American Porter Bee Cave Brewery Robust Porter

Mine came out with Chocolate/coffee notes, not really too much sweetness. the wort tasted pretty much the same pre- and post-fermentation. I've only sampled it once since I bottled and that was about 4 days in so not very carbed at all. I am not experienced enough to help you identify your issue though.

My first batch was originally sweety and boozy but mellows nicely with time, let it sit a month or two.

Petekiteworld said:

My first batch was originally sweety and boozy but mellows nicely with time, let it sit a month or two.

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Hopefully that's the case for mine, too. Since it was my first brew on my new system, I was worried I just screwed something up somewhere.

With that said, I just took a sample of a Rye IPA before I dry hopped with Cascade. This is the second brew on that new system and it tastes excellent. I'm not worried about this one...

Going to brew another batch this weekend. The original recipe is perfect, but I have to add more hops since they are like crack to me.
I plan on bumping up the ibus to 70 and doing lots of late additions and then a big dry hop with american hops.

Anyone try this yet?

An update on mine: I tried a second bottle on Thursday night. It was two weeks in the bottle. I was going to wait until Week 3, but, well, patience is not my thing.

ANYWAY, it was much better than Week 1. The sweetness subsided and the boozyiness settled right in with the flavors.

It may be a little too sweet for my taste still, but we'll see how it is in a few more weeks. Regardless, great beer! Great work, Ed.

Wow, you all weren't lying about the active ferm! Brew day went as planned, and ended up with 1.066 OG. Pitched one pack rehydrated notty. 2 hour lag, and now this! Never had a 1 inch blowoff tube maxed out before.

I'll check in once I take the first taste. Thanks again to the OP for this one!

Figured I'd better add my two cents here....just tasted my first bottle last night. Been carbing for just over two weeks. It's still slightly under-carbed, so I might swirl the bottles and let it sit a couple more weeks. What concerns me is the "watery" mouth-feel and aftertaste (I was expecting a much chewier beer). There's a real nice roasty/chocolatey flavor up front, but it leaves quite a pronounced sweet and watery aftertaste...kind of "thin". I thought I hit all the numbers pretty well (mash around 151, OG 1.062, FG 1.015). Do you guys think this will balance out a bit more over time? Wasn't sure you could actually get rid of that "watery" quality...guess we'll see. Thanks for the input!

Hey Hopdropper, not sure about correcting the watery condition once it's fermented out. Had the same issue with an Irish Stout last year. The flavors and balance definitely changed a bit for the better as it aged though, so don't lose faith quite yet.

Just kegged my version of this porter tonight. I stared with 1.066 OG and ended up at 1.012, which gives me about 7.0 ABV if my math is right. Taste was awesome. Still some noticeable residual sweetness, which is surprising considering the low FG. Slight roastiness, and very slight alcohol notes, which should mellow with time I hope.

I omitted the maltodextrin and used 1/2 lb. carapils in the last 20 min of my mash, per the recommendation of the AWESOME folks at The Beverage People, my AWESOME lhbs. Mouthfeel ended up just right.

I'll let you all know how it turns out once it's all carbed up!

I have everything I need for this except the 8oz of flaked barley, which wasn't available when I was ordering my grains. I have MLHBS, but it is fairly small and I am not sure if they will have it.

I guess my question is, if the DON'T have any, would this beer turn out alright if I omit the flaked barley, or replaced it with something else? (and what would that something be?)

You cab replace with flaked wheat and it would be fine

Petekiteworld said:

You cab replace with flaked wheat and it would be fine

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Cool, many thanks!

Just got the ingredients for this. I put in .10lb or 1.6oz of roasted barley by mistake. Am I doomed??

Doomed?? Almost never...
I think you'll get more roasty, almost coffee, notes. More bitter maybe, but probably not. I think it'll be quite tasty... You are talking less than an ounce more of an adjuct already in the robust recipe .

brewing this as we speak!!! Ed you are a savior!! ... pre boil was 1.033, after 90 was 1.054 does that sound about right?? tastes awesome!!! i"m waiting 20 for the trub and break material to settle before transfering to the 6.5 carboy... i had to substitute the black patent for caraffe11 and the caramel 60L for caramel 80L because the HBS didnt have them but I will def. let u know what it turns out like....I've been drinking the Afpelwein I brewed from your recipe about 2 monthes ago... fixin to get er in glass!!!!

idigg said:

Just got the ingredients for this. I put in .10lb or 1.6oz of roasted barley by mistake. Am I doomed??

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Am I missing something? Isn't .10lb = 1.6oz?

Disregard, thought it said instead of.

Im going to try this recipe as my fourth brew
Biab allgrain it is, but shouldnt there be an mashout temp?

