Chocolate Porter

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J-meB

J-meB

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Just brewed my 4th batch.

5 1/2 gallons

3# light DME
3.3 Muntons light LME

steeped grain bag at 170 for 45 mins in 2 1/4 gallons with
1/4# black patent
3/4# chocolate malt
1/2# carapils
sparged with 1/4 gallon at 170

8oz bakers cocoa@ 35 mins
1/4 cup turbinado sugar@35 mins
1oz Perele at 60 mins.

O.G. was 1055
Pitched with s04

How long till you think this will be ready?
I plan to primary for 10-14 days
Secondary another 10-14
Bottle for two weeks?
This is my first porter so any suggestions would be great.
 
One thing you left out was fermentation temp

I would skip the secondary. There is no need with this beer. 10-14 days in the primary should do it. Then straight to the bottle.
 
Just made something similar recently.

Let me see.........It was in Primary for 2.5 months and in the bottle now 6 weeks.

Cooled 2 down and then let them warm up to almost room temp, pour with a huge head, HOLY HELL. Delicious.

Drinkable and damned decent after 1 month in primary, 2 weeks in the bottle I am sure, PERFECT at this point. Are you in a hurry?
 
maida7 said:
Sounds hot Ideally you'd pitch at 60-64 and have the fermenting liquid steady at 66-70F.
Click to expand...

I used dryed yeast for this.
Rehydrated then proofed it first.
Didnt know 72 was a high pitch temp....I will bring it down next time.
I will keep closet at a steady 68:mug:

Thanks for the advice.

I will also primary for at least a month!
 
J-meB said:
I used dryed yeast for this.
Rehydrated then proofed it first.
Didnt know 72 was a high pitch temp....I will bring it down next time.
I will keep closet at a steady 68:mug:

Thanks for the advice.

I will also primary for at least a month!
Click to expand...

Yeah but if the closet is at 68 your fermenter is gonna be much higher like mid 70's. The yeast make their own heat as they work. Ideally you would control the temp of the fermenter not the air in the closet.

I think a month in the primary is overkill. 2 weeks is usually more then enough time.
 
maida7 said:
Yeah but if the closet is at 68 your fermenter is gonna be much higher like mid 70's. The yeast make their own heat as they work. Ideally you would control the temp of the fermenter not the air in the closet.

I think a month in the primary is overkill. 2 weeks is usually more then enough time.
Click to expand...

Taking temp in closet down to 64 as we speak:mug:
 
J-meB said:
Just brewed my 4th batch.

5 1/2 gallons

3# light DME
3.3 Muntons light LME

steeped grain bag at 170 for 45 mins in 2 1/4 gallons with
1/4# black patent
3/4# chocolate malt
1/2# carapils
sparged with 1/4 gallon at 170

8oz bakers cocoa@ 35 mins
1/4 cup turbinado sugar@35 mins
1oz Perele at 60 mins.

O.G. was 1055
Pitched with s04

How long till you think this will be ready?
I plan to primary for 10-14 days
Secondary another 10-14
Bottle for two weeks?
This is my first porter so any suggestions would be great.
Click to expand...
Only your hydrometer readings can decide when it'll be ready. If your FG reading is stable for 3-4 days, then it's ready, your fermentation is pretty much done. That's the only way to be 100% sure.

But, the extra time is good in order to let your yeast cleanup after themselves. The more you let it age, the better your beer will be (to some extent).

Follow your hydrometer reading and everything will be allright.
 
Erythro73 said:
Only your hydrometer readings can decide when it'll be ready. If your FG reading is stable for 3-4 days, then it's ready, your fermentation is pretty much done. That's the only way to be 100% sure.

But, the extra time is good in order to let your yeast cleanup after themselves. The more you let it age, the better your beer will be (to some extent).

Follow your hydrometer reading and everything will be allright.
Click to expand...

If I let it sit for more than a month shouldnt I rack to secondary due to funky dead yeast tastes?:mug:
 
IMO, it sounds tasty. I'm a fan of aging beers longer than 2-3 weeks even for low gravity beers. This one sounds like it could definitely use longer than 2-3 weeks of bottle conditioning. Of course, I'd be opening one after 2 weeks to see where it was at.

Was this a kit or your own creation? I'd might try it sometime soon.
 
maida7 said:
One thing you left out was fermentation temp

I would skip the secondary. There is no need with this beer. 10-14 days in the primary should do it. Then straight to the bottle.
Click to expand...

Secondary for sure, every time I use bakers cocoa it is so thick it takes along time to clear.
 
J-meB said:
Taking temp in closet down to 64 as we speak:mug:
Click to expand...

OK so during the most active phase of fermentation when it's rocking and rolling it will create it's own heat. At this point it is important to keep things cool to help control production of off flavors

BUT

when it starts to run out of food the yeast will slow and it will cool down. At this point it is important to keep it warm to keep the yeast working. This will help with attenuation and clean up any off flavors produced during the first phase.

Temp control is fairly important.
 
This was my reciepe.
To hear someone may want to brew it is awsome!:mug:
I think i will be hideing half of this away for some ageing.
I def will be sampling one after two weeks in the bottle.
Waiting is the hardes part of brewing for me;)
 
I put it into Beer Smith and made some slight adjustments to get the IBU's and color consistent with the style guidelines for porter. Assume you did a late extract addition?
 
mr_bell said:
I put it into Beer Smith and made some slight adjustments to get the IBU's and color consistent with the style guidelines for porter. Assume you did a late extract addition?
Click to expand...

