American Porter Bee Cave Brewery Robust Porter

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humann_brewing said:
Biggest suggestion I can give is to try out beersmith software and keep reading on this forum.

To address your questions though, the general rule of thumb for most cases would be to mash with 1.25 quarts of water to 1LB of grain. So if you have a 10LB grain bill, you would mash with 12.5 quarts.

For batch sparging, I drain the mash/tun before putting sparge water in so my dead space is already taken up from the initial amount. So I take the amount I got from the initial run and subtract that from my pre-boil volume.

For example if I need 7.5 gallons to boil and I got 2 gallons from my first runnings, I would batch sparge with 2.25G twice to get the remaining 5.5G needed. This way I maximize the gravity without leaving too much liquid in the mash/tun.
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So for the recipe given, where there are no volumes given, how would I know what the volume is supposed to be? I admit, I'm confused, please bear with me!
 
If it is a recipe you grabbed here it is most likely a 5-5.5 gallon recipe. The best way to know if you have the right volume is to enter the recipe and look at the projected OG. If it matches you're correct.
 
kevincad said:
So for the recipe given, where there are no volumes given, how would I know what the volume is supposed to be? I admit, I'm confused, please bear with me!
Click to expand...

Ed bases his recipes or at least this one on a final ferment volume of 5.5G that way you have a little more to loose to trub and test with and hopefully get 5 gallons into the keg or bottled.

I still have a little of this on tap and it is quite good. It was also my first AG brew.
 
humann_brewing said:
Ed bases his recipes or at least this one on a final ferment volume of 5.5G that way you have a little more to loose to trub and test with and hopefully get 5 gallons into the keg or bottled.

I still have a little of this on tap and it is quite good. It was also my first AG brew.
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Cool, thanks. I'm looking for a not too heavy porter that has a decent hops finish. Is this one like that? See, I still really don't know enough to look at the grain bill and hopping schedule to tell!
 
kevincad said:
Cool, thanks. I'm looking for a not too heavy porter that has a decent hops finish. Is this one like that? See, I still really don't know enough to look at the grain bill and hopping schedule to tell!
Click to expand...

This recipe is for a Robust Porter, not a brown porter. The recipe works out to somewhere in the 6.5% range for ABV. There is a good balance of hops to this recipe. It is mashed at 150 which will give you a lower final gravity or convert more of the sugars and give you a drier beer, but there is also Dextrose added to bring some of it back.

Here is what Beersmith says


BeerSmith Recipe Printout - BeerSmith Brewing Software, Recipes, Blog, Wiki and Discussion Forum
Recipe: Robust Porter
Brewer: Matt
Asst Brewer:
Style: Robust Porter
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.46 gal
Estimated OG: 1.066 SG
Estimated Color: 35.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 34.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 79.65 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 7.24 %
1.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 7.24 %
0.50 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 3.62 %
0.25 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 1.81 %
0.06 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 0.43 %
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 8.4 IBU
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 25.8 IBU
1.10 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
8.00 oz Malto-Dextrine (Boil 20.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 13.81 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 17.26 qt of water at 161.4 F 150.0 F
 
Hello Ed,

I have been eying this Porter from the first day I logged on to HBT. I am going to brew a porter in the next few months, and I would like to use this as my starting point.

I am going to brew this using all UK grains, and the Notty yeast.
Also I would like to make it a Coffee / Chocolate porter. Knowing your beer like no one else, what would you add to achieve this. Would you use coffee or coffee malt? And do you think there is enough chocolate in the beer already to balance with the added coffee.

Here is what I have worked up so far on Beer Alchemy.

Fermentables

UK Pale Ale Malt 9.00 lb
UK Pale Chocolate Malt 1.00 lb
UK Light Crystal 1.00 lb
UK Flaked Barley 0.50 lb
UK Black Malt 0.25 lb
UK Roasted Barley 0.10 lb


Hops

UK Golding 5.5 % 1.00 oz All Of Boil
UK Fuggle 4.5 % 1.00 oz 30 Min From End


Other Ingredients

Malto-Dextrine 8.00 oz In Boil
Whirlfloc Tablet 1.00 oz In Boil


Yeast
Danstar-Nottingham

Thanks for looking
Tim
 
I used pearle in place in northern brewer, and honestly this is my best brew yet. I would like to enter this one in a competition.
 
MX1 said:
Also I would like to make it a Coffee / Chocolate porter. Knowing your beer like no one else, what would you add to achieve this. Would you use coffee or coffee malt? And do you think there is enough chocolate in the beer already to balance with the added coffee.
Click to expand...

If you are going to add coffee, I would add cold extracted coffee, use a Brazilian bean, fresh ground. Steep 2 oz of ground coffee in 8 ounce of cooled previously boiled water for 24 hours in a french press.

Add 1 ounce of the coffee extract to your secondary or keg. You can bump the chocolate malt by 8 ounces your first try. Let me know how it goes.
 
