Oh Crap. What am I going to wind up with?

prrriiide · Nov 6, 2009

I just did a Brewer's Best Robust Porter. Ingredients:

6.6 lbs Munton's Amber LME
8 oz. De-bittered Black
4 oz. Crystal 120L
4 oz. Chocoate
.5 oz Northern Brewer Bittering Hops 8.5%AA
1 oz. Willamette flavoring hops
.5 oz. WIllamette aroma hops
11g Nottingham

The problem is...

I didn't see the de-bittered black in the bottom of the box until after I had my fermenter buttoned up in the basement. So it's still in the bottom of the box even though my yeast is pitched and my wort-filled fermenter is ready to rock. So subtract that from the bill, and what the he!! am I going to end up with??

Some kind high-hopped amber?

I'm really pi$$ed at this point. I know it'll turn out as something drinkable, but I was really looking forward to a porter.

Six_O_Turbo · Nov 6, 2009

It will still be similar to the original recipe I'd bet. De-bittered black tends to be more of a coloring and aroma agent rather than adding a lot of flavor. No worries.

JuanKenobi · Nov 6, 2009

The black malt is pretty much just for color adjustment. You'll still get a good beer, it just wont be as dark as you might want. I bet it turns out great. Call it a Robust Brown Ale.

PintOfBitter · Nov 6, 2009

steep the black in a small amount of H2O (155 degrees), boil it, cool it, dump it into the fermenter. It's just starting, right?

Fixed.

prrriiide · Nov 7, 2009

PintOfBitter said:
steep the black in a small amount of H2O (155 degrees), boil it, cool it, dump it into the fermenter. It's just starting, right?

Fixed.

Like...1/2 gallon? A quart? I love the idea...

prrriiide · Nov 7, 2009

I just had an inspiration...

Could I run the de-bittered black through my coffee maker a couple of times and add it in?

mavandeh · Nov 7, 2009

120 Lovibond on the crystal malt is still pretty intense. I wouldn't worry about it.

RDWHAHB -- most important acronym I've learned on this board.

BillTheSlink · Nov 7, 2009

I agree, If you have your ducks in a row in the other areas you should be fine. Two months ago a friend and I did a "Friend of the Irishmen" Porter at his house (Well he did it I had back problems bad that day..like normal) and I tasted the black grains themselves. Bases grains taste stronger of breakfast malt than they did of being burnt or anything. They smelled like heaven though. You should have a great beer.

BillTheSlink · Nov 7, 2009

prrriiide said:
I just had an inspiration...

Could I run the de-bittered black through my coffee maker a couple of times and add it in?

NOOOOOO Please don't. You'll ruin that. A coffie maker puts boiling water on the grounds (that's around 220 if I remember right). Once you hit 170 you pull mouth puckering tannins out of your grains. Now even though it's a small amount your talking about boiling them several times. It's gonna really hurt a good beer.

prrriiide · Nov 7, 2009

So here's what I did...

I ran roughly a gallon of water over the de-bittered black malt through my coffee maker (a quart each time, 4 times, changing the "grounds" each time). I cooled it down to 70° (or thereabouts - don't want to kill the yeast...) and dumped it into the bucket. I'll go this week and get a larger carboy to handle the volume as a secondary. We'll see how it turns out, but I'm not afeared. It's beer, and I was a sanitizing SOB. The Egyptians were doing it 3000 years ago with wild yeast and grimy pots. I don't see how I can fcuk it up too much.

I don't know how bad the tannins can be...it smelled just like the wort when I boiled. Besides...I have a pansy coffee maker. The only one in my family that even drinks the nasty schidt is my mother in law, so I bet it don't get too hot.

Maybe it's just the beer I've had tonight, but I'm confident as hell it'll turn out great.

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible · Nov 7, 2009

prrriiide said:
So here's what I did...

I ran roughly a gallon of water over the de-bittered black malt through my coffee maker (a quart each time, 4 times, changing the "grounds" each time). I cooled it down to 70° (or thereabouts - don't want to kill the yeast...) and dumped it into the bucket. I'll go this week and get a larger carboy to handle the volume as a secondary. We'll see how it turns out, but I'm not afeared. It's beer, and I was a sanitizing SOB. The Egyptians were doing it 3000 years ago with wild yeast and grimy pots. I don't see how I can fcuk it up too much.

I don't know how bad the tannins can be...it smelled just like the wort when I boiled. Besides...I have a pansy coffee maker. The only one in my family that even drinks the nasty schidt is my mother in law, so I bet it don't get too hot.

Maybe it's just the beer I've had tonight, but I'm confident as hell it'll turn out great.

So, I guess no one needs to tell you to RDWHAHB!

Oh Crap. What am I going to wind up with?

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