American Porter Black Butte Porter

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Ha, it's been awhile, sure. Looking over my notes:

Batch size: 5.5 gallon

Malts:
9 lb 2-row
1.5 lb Red Wheat Malt
12 oz Crystal C80
8 oz Carapils
8 oz Pale Chocolate Malt - 325°L (Crisp)
8 oz Chocolate Wheat Malt - 375°L (Weyermann)

Hops:
2 oz Willamette 60' 31 IBU
0.5 oz Cascade 15' 4.5 IBU
0.5 oz Tettnanger 5' 1.5 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade 5' 0.75 IBU

Mash all but last 2 (dark) malts at 152°F for 60 min.

On the side, separate pot in oven, steep the last 2 (dark) malts at 150°F for 30 minutes in 2 qts of water
Lauter: colander lined with grain bag
First sparge: 2 qts
Second sparge: 1 qt

Add liquor from dark grains (~4.5 quarts) to kettle with 5 minutes left in boil.

Chill and pitch yeast WY1968
OG: 1.060
FG: 1.017

My FG came in a bit high at 1.019 but the beer was clean and delicious with no astringency, due to the low steeping temp of the dark grain and late boil addition (IMO). Placed 3rd at the club's 2014 Porter competition, which included Brown, Robust, and Baltic Porters.

Notes:
My efficiency is really high (82-85%), so you may need to raise the grain bill a bit to fit your system. I batch sparge twice with equal volumes.

I carefully selected the 2 dark malts because I really like the flavor and aroma of Crisp Pale Chocolate, and the Chocolate Wheat (Weyermann) has no husks. It's a deviation from the original posted recipe, and I think for the better. I may toss in a half pound of oats next time I brew this, which should be soon.

The OP mashed at 154, noting he missed the original 156 mark. So mashing a little higher (156) will help with some extra dextrinity and mouthfeel.
 
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I need to start steeping roasted grains separately. I love porters, but that astringency ruins every homebrew attempt. I wonder how the commercial breweries handle it...
 
I need to start steeping roasted grains separately. I love porters, but that astringency ruins every homebrew attempt. I wonder how the commercial breweries handle it...

That's a good question, how do they do it?
 
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Awesome. Thanks for coming through, IslandLizard.

I found the beersmith podcast that was mentioned as well, if anyone is interested. It goes into more depth about steeping dark grains: http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/05/31/advanced-home-brewing-with-gordon-strong-beersmith-podcast-39/

In the podcast, Strong recommends steeping any grains that don't need to be mashed to avoid astringency. He makes a point to include not only dark malts, but caramel malts as well. His reasoning makes sense, I'm just not sure what to do with it.

:off: Has anyone tried steeping caramel malts at mash-out? Have you missed any flavor from the malts? How did you account for the drop in the OG when malts contribute to a larger part of the grain bill? :off:
 
UberHasselhoff - I haven't tried the separate steep myself, but I think its a pretty safe approach and shouldn't impact flavor in a negative way. I plan to do this next time I brew my amber that has 12.5% C80.

Is steeping pH a concern as it is with mash pH though? That's what I'm wondering. It'd be nice to just use straight RO for the steep without having to do a second round of mineral and acid additions.
 
Resurrecting this thread as I brewed up a 2.75 Gallon BIAB batch back in December and bottled a couple weeks back. Very true to the real product, an approachable porter with a nice balance of sweetness and chocolate flavour. I'd say the mouthfeel is thinner than some, which I'm a fan of and it lends itself to sessionable enjoyment. Will brew again and up the carbonation a bit (personal preference).
 
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