Also wondering i have put in the data in beersmith, your recipe and my ingredients ebc and beersmith tells me that the beer will be 86 EBC, I think EBC is x2 compared to SRM, so 43 SRM then. Is that to high?

Well I brewed this last night, my efficiency was absolutely horrible...(60ish) but tasted really good going into glass. I put my blowoff tube on and this morning I had great crust all through my line but the the bubbling had slowed considerably by noon so I replaced the blowoff with an airlock. it was bubbling at about 1 per 5 seconds through the airlock, should be good right? well I checked in on it a couple of hours later and its bubbling like crazy again!! high Krausen and rising. Wierd... will keep an eye on it, may have to go back to the tube.

Mashing this right now, smells yummy! Never seen my mash tun this dark Thanks Ed.

Just just brewed this on Sunday (1/27/13). I subbed a pound of cara pils for maltodextrin because the LHBS was out (any one know at what ratio to to swap these two?). OG was 1.064 and fermentation took off within about 8 hours. The taste as I was putting it into the fementer was smooth with a touch of coffee. I can't wait for this to finish up! Thanks for the recipe!

Brewed this about a month ago. Finally got it kegged Friday. Turned out really good.

Just an update. Pulled my first pint last night. Absolutely amazing brew. Finished out at 7% ABV, well balanced, great mouthfeel. One of the better brews I've ever done. Honestly wouldn't change a single thing in this recipe. Thanks again OP!

Hi iv been into homebrewin for a while now iv made lager from scratch but mainly stuck with brew kits im interested in tryin a porter bit confused wat is # and also wat is 2 row sorry if this is a dumb question

sybrows said:

Hi iv been into homebrewin for a while now iv made lager from scratch but mainly stuck with brew kits im interested in tryin a porter bit confused wat is # and also wat is 2 row sorry if this is a dumb question

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# = pounds
2 row is the lightest form of malted barley, very popular for the base of many beers.

Many thanks will let u know how it goes just bottked a gluten free lager and iv just started a pear cider so will be a week or so

# is pounds, and 2 row is a common type of barley (as opposed to 6 row barley). You could google a pic of each and it will be pretty easy to see. 2 row is fairly common.

So, for example, 8# 2 row would be 8 pounds of 2-row ale malt (barley).

Hi iv been makin some inquiries into the ingriedients for this porter the supplier i usually use is havin difficulty findin a few things as this is an american forum and im in the uk crystal 40 black patent and the malto dextrin can anyone let me know wat these are and if there is any substitute for them also is marris otter ok as the 2row

I've heard about this shortage of punctuation in the United Kingdom. I honestly thought it was a myth.

The marris otter should be ideal for the pale malt. For the crystal 40, look for caramel 40 or maybe even 60. I think (might be wrong) that caramel and crystal are the same thing. Not sure about a black patent substitute. I'll have to look into it. Finally, instead if malto dextrine, you can use dextrine malt (usually known as carapils) instead. Add about 1/2 lb. in the last 30 minutes of the mash.
With either carapils in the mash or dextrine powder in the boil, you should have the same end result....added dextrines providing a little better body, or a little less thin. Hope this helps.

Carraffe ll is a good substitute for the black patent.

Many thanks wyoast will give it a try, mike_in_ak is there any need to insult me because of my punctuation,? I am on this chat forum through my phone app and cant be bothered with flickin back and forth fir punctuation marks get a life mate and enjoy the brewing. .....

Why put in any effort at all? It's the Internet!

(Sent from my mobile telephone device.)

Exactly i work 7 days a week usually upto about 14 hours a day and on the rare occasion i get a day off i like to make my homebrew i appreciate any help or advice i get from here if i wanted immature behaviour and snide remarks i would go on facebook so like i said befor get a life and enjoy the brewin cause obviously u got way to much time on ur hands

If your google skills were better maybe you could work fewer days a week because you wouldn't have to repeatedly reinvent the wheel?

Mike, your really making yourself look like an arse.

I agree that my Internet use standards and expectations are higher than most and not in keeping with current values.

No your just angry in AK.

Such a vigorous fermentation I had to duct tape the stopper down!

I brewed this back in January, as had a very vigorous fermentation even though I kept the temperature in the low 60's. I just kegged it last night. When I tasted my gravity sample, it tasted somewhat "hot" and harsh to me. My calculated ABV is 6.4%, so I'm not sure if what I was tasting was due to the higher-than-normal alcohol content, or if I might have some fusel alcohols present. The fermentation was vigorous enough to suggest it may have produced some off-flavours, but I fermented at the same temperature as all my other ales (basement, in a plastic pail full of water, covered with a wet t-shirt).

Has anyone else detected somewhat "harsh" flavours in this recipe initially? Will this age out? Will the CO2 help it mellow? Is this normal for this recipe?