Yule Log Porter

Targets
OG - 1.089
FG - 1.018
SRM - 27°
IBU - 35
BU:GU - 0.40
ABV - 9.2%

Grain Bill
8 lbs 0 oz (45%) Maris Otter
6 lbs 0 oz (34%) Beech Smoked Malt
1 lbs 8 oz ( 8%) Unsulfured Molasses (added at 5 min mark of boil)
1 lbs 0 oz ( 6%) Carapils
0 lbs 12oz ( 4%) Crystal 40L
0 lbs 4 oz ( 1%) Chocolate Malt
0 lbs 4 oz ( 1%) Crystal 120L

Mashed at 1.25 qt/lb at 152°F

Hop Bill
60 min - 1 oz Northern Brewer (8.6 % AA)
60 min - 1 oz Willamette (5.1 % AA)

Yeast
Safale S-04 - rehydrated

Misc
1 tsp Irish Moss ( 15 min mark of boil)
2 oz Dark Roasted Oak Chips (6 weeks in secondary)

Fermentation
6 weeks in primary @ 68-70° F
6 weeks in secondary
bottle w/3/4 cup corn sugar and age >2 months before you even THINK about opening a bottle!

My favorite winter warmer is very rich and complex.

That's a lot of molasses, but I'd guess the smoked malt helps balance it.

Opened a test bottle of this last night. Oh my! The ABV of this batch is 9.9% with a FG of 1.014. My mash may have been a little lower than planned. I also changed up the oaking to 4 oz. for four weeks and added a pack of US-05 to go with the S-04.

This tastes awesome! The smoke and the oak are evident, but neither are over powering. The molasses adds just a hint of flavor and pushes the slight alcohol heat to a pleasant rum like under tone. The color is very dark and the head is tan, very thick, and long lasting. Another month or two aging and it should be in its prime.

I bottled this brew in 500 ml swing tops and plan to give it as part of our traditional "homemade" Christmas gifts, which also include peasant herb bread, pesto, puttanesca, and cream candy.

Sorry to revive this long dead thread, but this sounds amazing. How did it age?

Sorry for not getting back on this. This aged to awesome. The heat lessened and drinkability was scary.

I'm brewing another batch for this Christmas right now! That's why I checked this thread tonight.

Made a few adjustments that I'll post after tasting to see if they were worth it.

Out of all the beers I've made, this may be the best.

Made a couple of adjustments to the recipe for this years batch and I think I like it better.
I dropped the carapils, lowered the 40L to 8 oz, and upped the chocolate malt to 12 oz, the 120L to 8 oz, and the smoked malt to 8 lbs. I also added 1 lb of dark brown sugar.

This bumped the OG to 1.102 and the abv to 9.9%. The real benefit is the beer ages better. I found the previous incarnation started losing the smokiness after six months. This batch shows none of that. However, the flavors need at least 4 months of aging for the flavors to lose their sharpness.