I brewed this last weekend, mainly for my wife who likes porters (I am more of an ale guy but we must keep our wives happy) and you should have seen her salivating along every step of the process.. When she smelled me cracking the specialty grains she was over there grabbing whole kernels out of the grinder and commenting on how "yummy" it was.. the smell of the mash made her mouth water and when i drained the mash/lauter tun, she asked if we could poor milk over the grains and eat it like cereal.. Something tells me she is going to really enjoy this beer... :fro:
 
Ok it's been eleven days since I brewed this.. I missed my OG, as usual, (Beermsith gave an OG of 1.066, I got 1.054, ouch!).. Been in the 2dary for 5 days, took a gravity tonight and got a reading of 1.010 or 5.7 ABV.. my question is, any idea why mine fermented much lower than Edworts (1.010? It seems since my Og was so much lower (ie, less sugar), then my FG should be a little higher than Ed's, not lower.. I used the same yeast and followed the recipe to the letter..

Thanks for any ideas you might have-
Chris
 
bullrider4 said:
Ok it's been eleven days since I brewed this.. I missed my OG, as usual, (Beermsith gave an OG of 1.066, I got 1.054, ouch!).. Been in the 2dary for 5 days, took a gravity tonight and got a reading of 1.010 or 5.7 ABV.. my question is, any idea why mine fermented much lower than Edworts (1.010? It seems since my Og was so much lower (ie, less sugar), then my FG should be a little higher than Ed's, not lower.. I used the same yeast and followed the recipe to the letter..

Thanks for any ideas you might have-
Chris
Click to expand...

Glad to hear you brewed this one up. It makes sense that you have a lower gravity reading, given that you started with a lower than expected gravity reading.

There could be other factors involved too, but with the simple percentages based off the average attenuation of 75% you would be at 1.0135. The extra bit could be from a different fermenting temp, higher yeast count, one of the biggest would be your mash temp, meaning if you mashed at 150 like the recipe calls for you are going to have some very fermentelble wort.

I was the opposite on this recipe, I overshot my OG with 1.078 and had a FG of 1.019 which is right at the 75% mark, but still plenty sweet.
 
humann_brewing said:
Glad to hear you brewed this one up. It makes sense that you have a lower gravity reading, given that you started with a lower than expected gravity reading.

There could be other factors involved too, but with the simple percentages based off the average attenuation of 75% you would be at 1.0135. The extra bit could be from a different fermenting temp, higher yeast count, one of the biggest would be your mash temp, meaning if you mashed at 150 like the recipe calls for you are going to have some very fermentelble wort.

I was the opposite on this recipe, I overshot my OG with 1.078 and had a FG of 1.019 which is right at the 75% mark, but still plenty sweet.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.. I snuck a little last night and was surprised at hoppy it tasted.. I expected it to be much sweeter.. But lets see what happens after another week in the 2ndary and a few weeks in the bottle.. by the way, if it's not too much trouble, can you tell me how you worked out those percentages.. I realy on Beersmith too much and I need to learn stuff like this..:mug:
 
bullrider4 said:
Thanks for the info.. I snuck a little last night and was surprised at hoppy it tasted.. I expected it to be much sweeter.. But lets see what happens after another week in the 2ndary and a few weeks in the bottle.. by the way, if it's not too much trouble, can you tell me how you worked out those percentages.. I realy on Beersmith too much and I need to learn stuff like this..:mug:
Click to expand...

No probs, to calculate attenuation percentage, the use this equation:
[(OG-FG)/(OG-1)] x 100

Basically take the points that the gravity dropped and divide that by the original, or in the case above 1.078 - 1.019 = .059 / .078 = 75.6%

You can leave off the 1s too since they will just cancel eachother out anyways.
 
humann_brewing said:
No probs, to calculate attenuation percentage, the use this equation:
[(OG-FG)/(OG-1)] x 100

Basically take the points that the gravity dropped and divide that by the original, or in the case above 1.078 - 1.019 = .059 / .078 = 75.6%

You can leave off the 1s too since they will just cancel eachother out anyways.
Click to expand...


Thanks! I am going to use that next time...

:mug:
 
So I mistakenly made a starter with some washed Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) last night instead of the 1098 (British Ale) that I planned to use. Should I just pitch it today and hope for the best, or should I go pick up some more Nottingham (or perhaps another smack pack of 1098)?

Thanks.
 
kcstrom said:
So I mistakenly made a starter with some washed Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) last night instead of the 1098 (British Ale) that I planned to use. Should I just pitch it today and hope for the best, or should I go pick up some more Nottingham (or perhaps another smack pack of 1098)?

Thanks.
Click to expand...


Other guys on here have used american ale yeast and had great beers.. I think you are ok...
 
Thanks Edwort.

I've made your haus pale, your apfelwine, your stone IPA clone, and your rye, and they've all been such amazing examples of brewing elegance. So many brewers and breweries try to make recipes that comes out muddled and confused.

