First porter all grain Q's

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bwookie

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I am looking to do my second all grain this week...the first went off without a hitch (10 gallon) and tastes incredible! (was a basic pale ale).

I created this recipe from scratch from what ive learned over the last year+ of research....

all grain 10 gallon
mash @ 154 @1 hour
batch sparge
60 minute boil
OG 1.057 FG 1.014
33.4 SRM 38 IBU (i do enjoy hoppy beers, the wife likes malty so im trying to accomodate :)).

Grains:
15 lb 2 row
1 lb crystal 90L
1 lb smoked malt
1 lb chocolate malt
1 lb flaked barley (for head retention)
1 lb roasted barley

Hops:
1 oz columbus @ 60 min.
1 oz chinook @ 15 min.
.5 oz willamette @ 5 min.

as for the yeast I am still undecided on the basic 05, or something else....im open to ideas!

I have done a little research and decided on just mashing all the specialties together with the 2 row. Seems like people have success with that.

I do ferment in 2 separate buckets (split batch) as I do enjoy tinkering and I take both fermenters for about 2 weeks, then rack to secondary (each), then dry hop or do something else in the secondary to get 2 versions.

Any advice on the recipe would be much appreciated, things to add or remove, or if I have too much of an ingredient...I like to keep things simple, thats why they are all at 1lb/1oz or even increments.

As for my setup, I am running a keggle/cooler, my first batch I calculated about 85% efficiency which I was very happy with.
 
It's unusual for me to see roasted barley in a porter, so I had to look up "robust porter"! And I still don't see roasted barley, even in typical recipes for robust porter.

You've got a stout there, a smoked stout. I like a lower L crystal in a stout or porter, to bring out some sweetness. I'd go with 40L. Chinook for a flavor hop is unusual. It can be harsh, so I probably would reconsider that and use more willamette there, and an ounce is a lot. Goldings would be a good choice there, too, if you want to use flavor and aroma hops. Most stouts would not have either the 15 minute or the 5 minute hop additions.
 
ok ill see what i can do about that, yeah my app that i use to throw ingredients together classified it as a robust porter, but stout works too i guess...il look into the hop thing and see what i can come up with, i do enjoy experimenting and since i haven't done too many all grain batches I haven't gotten the flavor palet yet for what works.

Thanks!
 
There's a whole lot going on there- American hops, smoke, roasted malt. Sometimes the "less is more" works well, and I don't think I'd try such a complicated flavor blend. Columbus hops can be harsh, as can chinook, and roasted barley is intensely roasted. The smoke probably won't be discernible over all that, but it might be.

I guess I would think more about your goals. Do you want a highly hopped smoked beer? Or an American stout? Or do you really want a porter? It really depends on your goals and what you're visualizing. Mixing all of that together probably won't meet any of those goals.
 
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