Modified Imperial Porter

I bought a B3 Porter kit that I've been waiting to brew because I've had some sanitation issues in quite a few of my batches. I've narrowed the problem down to having good source water so I've relegated myself to the fact that I have to do full boils (good for getting to all grain anyway).

So, the kit is meant for 5 gallons and has:

7 lbs of light LME
1 lb crystal 40l
8 oz black patent
4 oz chocolate malt

2 oz Glacier hops.

I reworked the recipe in Beersmith from 5 gallons to 3 gallons (as much boil as I can do) and instead of an OG of 1.56 it's coming out to 1.086. I'm going to pitch 3 packets of Safale-05 into the wort and give it a long fermentation cycle so it should still ferment dry enough without being too hot.

I don't think this is exactly an Imperial Porter but it looks close. Any ideas?

If this works out in the end I'll be doing all 3 gallon batches until I get a full boil setup.


*I'm going to buy a kegging system next, then burner and 8 gallon pot for full boils. I'm not as concerned about my sanitation during bottling because the bottles all come out of a starsan rinse but it's just one more vector. That and I'm tired of bottling constantly.*

i would only use 2 packs of s05, really, that's all you'll need. My guess is it will attenuate out in about 4-5 days at around 68 F.

What leads you to believe water is the issue? If you have another decent sized pot, you could boil the other few gallons separately, just for sanitation issues. Or just buy a few gallons of bottled water to add. But, imperial porters are very tasty, so you win either way.

Well, let's see. First batch went well and I just used bleach. Washed and then rinsed everything.

Second batch everything was sanitized with starsan and had a wonderful green apple wheat that was ruined. Since then about 1/2 my batches end up infected. I've tried bottled water, tap water- both have been good and both have had issues. I have to brew in my kitchen because there is no other option. Every time the apartment gets foggy because of all the steam and I don't have a direct outdoor range hood. I've done just about everything I can think of (replaced all hoses, new bucket, starsan soaked equipment, strict restrictions on airflow during brewing and up to pitch, I wash my hands up to my elbows with starsan, starsan all counter surfaces, wash the chiller in starsan then boil it)

I have no clue how I get infections but on every batch I've been able to tell from the bottling sample (cue the sugar and start the transfer- tasting the hydro sample) whether or not I need to toss it.

I take hydro readings during the fermentation and when I do I bleach/starsan my thief, flame the carboy opening - Hell I replaced all my bungs and airlocks-

2 packets of s-05 is overpitching in that beer, 1 is about right. Pitching rates scale linearly with gravity and volume so if you are increasing the gravity by decreasing the volume, the yeast requirements are unchanged.

What infection do you believe you are getting?

acetobacterial infection most likely- the most recent infection off flavor has been very vinegary

When you say 4 oz of chocolate malt, do you mean malted grains or the drink mix? Seriously, because a proper malt milkshake does have malted grains in it.

Jaeger48 said:

acetobacterial infection most likely- the most recent infection off flavor has been very vinegary

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That sounds like acetobacter, is your water source a municipal supply?

You could always use store bought water if you are sure the water is the source of the bacteria.

I wouldn't think acetobacter would do well in water or wort though, it seems more likely that the beer is finished when it is picking up the infection.

I assume you taste it at bottling time and it is already vinegary tasting?

there is a little vinegar at bottling that get's progressively worse after carbonation. I've used store bought water which normally doesn't have a problem (even though I have) and yes, it's municipal.

I boiled 1/2 of the water and put it in the carboy and let it cool while I did the partial boil. I combined and pitched so we'll see how it turns out.