Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Chocolate Oatmeal Porter

Williams 728
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bolus14 said:
She is good right out of the bucket. The next time I make this I'm going to shoot for around 1.5-1.6 CO2.
I shot for 2 and its a little more carbed than I would like.
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Indeed. Wanted to quote this for some others to see again.

If you keg, then you obviously know your system well, but if you bottle, use a calculator online, and shoot for some lower carb on this. 1.5 is a good middle ground.

If you keep the carb low, you'll get great tight little bubbles, and you'll get a really creamy thick head on this beer that will stick around nicely.
 
FATC1TY said:
Indeed. Wanted to quote this for some others to see again.

If you keg, then you obviously know your system well, but if you bottle, use a calculator online, and shoot for some lower carb on this. 1.5 is a good middle ground.

If you keep the carb low, you'll get great tight little bubbles, and you'll get a really creamy thick head on this beer that will stick around nicely.
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Think I measured to hit 2. But I had more in the bucket than I anticipated. Should be OK.
 
How well will Nottingham work on this?

Seems like it should be a clean yeast. I have the ingredients for this, but won't be able to brew until next weekend. Still debating on adding coffee, extra chocolate, vanilla beans, and or bourbon soaked oak cubes. Plan on adding one of those if not two. Still debating.
 
rideincircles said:
How well will Nottingham work on this?

Seems like it should be a clean yeast. I have the ingredients for this, but won't be able to brew until next weekend. Still debating on adding coffee, extra chocolate, vanilla beans, and or bourbon soaked oak cubes. Plan on adding one of those if not two. Still debating.
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I'm not a fan of Nottingham, so I can't really comment, as I haven't used it. All told, I would assume it would be fine. I like 1968 because it leaves a good malty backbone to the beer, floccs well, which does wonders for a brilliantly black beer, and the mouthfeel, IMO. It's not super ester driven, and clean when used at the appropriate temps.

Only suggesting is, try it. I'm sure it'll be fine. Do your best to keep the temps in check if you don't have the means of fine control over fermentation temp.

I myself have had the grain milled for weeks now and haven't brewed. Might try this Sunday perhaps. I'm planning on a split batch. All aged with vanilla beans, half being with pumpkin pie spice, rum, and oak to age a little longer.
 
So i want to make a chili infused porter. Sounds like this base is a great place to start. Has anyone added heat to a beer?

Trying to figure out when and what peppers to add to the secondary. Seem to be mixed reviews on how to prepare the peppers (roasted/soaked/etc).
 
sail681 said:
So i want to make a chili infused porter. Sounds like this base is a great place to start. Has anyone added heat to a beer?

Trying to figure out when and what peppers to add to the secondary. Seem to be mixed reviews on how to prepare the peppers (roasted/soaked/etc).
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Look up some info on Hunaphu, or a clone of it. It has chilies in it, and I think it's all added to secondary right before packaging. Dried chilies is what I've seen used a few times.

I personally love peppers, but don't like it in my beer, so I haven't done it.
 
sloanfamilydsm said:
I lowered the base grain to 7 lbs and came in at 1.060. Mashed high 156, added lactose n some PB2.
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Kegged yesterday and came in at 1.016 with 1335 yeast. There was considerable volume loss due to trub (approx. 1 gal).
At 5 wks old there was only a minimal trace of peanut butter or chocolate flavor. Next time I will add more cocoa and more than one 16oz contained Pb2 to achieve the Peanut Butter Cup Porter flavor I am after.
 
PB flavor is pretty hard to nail down. Very delicate.

I keg, and was able to get the PB flavor really easy early, but it fades. I would wonder how it would be bottling, I bet worse.
 
Brewed this about 6 months ago with slight variations and it turned out amazing. Will be doing another similar one this weekend but I am going to rack onto some fresh roasted young thai coconut in the secondary. I am already looking forward to this.
 
Mine has been in the bottles for 2.5 weeks now. I am tempted to throw one or two in the fridge to see how they're doing. I am planning to age most of them out until Christmas. If I succumb to temptation, I'll let you know how mine turned out. I'm going to try and fight the urge for another couple of weeks and maybe taste test on Thanksgiving. I have pretty high hopes about this beer.
 
FATC1TY said:
PB flavor is pretty hard to nail down. Very delicate.

I keg, and was able to get the PB flavor really easy early, but it fades. I would wonder how it would be bottling, I bet worse.
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Will a secondary with the addition of more pb2 help with the peanut butter flavor? Or maybe adding the first addition of pb2 after fermentation would retain more flavor. I've also read that some people add pb extract to attain more pb flavor.

Any advice from experienced peanut butter additions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Brewed this a couple of weeks ago and am loving the gravity samples. Registered this, along with a bourbon barrel version (not yet made), for a contest in January. If I were to split this up, what weight of oak chips and how much bourbon per gallon would give a nice balanced flavor. This will be my first attempt using bourbon and wood.
 
Finally got around to brewing this again!

Everything went as planned, pretty much can do this without the recipe in front of me now.