I did not do a late extract addition?
Should Ifor next time?..and how would I go about it?
What did beersmith tell you? I have no software...still a newbie:mug:
Thanks for all the input everyone!
 
BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Dark Chocolate Porter
Brewer: MB
Asst Brewer:
Style: Brown Porter
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 4.08 gal
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 27.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 38.71 %
3.25 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 41.94 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.45 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 6.45 %
0.25 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 3.23 %
1.00 oz Pearle [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 24.1 IBU
0.25 lb Turbinado (10.0 SRM) Sugar 3.23 %
1 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: None
Total Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
----------------------------
Steep grains as desired (30-60 minutes)

Above is how it looks doing a 4 gal boil without a late extract addition.

If you do 3.25 gal boil the IBUs drop down to 18.7 With a 3 gal boil and late extract addition (add the LME last 15 mins), IBUs go up to 25.6, within the style guidelines. OG is predicted as 1.053.

For me, I would do a 3 gal boil w/ late extract addition, and top up in the fermenter to 5.5 gals, which should result in an OG at 1.048. This would allow a 1/2 gal loss to trub and such, and still end up w/ a 5 gals in the end. (I don't like secondary's : i would leave it in the primary 3-4 weeks to settle real well, then bottle.):mug:
 
mr_bell said:
BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Dark Chocolate Porter
Brewer: MB
Asst Brewer:
Style: Brown Porter
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 4.08 gal
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 27.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 38.71 %
3.25 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 41.94 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.45 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 6.45 %
0.25 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 3.23 %
1.00 oz Pearle [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 24.1 IBU
0.25 lb Turbinado (10.0 SRM) Sugar 3.23 %
1 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: None
Total Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
----------------------------
Steep grains as desired (30-60 minutes)

Above is how it looks doing a 4 gal boil without a late extract addition.

If you do 3.25 gal boil the IBUs drop down to 18.7 With a 3 gal boil and late extract addition (add the LME last 15 mins), IBUs go up to 25.6, within the style guidelines. OG is predicted as 1.053.

For me, I would do a 3 gal boil w/ late extract addition, and top up in the fermenter to 5.5 gals, which should result in an OG at 1.048. This would allow a 1/2 gal loss to trub and such, and still end up w/ a 5 gals in the end. (I don't like secondary's : i would leave it in the primary 3-4 weeks to settle real well, then bottle.):mug:
Click to expand...

Dont see the 8 oz of bakers cocoa in the reciepe...could this account for why I came up with higher OG then 1.048?
 
Also,what time would I do the late extract addition...would this be for the DME and LME?
Never did a late extract addition b4.
 
J-meB said:
Dont see the 8 oz of bakers cocoa in the reciepe...could this account for why I came up with higher OG then 1.048?
Click to expand...

I didn't see cocoa in beer smith. It would have no effect on the gravity, as it is unsweetened.

As far as late extract additions, search the forum and you'll find plenty of information. I use late extract additions for partial boils, which is all I can do right now with my setup.

As far as the gravity, there are a number of factors that could probably influence that; chances are that if I actually brewed it might not come out to exactly what Beersmith predicts, but should be close.

Thanks for the idea and inspiration, I'm definitely considering brewing something like this soon. I'm looking at some other recipes for porter (like Jamil Z's Chocolate Hazelnut Porter) for ideas to formulate my own recipe.
 
Cocoa is not in BeerSmith, but when I did my Chocolate Hazelnut Sweet Stout I added it in under the Misc. category.
 
mr_bell said:
I'm looking at some other recipes for porter (like Jamil Z's Chocolate Hazelnut Porter) for ideas to formulate my own recipe.
Click to expand...

I brewed JZ's chocolate hazelnut porter as a kit from Morebeer.com and it was probably the best chocolate beer I have ever had. I highly suggest you try his recipe as is. I doubt anybody could improve on it.

FYI: The kit included cocoa nibs as the source of the chocolate. They never fully dissolve so they are easy to separate from the beer when racking. And they give a really nice toasty chocolate flavor.
 
So I was thinking about adding .5oz of ALmond extract to this at bottleing to make this a chocolate almond Porter. Any thoughts? This would be my first attempt at using extract at bottleing time. Thanks in advance.
 
Don't know about almond, sounds interesting. Maybe pecan and coconut for a German Chocolate cake beer.....actually, I might have to try that myself.

On Basic Brewing Radio, Peter Hoey of Odonata Beer Company talked about a chocolate stout (I think, maybe porter) he brewed. He said they added dutch cocoa powder to the mash and because of it's properties, had no need to add water salts.

He also said they added chunked dark chocolate to the keg or fermenter like dry hopping (dry chocolating?). Problem was inconsistencies. Sometimes it would incorporate well and leave great chocolate flavor, others, it would form a chocolate slurry in the bottom and not much chocolate flavors. This gave better over all chocolate flavors, but the inconsistencies were not something you want in a production brewery.
 
J-meB said:
So I was thinking about adding .5oz of ALmond extract to this at bottleing to make this a chocolate almond Porter. Any thoughts? This would be my first attempt at using extract at bottleing time. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I've used hazelnut extract at bottling to make a chocolate hazelnut porter and it was fantastic. Not so sure how almond would taste but the extract at bottling idea is sound.
 
I love almonds and chocolate......see how it comes out but does the .5 oz sound like a good start?
 

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