Smoked Porter Attempt #2 (Gluten-Free)

So, I'm planning on brewing this on Tuesday or Wednesday, possibly for entry into the AHA competition. It reflects some lessons I learned from the first time I attempted a smoked porter (which was an abysmal failure):

3 gallon batch (Edited 2/6/13)

Malt Bill:
2 lbs liquid sorghum extract (@flame-out)
1 lb rice solids (@start)
1 lb roasted sweet potato (steeping)
12 oz burnt honey (@start)
4 oz dark brown sugar (@start)
8 oz D-180 candi syrup (@start)
8 oz maltodextrin (@start)
2 oz carob powder (@15 min)

Hop Schedule:
0.5 oz Willamette (5.5% AA) (@start)
1.5 oz Willamette (@10 min)

Other Additions:
0.5 oz Numi Chocolate Pu-erh Tea, steeped at flame-out
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient (@15 min)

Safale S-33 Specialty Ale Yeast (Edme)

---

What I'm hoping is that the burnt honey, maltodextrin, and sweet potato help give the beer some body; most of my dark beers, even those with oats or other steeping grains, seem to lack the appropriately-thick body. My all-grain batches also so far haven't seem to have any more body. However, the three or four beers I've brewed with sweet potato have seemed to have pretty good body, so I'm going to try that. I'm also reducing the candi syrup, because I worry that having so much of such a high fermentable is thinning the body as well. What do you guys think?

What does flame out mean?

Do you add all the malt bill ingredients at once mixed together in a nylon sock?

I'm really interested in figuring out the lingo, process, all that nonsense.

Sounds like a delicious beer I hope it tastes great!

Don't see anything that would yield smokyness

mtbskier said:

Don't see anything that would yield smokyness

Click to expand...

Clearly you've never had lapsang souchong tea. It's pine-smoked black tea.

Have not had it.....thanks for clearing that up

Ha ha, yeah, it's kind of rare in most parts of the U.S.A., but it's tasty stuff. It smells like a campfire. Last time I threw in 2 oz of it and it was WAAAAY too much, it contributed a lot of tannins and an unpleasant acrid flavor, which was not properly balanced by the malt bill (which was too thin and had too much sugar). I dumped that batch. But we'll see how this one goes...I'm cautiously optimistic, but I'm really curious how the carob works in it. I could not find ANY information on adding carob powder. I may go with dutch cocoa powder instead, but I like that carob has more sugar and less fat than cacao.

I have used tea in a couple batches of beer and I would recommend a long steep, 12-24 hrs, in room temperature water as opposed to subjecting the tea to heat. Less chance of tannins that way. Your recipe sounds intriguing though.

Thanks for the tip! I'll steep it in the brewing water overnight instead.

The recipe looks good. Have you considered Cocoa Nibs instead of Cocoa powder. I just bought a large bag that I plan on using for creme brulee but may use some for brewing as well. They smell phenomenal!!

Also, when smoking food, softwoods like pine are usually avoided. They provide more of an astringent flavour. What you may want to consider doing is instead of roasting the sweet potatoes in the oven, is chop them into 1/2"x1/2"x2" slivers and then place them on a grill over indirect heat. Place a pack or two of apple juice soaked oak or hickory chips over the heat and smoke the sweet potatoes until they are soft. You coud start with this and if there isn't enough smokiness, add the tea with bottling.

Excellent tips, BrewCanuck. Unfortunately I don't have access to a grill, but if I did, I would absolutely take that route instead (I don't have access to a yard, let alone a grill--apartment living is LAME). I didn't know that about softwoods causing astrigency when used to smoke foods, that's really interesting! I'm hoping that because I'm using such a small amount of tea (about 1/4 of what I used last time) that the astringency will hardly be noticeable. I'm really going for erring on the side of subtlety with the flavoring this time; I want a nice chocolatey porter with just a hint of smoky complexity. If it still turns out to be too much, then I will hunt down a friend with a grill next time and try smoking the sweet potatoes.

Also, I've decided to go with carob. I tasted some of the powder and think it will be stellar in a dark beer. Plus, it's got some sugars in it, which could be a nice treat for the yeasties.

Just as another option you could consider liquid smoke.

I think I've decided to just eschew the smoke thing. Instead I'm gonna play up the chocolate, and steep some chocolate-pu-erh teabags at the end (pu-erh is a Chinese black tea that's been fermented to remove its bitter tannins...you could literally boil this stuff all day and not get any astringency out of it, and it has a nice earthy flavor that goes well with chocolate).

Interesting...got the wort boiling right now, and with the addition of the burnt honey (I used black sage honey with the tiniest bit of chestnut honey thrown in), I'm thinking it's gonna have a bit of a smokiness anyway, at least judging by the smell! This is a very interesting aroma, I've got to say...very curious how this going to turn out. I think the carob will go very nicely in this. Also, burnt honey must be something like 500 SRM, because 12 oz of it turned 4 gallons of water pitch-black!

Did u actually burn the honey or is black sage honey dark burnt honey you can buy at a store or order online. Hard to believe it could be much darker than buckwheat honey or molasses

No, I actually burnt the honey, as when making a bochet mead. Poured it into my heavy-bottom brew kettle, cranked up the heat, and cooked it until it turned black. I'm glad I didn't set off the smoke alarm, because it smoked a LOT. It was originally honey from the "black button sage" plant, and before I burnt the heck out of it, it was fairly light and with a pleasant marshmallowy flavor. After burning, it had a smoky, woody, roasted marshmallow flavor with a hint of soy sauce. It's a very complex aroma. This may turn out more of a stout than a porter, but time will tell. It's chilling now, getting ready to pitch. I may add vanilla extract in secondary or at bottling if it's too roasty/bitter, but I'm thinking it will mellow nicely with a bit of age. I just hope it doesn't take toooo long to mellow.

Just a note on the vanilla extract. I added a tbsp to 5 gallons of the dual spires. It was extremely strong for a couple months but now I love it. There is also something that is causing my head to be somewhat disconnected from the beer. I can't describe it exactly but it is almost like the liquid slides under the head without it moving. I had wondered if this was from the oils in the extract or if it was normal. Very intrigued by your recipe though. I also brewed something very close to your original grapefruit ipa using brs and steeped grains. If you have any on hand that might make a good trial exchange to do a side by side comparison. Just a thought.

Have you done a taste test yet? How has this one turned out?