Coffee porter recipe input

Thinking of making a coffee porter for my next brew. Gonna do a partial mash, then rack into secondary with 20 oz of cold coffee. It's my own recipe that I put into beer tools pro, and I think it looks pretty good. Kinda going for Highland Brewing Thunderstruck Coffee Porter, but if it's not exactly like it I'm not gonna be upset.

How's it look to the more seasoned brewers? Thanks in advance guys!

Portkey Coffee Porter
12-B Robust Porter
Author: Spencer Klickman
Date: 5/20/12

Original Gravity: 1.062 (1.048 - 1.065)
Terminal Gravity: 1.016 (1.012 - 1.016)
Color: 34.36 (22.0 - 35.0)
Alcohol: 6.11% (4.8% - 6.5%)
Bitterness: 43.1 (25.0 - 50.0)

Ingredients:

1.0*lb (11.8%) Cara-Pils® Malt - added during mash
1.0*lb (11.8%) Black Malt - added during mash
0.5*lb (5.9%) Chocolate Malt - added during mash
0.5*lb (5.9%) Toasted Pale Malt - added during mash
5.5*lb (64.7%) Amber Dry - added during boil, boiled 60.0*m
1.5*oz (37.5%) East Kent Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0*m
0.5*oz (12.5%) Northern Brewer (8.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0*m
2.0*tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15.0*m
2.0*oz (50.0%) East Kent Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil 00.0 m

1.0*ea WYeast 1187 Ringwood Ale™
20.0*oz Brewed Coffee - added dry to secondary fermenter

That's a lot of black malt. Might give you too much of an acrid, burnt taste.

I think i meant to put 1lb chocolate malt and .5 lb black malt. Would that fix it, or would you do even less black malt? Thanks for the reply.

I still think that's a lot. Are you adding the black malt for flavor or just for color?

More so for color, but still looking for a roasty flavor as well, figured it would work. Keep in mind I have this under a robust porter (12 B) and Beer Tools pro is putting me right at 33.26 srm which is within the guidelines for the style. Or would it be better to swap out the black malt for a pound of caramel malt? Like a 60L or something along those lines?

Or I could do 1/2 lb 60L caramel and 1/4 lb black malt?

I put 20oz of FrechPressed coffee in my boil @ 5min. I pressed it, then sat it in a fridge overnight, and skimmed the oils off the top.

It was in an oatmeal stout and the coffee came through pretty nicely.

I think 6oz of black would be max for me. If you want more, look at debittered black.

Thanks for the input man! As you can tell, I've never used black malt before, and I'm definitely glad I came here and asked.

What exactly did you use to skim the oils off the top? I might be interested in doing that instead of racking onto the coffee in the secondary.

Cubslover said:

I think 6oz of black would be max for me. If you want more, look at debittered black.

Click to expand...

+1.
Debittered will also let the coffee shine more i believe
I would also add some crystal 80 to dial back on the black

Here's a picture of the beer that I'm kinda basing my recipe off of to give you guys and idea what I'm shooting for.



This is what my recipe looks like with 1 lb 80L instead of 1/4lb black and 1/2 lb 60L. I'm pretty happy with how the recipe looks, and the coffee is going to add some black color to it as well I'm sure.

Portkey Coffee Porter
12-B Robust Porter
Author: Spencer Klickman
Date: 5/20/12

Original Gravity: 1.065 (1.048 - 1.065)
Terminal Gravity: 1.016 (1.012 - 1.016)
Color: 29.99 (22.0 - 35.0)
Alcohol: 6.37% (4.8% - 6.5%)
Bitterness: 43.1 (25.0 - 50.0)

Ingredients:
1.0*lb (11.1%) 2-Row Caramel Malt 80L - added during mash
1.0*lb (11.1%) Cara-Pils® Malt - added during mash
1.0*lb (11.1%) Chocolate Malt - added during mash
0.5*lb (5.6%) Toasted Pale Malt - added during mash
5.5 lb (61.1%) Amber Dry - added during boil, boiled 60.0 m
1.5*oz (37.5%) East Kent Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0*m
0.5*oz (12.5%) Northern Brewer (8.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0*m
2.0*oz (50.0%) East Kent Goldings (5.0%) - added during boil
2.0*tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15.0*m
1.0*ea WYeast 1187 Ringwood Ale™
20.0*oz Brewed Coffee - added dry to secondary fermenter

Klickmania said:

Thanks for the input man! As you can tell, I've never used black malt before, and I'm definitely glad I came here and asked.

What exactly did you use to skim the oils off the top? I might be interested in doing that instead of racking onto the coffee in the secondary.

Click to expand...

Depending on the coffee (I used StarBucks Sumatra which is very dark/earthy and very strong), French pressing will filter less out of the coffee and some oils will stay around. I read before about people skimming the oils off the top.

What about cracking some beans and racking the beer onto them in the secondary? Also, I have been thinking about doing a coffee porter with oak cubes in the secondary as well.

Your recipe looks good. You could always add a few ounces of black (a couple ounces goes a long way, 3oz maybe). It'll give a solid coffee flavor/aroma and balance out the C80 and Chocolate malt's sweetness.

Klickmania said:

Thanks for the input man! As you can tell, I've never used black malt before, and I'm definitely glad I came here and asked.

What exactly did you use to skim the oils off the top? I might be interested in doing that instead of racking onto the coffee in the secondary.

Click to expand...

Depending on the coffee (I used StarBucks Sumatra which is very dark/earthy and very strong), French pressing will filter less out of the coffee and some oils will stay around. I read before about people skimming the oils off the top.

What about cracking some beans and racking the beer onto them in the secondary? Also, I have been thinking about doing a coffee porter with oak cubes in the secondary as well.

I've found coffee malt to be really nice at about 3% in porters and at 6% in stouts. Adds another layer of roast.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I definitely know what you mean about how a little goes a long way now...The girl at the shop I usually go to gave me 1lb of chocolate malt for my Special bitter recipe I'm brewing tomorrow...aaaaaand I only wanted 1 oz. It's all cracked and in one bag with the rest of my other grains too. I wasn't sure if she did or not, so I tested a little in a small bowl, and it's definitely way too dark. Guess I have some serious picking ahead of me. And before you ask, the shop is 50 miles away and I don't feel like driving all the way back there tomorrow.

But I pretty much decided on adding 3 oz black malt, and 20 oz of cold coffee, filtered and skimmed and added to secondary. Another quick question, what exactly did you use to skim the coffee? Did you use a spoon, or a filter of some kind/?

I used a spoon.

My LHBS is about 65 miles away so I feel your pain. I want to open a local shop here in town.

I made a coffee stout that turned out well. I cold brewed the coffee which possibly held in some of the aroma. Also, I would use a light roast coffee to keep the bitter out. I like your choice of hops. I used Centennial and it was too citrusy.

I just made a coffee stout about a month and a half ago, using cold brewed espresso. I put half a pound fine ground espresso into a gallon of water (pre-boiled), let it sit in the fridge for a day and a half, and added it at bottling. The espresso version had a HUGE chocolatey espresso aroma and flavor, and it also thinned the mouthfeel just a bit. That worked well in my stout, and could work well in your porter. If it turns out too coffeelike just let it sit for a while, as the coffee will diminish with time like hops. Cheers!

Thanks for the input guys!