Its funny, friends of mine who drink your recipes always remark how "clean" and "fresh" they taste.

Bee Cave Robust Porter up next.
 
BTW Ed, I was getting toward the end of this keg and decided to use some of it for some cooking. I used some while I pan fried some brats while I had some in a pot with the kraut, then threw in the brats when the outsides were cooked and simmered to reduce for about 30 minutes. They turned out great!:mug:
 
Did this without the maltodextrin, and with a hop change (did it with what I could get hold of at the LHBS).

50g Fuggles @ 0min
60g Saaz @ 30 min
10g Saaz @ 50 min

Had heard good things about Saaz in a porter and did not want it to get 'lost'. Do you think this will be ok? I think the IBU is ok for a Robust Porter, just hope the taste will be right!

BTW 2nd AG and it came out @ 1.066 so 76% efficiency and is now down to 1.016 :ban:
 
humann_brewing said:
BTW Ed, I was getting toward the end of this keg and decided to use some of it for some cooking. I used some while I pan fried some brats while I had some in a pot with the kraut, then threw in the brats when the outsides were cooked and simmered to reduce for about 30 minutes. They turned out great!:mug:
Click to expand...

I used some to deglaze some beef browned for chili and then I added some to my chili. Hmm good. It is a beer you can cook with. :mug:
 
i will be brewing this up tommorrow for my first porter brew. what temp do you recommened fermenting at?
 
kjones said:
i will be brewing this up tommorrow for my first porter brew. what temp do you recommened fermenting at?
Click to expand...

70 should be be fine as long as you can keep the fermenting temp AT 70. During the first few days, it will generate enough heat to bump the temp 10 degrees.
 
EdWort said:
70 should be be fine as long as you can keep the fermenting temp AT 70. During the first few days, it will generate enough heat to bump the temp 10 degrees.
Click to expand...

yeah its going up fast, i need a fridge for it but the swmbo wont approve.
 
I brewed this on 2/27/29. Got busy and forgot to check on it for a couple days. Checked it yesterday and had krausen all in the airlock and running down the side of the carboy. I guess I'm lucky it didnt blow the top completely off. Next time I will hook up a blow-off tube.
 
I have all the ingredients, as per the recipe, except I am using S-04 instead of Nottingham. S-04 and US-05 are real solid products, no experience with S-23 though. Don't expect this to make much of a difference at all.

Plan to brew Friday night, stovetop partial mash. Should be a blast. I'll report back on the results. 'Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.'
 
Talloak said:
I have all the ingredients, as per the recipe, except I am using S-04 instead of Nottingham. S-04 and US-05 are real solid products, no experience with S-23 though. Don't expect this to make much of a difference at all.

Plan to brew Friday night, stovetop partial mash. Should be a blast. I'll report back on the results. 'Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.'
Click to expand...

What was the PM recipe that you used? Wanted to give it a try, but without Beer Smith I stink at conversions.
 
Well i said i was gonna brew this last month, had some issues come up and didnt get a chance. Anyway, the ag ingredients(precrushed grain) have been sitting in my closet for over a month now. Do you think it will be ok to still brew with them?
 
EdWort said:
Sure. Get about 9 lbs. of Extra Pale LME and steep the rest of the grains at 155 degrees for about 15 minutes in about 2 gallons of water. Top off to 7 gallons with RO water and add the LME and bring to a boil. Add the Maltro Dextrin in the last 15 minutes of the boil. Hop additions stay the same.
Click to expand...

Which are you subbing for the 9lbs of LME and which are you still using for the steep?
 
tspilker said:
Which are you subbing for the 9lbs of LME and which are you still using for the steep?
Click to expand...

The LME takes the place of the 11lbs of 2-row. Steep the other grains.



I just tapped this last night and it is wonderful. Nice and smooth flavor. The alcohol in it will sneak up on you though. Gonna enter it in a comp next month and see how it does.
 
Ed, this recipe has earned me quite the master brewer reputation among my friends. It's delicious, I started another batch last week and it will be in regular rotation.
 
So I brewed this up about a month+4 days ago, and now it has been holding at 1.031 since about 10 days ago. I did the prescribed recipe, but converted it with beersmith for a partial-mash.

I didn't realize that I should have used a lighter extract...I ended up picking up about 6 pounds of amber LME. My OG was about 1.064 IIRC . I pitched WL002 yeast straight from the vial. I suspect I didn't aerate the wort enough and now have a stuck fermentation...so I've got a new batch of Safale yeast in a 1.5Q starter now, and am waiting for krausen.

Does this sound like a stuck fermentation, or is it possible I'm at 1.031 because I used amber extract instead of something lighter?
 
What's prefer chocolate malt?
Pauls Chocolate Malt (415-490 SRM)
or
Crisp Pale Chocolate (200-250 SRM)?

Do you have a final SRM for this beer?
 

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