Added 3oz Dutch Mahogany Cocoa powder to the boil at 15 minutes.Decided to toss in 3 ounces of cocoa nibs that were soaking in some bookers bourbon for a couple of days into the primary for the beer to age/ferment on. Got the tip from some pro brewers about their milk stout that has a ton of nibs and chocolate flavor to it.

Will add 4 vanilla beans to the keg I think in a bag and skip secondary on this guy.

Was lazy and had a 2 month old pack of 1968, and will toss another packet of US05 in there to make sure my cell count is good too, since I didn't make a starter due to not knowing if I would be able to swing a brew day. Should work out great I think!
 
Hey, I was looking at this post and I really want to try. However I am just trying my hand in brewing beer (I normally just do ciders). Would anyone be able to point me to a thread that would explain the steps of brewing beer, or be able to explain this recipe? I am just confused in when and what water I boil with the three different ingredients that need to steep/boil.

Thanks a bunch in advance,

A newbie
 
doughtr said:
Hey, I was looking at this post and I really want to try. However I am just trying my hand in brewing beer (I normally just do ciders). Would anyone be able to point me to a thread that would explain the steps of brewing beer, or be able to explain this recipe? I am just confused in when and what water I boil with the three different ingredients that need to steep/boil.

Thanks a bunch in advance,

A newbie
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I would find an extract recipe to brew first before trying your hand at all grain. You'll need a bit more equipment to make it easier, but it's doable with some paint bags and some pots.
 
Can you provide a little more info? Will you being do you have a normal all grain setup or BIAB? What size mash tun do you have or kettle for BIAB?
 
I made my batch last night and ended up using 3 oz of Hershey's cocoa and pitched Nottinggham. Ended up around 1.056 OG and aerated and now in the closet. I plan on adding a vanilla beans and possibly some Cocoa nibs. I plan on kegging this one and am trying to get it close to tasting like chocolate oatmeal.

I ended up with a little extra runnings I couldn't fit in the kettle and added some extra extract and hops and plan on maybe adding coffee to it or something else just to experiment. I made a leftover Belgain with my tripel in this same way, and it just utilizes a small dose of hops and some extract to make a small batch of beer. This will be my leftover Porter.
 
Anybody seen anything like this with this recipe? Opened it yesterday for a final gravity check and saw this. Gravity is where it should be and smell and taste are fine so I don't think it is infected, but thought it looked a little unusual.

ForumRunner_20131116_121527.jpg
 
Never seen that when I've brewed it.. Did you dump all the kettle in there?

Looks like a cake on the top.. Doesn't appear to be infected though. Just thick krausen that compacted on the top.
 
FATC1TY said:
Never seen that when I've brewed it.. Did you dump all the kettle in there?

Looks like a cake on the top.. Doesn't appear to be infected though. Just thick krausen that compacted on the top.
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Not all, but some trub made it in to the bucket. I brewed three weeks ago. A week and a half ago I had the bubbles and sheen that the thread says comes from the cocoa, but nothing like this.
 
MTate37 said:
Not all, but some trub made it in to the bucket. I brewed three weeks ago. A week and a half ago I had the bubbles and sheen that the thread says comes from the cocoa, but nothing like this.
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What kind of cocoa did you use? If it wasn't processed down to remove just about all the fats and oils, then thats is what is floating on top.
 
So this recipe looks great, and I am going to try it tonight but an extract version. The boil time says 90 min, is that just standard time for an all grain recipe? Can I just do a standard 60 min boil for an extract version? Whats the pros and cons of a 90 min boil?

-Also I have some Edinburgh yeast WLP028 left over from another brew (never used, unopened bottle). I use it for a scotch ale recipe of mine. Has anyone used this type/would it work well?

Thanks in advanced. Cannot thank this website and its contributors enough for the wealth of knowledge it has bestowed on me.
 
cbren723 said:
So this recipe looks great, and I am going to try it tonight but an extract version. The boil time says 90 min, is that just standard time for an all grain recipe? Can I just do a standard 60 min boil for an extract version? Whats the pros and cons of a 90 min boil?

-Also I have some Edinburgh yeast WLP028 left over from another brew (never used, unopened bottle). I use it for a scotch ale recipe of mine. Has anyone used this type/would it work well?

Thanks in advanced. Cannot thank this website and its contributors enough for the wealth of knowledge it has bestowed on me.
Click to expand...

90 is something I normally do for most beers, so yes, generally with all grain. This beer doesn't need it, but it allows me to sparge enough boil down and get good efficiency out of it.

However, with extract, there really is no need to. I'd suggest a 60min boil in your case, and you'll be perfectly fine.

Edinburgh yeast would work fine. It'll be a clean finishing yeast, and will leave some malty notes behind, which is what you want.
 
FATC1TY said:
Finally got around to brewing this again!

Everything went as planned, pretty much can do this without the recipe in front of me now.

Added 3oz Dutch Mahogany Cocoa powder to the boil at 15 minutes.Decided to toss in 3 ounces of cocoa nibs that were soaking in some bookers bourbon for a couple of days into the primary for the beer to age/ferment on. Got the tip from some pro brewers about their milk stout that has a ton of nibs and chocolate flavor to it.

