steeped later on?

You know, that is a pretty darn good question or two.
> The recipe anticipates replacing all 2-row with extract, yes.
>> All specialty grains are to be steeped. In hindsight, you probably cannot "mash" without 2 row. I am no PM expert (or expert at anything actually).
I will think about it, and maybe update the information.

Cheers,
Wendy
 
Thanks for the great recipe! Although, I'm using Beer Alchemy and the 9# of extract is putting it at an OG of 1.080. I'm assuming I should pull it down to ~6lb 12 oz? That seems to put me in at around OG 1.064 and FG 1.019. Brewing it tonight!!!
 
BostonHomeBrew said:
Thanks for the great recipe! Although, I'm using Beer Alchemy and the 9# of extract is putting it at an OG of 1.080. I'm assuming I should pull it down to ~6lb 12 oz? That seems to put me in at around OG 1.064 and FG 1.019. Brewing it tonight!!!

Yes whatever beersmith says; I didn't do the extract calcs, sorry.
Are you using dry or liquid (so I can update
thread)?
 
This is not the next, but the one after for me. Thank you for sharing! I am very excited to try this and will let you know how it turns out.
 
thank you for this. It is awesome. Hands down the best porter I have brewed.:mug:
 
So I made this beer all grain version 21 days in primary FG 1.012, and secondary 22 days, bottled 14 days, I opened one last night and detect some astringency ...I'm not too familiar with this style so is this normal, or does the roasted barely make the beer a little more "harsh" mash temp was 154
 
So I made this beer all grain version 21 days in primary FG 1.012, and secondary 22 days, bottled 14 days, I opened one last night and detect some astringency ...I'm not too familiar with this style so is this normal, or does the roasted barely make the beer a little more "harsh" mash temp was 154

Hi,
I don't know the particular answer but I found this in an online resource:
" Beers containing more dark grains are more likely to have some astringency in them. This is because darkly-roasted malts give up their tannins a bit easier in the mash. In a dark beer like a porter, adding less dark malt really isn’t an option. So, it pays to keep two things in mind. First, if you don’t oversparge, you probably won’t get an excessive amount of astringency, even in the darkest porter. Monitor your final runnings and don’t let them drop below SG 1.010 (or rise above a pH of 5.8, if you have a pH meter). Also, you can cool down and taste little samples of your runnings as you direct them to your kettle. Once the runnings start to have a puckering, drying sensation to them, stop collecting wort.

Finally, keep in mind that a hint of astringency in a porter, especially an aggressive robust porter, is not a bad thing. In most beers — especially lightly colored and flavored beers — brewers strive to minimize astringency. However, a small amount in a dark beer can actually be a good thing — a pleasant, drying sensation in the aftertaste. As with many things, it’s all a matter of degree. "
http://byo.com/stories/beer-styles/article/indices/11-beer-styles/1265-practical-porter
 
Thanx for the recipe. I brew this porter yesterday. I remplace the maltodextrine by dextrose. My original gravity was little bit low (1.058). Maybe because i have a bit more than 5 gallon. I'll keep you in touch!

*Sorry for my english, i'm french canadian!
 
brasse-camarade said:
Thanx for the recipe. I brew this porter yesterday. I remplace the maltodextrine by dextrose. My original gravity was little bit low (1.058). Maybe because i have a bit more than 5 gallon. I'll keep you in touch!

*Sorry for my english, i'm french canadian!

Hello--As an FYI, those ingredients are not interchangeable (they actually do somewhat the opposite) but hey, it will be beer! cheers.
Wendy
 
Thx for the recipes! The best beer i ever brew! Nasty roast burned, smoked and coffee taste with a great hoppy flavor (not too much!?). Thick foamy brown head and creamy texture. Alcool is lower i was expect (6.3%) but i think is my mash tun are not very efficient.

Thanx a lot, can wait to brew another batch!

cheers :mug:

IMG-20121107-00035.jpg
 
Back
Top