First Recipe Question

Hey everyone,

I am going to order the supplies for my first homemade recipe soon and wanted to know what everyone thought. I am going for a chocolate porter and didn't know when, what kind, or how much chocolate to add to the beer. Here is what I have so far:


1 lbs Light Dry Extract
6.6 lbs Dark Liquid Malt Extract
12.0 oz Simpsons Extra Dark Crystal Malt
4.0 oz Simpson's Chocolate Malt
1.00 oz Cluster [7.00%] (60 min) Hops 23.5 IBU
1.00 oz Crystal [3.50%] (15 min) Hops 5.8 IBU
Chocolate?
1 Wyeast 1338 European Ale

thanks!

also if i decreased the LME to 6.0 instead of 6.6 lbs what would the effect be if any?

any thoughts

I haven't done chocolate anything in about 10 years. But I believe I added it during the last 15 minutes of the boil. Also, be careful of any chocolate with additives or excessive amounts of oils. I really don't remember what I used though. Decreasing your LME would decrease the gravity of your wort and thereby decreasing abv and mouthfeel. Run your recipe through a beer calculator to see where you want your OG to be and judge the amount of LME based on that. Also, if it's the dark LME you are talking about it would also decrease the color and flavor profile (i.e. roastiness, etc.)

You should use all light XME, that way can adjust the flavor your likings. If so I'd up the chocolate malt to at least 8 oz.

What is a good amount of LME to use for a dark/chocolate porter?

Here is a link to a thread asking questions about a chocolate ale:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/question-cocoa-powder-porter-brewers-145901/

Have you tried using the HBT recipe database? It might help you put together an ingredients list.

yeah, you want sugars, i say keep the lme. the more sugar your yeast get to eat, the more alcohol they will pee out.(yes you are drinking yeast pee).

for the most part you dont even need the chocolate, those dark roasted grains have chocolate flavors to them already. i wouldnt complicate your first few recipes, get the feel for how things work before you start bending rules, your brew will taste great no matter what.

if you wanna get crazy anyway, go with cocoa powder. if you use sweetened, processed chocolate you end up getting paraffin wax, preservatives, partially hydrogenated corn oils, high fructose corn syrup, and what ever other flavors that the candy company thinks they need. also you got to remember your yeast (fungus) will be eating whatever you put in there, so sugars, (fruits etc) will be less sweet by the time its done, and if you used anything processed, you take the risk of whatever preservative in there killing your beautiful yeast,
dont hurt your yeast.
not only is he your booze peeing friend,
but hes a really fun-gi

ok so how much LME would you use to use on this 5 gallon batch? I want to go for a pretty dark chocolatey porter.

bumpskis

when i plug it in i get an abv of 6.1% which is a little high but wouldn't bother me. If you want it dark though you are going to need more dark grain because my software puts you at 21 SRM which would be brown to dark brown. It also says you are only getting 21 IBU's which would be a little low for balance. But if you're looking for a sweet porter you got it. I would up your Simpsons Extra Dark Crystal to a pound a half and lower your LME to 6 pounds. that would put you at 28 SRM and 5.6% abv.

I was going to add the Cluster hops 1.00 oz, first once the wort is boiling after the extract is added, boil for an hour, then add the Crystal hops with 1 minute left in the boil. Adding the chocolate also with 15 minutes left in the boil cycle. How bitter would this beer be? And what kind of chocolate is recommended?

I guess it hadn't occurred to me that you might not be doing a full wort boil which would have an effect on the calculations I made...

rjwhite41 said:

I guess it hadn't occurred to me that you might not be doing a full wort boil which would have an effect on the calculations I made...

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I don't understand what you mean..

How much are you going to boil in your kettle? 3 gallons, 5 gallons, 7.5 gallons. Are you going to boil with 3 and top off with water in your fermenter. It will most certainly effect your hop utilization rates among other things. By the way, hopville.com has a free recipe calculator that can be quite helpful when formulating recipes. It will also store the recipes for you and you can keep tasting notes. I use it all the time.

balzern said:

I don't understand what you mean..

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sounds like you need to conduct some more research.

Id start with the recipes here, learn about all the components, how they interact. If you flip through recipes it might help you understand more about the process. Once you really start to understand the brewing process, then its time to start thinking about tailoring your own recipe.

Can I suggest a great book--- "Designing Great Beers." It will help to understand how and why certain things are added to a batch, and ultimately, to the process.

hope that helps.
happy brewing.