Will add 4 vanilla beans to the keg I think in a bag and skip secondary on this guy.

Was lazy and had a 2 month old pack of 1968, and will toss another packet of US05 in there to make sure my cell count is good too, since I didn't make a starter due to not knowing if I would be able to swing a brew day. Should work out great I think![/QUOTE

Went from 1.070 to 1.020 with US05 and 1968 together.

The cocoa nibs in primary was a fantastic idea. Quite honestly THE MOST chocolate flavor I've been able to pack into this already milk chocolately beer.

Racked it onto 3 ounces of medium toast, second use oak cubes, and 5 vanilla beans I chopped and had in some bookers bourbon for a couple weeks.

Taste is delicious. Gonna oak age it for a bit, and then off to the keg she goes. Will be great around Christmas.
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i made a batch of this. went from 1.066 to 1.020 using nottingham yeast. i will be bottling in a week or so. i just added two vanilla beans i had soaking in some vodka since brew day last sunday. i hope it turns out well! it is my first porter i've made. thanks for the recipe.
 
Savage1005 said:
i made a batch of this. went from 1.066 to 1.020 using nottingham yeast. i will be bottling in a week or so. i just added two vanilla beans i had soaking in some vodka since brew day last sunday. i hope it turns out well! it is my first porter i've made. thanks for the recipe.
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Make sure you cut open the beans and scrape the good stuff on the insides and put it all in the beer. Won't get a ton of flavor real fast if you put them in whole.
 
FATC1TY said:
Make sure you cut open the beans and scrape the good stuff on the insides and put it all in the beer. Won't get a ton of flavor real fast if you put them in whole.
Click to expand...

i did. i gutted them before i put them in the vodka. split em open, scraped, cut to pieces.
 
I under carbed. Nearly no head to speak of. Can't really taste the vanilla, either.

EDIT: it only spent about 48 hours in the fridge. More fridge time = more head?
 
I'm too tired to read the whole thread right now, but I'm wondering if anyone has added lactose to this recipe and if so, how much?

The body is a bit thinner than I expected and it is also drier than I expected (1.012). I'm hoping some lactose would give a little sweetness and add some body, but I've never used it before and could use some guidance.
 
MTate37 said:
I'm too tired to read the whole thread right now, but I'm wondering if anyone has added lactose to this recipe and if so, how much?

The body is a bit thinner than I expected and it is also drier than I expected (1.012). I'm hoping some lactose would give a little sweetness and add some body, but I've never used it before and could use some guidance.
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Try a half pound of lactose, and go from there. You can always add more back to it.

Was your OG low to start with? 1.012 is indeed low for this recipe.

Boil up some water, add the lactose and allow it to cool, and add it in.. See what that does. I've used it once, on a similar like recipe that got too low and added a pound and it was way to damn sweet.
 
Thanks for the recipe, enjoyed following the thread. How chocolatey is this porter? I'd like to make a porter with a medium-high level of chocolate flavor. Does 2oz of cocoa powder add enough for this?

Thanks.
 
Flipadelphia said:
Thanks for the recipe, enjoyed following the thread. How chocolatey is this porter? I'd like to make a porter with a medium-high level of chocolate flavor. Does 2oz of cocoa powder add enough for this?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

It's got a good solid chocolate flavor, especially if you follow the recipe with the regular chocolate malt and the pale chocolate malt in it.

I did 3 ounces of dutched cocoa in the boil at 15 minutes last time, and I also added close to 4 ounces of nibs to the primary. Yes, the primary. I've been following some ideas that some of the pro brewers were doing, some even adding nibs or cocoa mulch to the mash.

I added the 4oz of nibs to the primary, so the beer would have a good long contact time.

Worked out wonderfully. I used my recipe, upped the base a tad, added some roasted barley, mashed a bit higher and it's pretty much a Chocolate Oat stout now. Very very pronounced chocolate note.

I aged it on some 2nd use oak bourbon cubes from a RIS, added 2 vanilla beans, and a half heavy charr oak spiral and this beer is fantastic. Alot going on, but one sip lends that hearty chocolate note within the beer and a subtle smooth bourbon/vanilla/coconut note from the wood. Dries up nicely, making you want another sip!
 
Damn, nice description! Sounds awesome.

Ok I designed this with 1lb of pale chocolate, 10oz of regular chocolate malt, and I'll do 3oz of the dutch cocoa powder. Everything else basically the same.

Can't wait, as porter is my favorite style of beer and I've done about 50 all grain batches without making one. Why? I don't know!!!
 
Bottling this tomorrow. Cant wait. 10 gallon batch half as written half with cherrys
 
Pitched my yeast starter about an hour ago, I hit 1.064 OG and 6 gallons, which puts me at 83% efficiency! So it'll be a little stronger, but that's ok!

I changed a few things up, added about a 1/2lb of lactose and upped the cocoa addition, but I absolutely cannot wait for this!
 
Looks like good cocoa to use.

Glad to hear it went well. The lactose will up your gravity so keep that in mind.
 

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