American Porter Bee Cave Brewery Robust Porter

[TVarmy]

Thanks for the recipe. It's my second all grain (first was Haus Pale ale!), and it's fermenting very well. I came out with nearly 6 gallons (too much sparge water, most likely), but I came pretty close to the target so that's okay.

It's a very enthusiastic ferment. There wasn't much headspace in my 6 gallon better bottle, and something like three quarts of beer have filled up my blowoff (I originally was using quart mason jars with sanitizer but got tired of swapping them, so I upgraded to a 1 gal plastic bucket). It's a shame to see the beer go, and it makes me want to upgrade to a bigger carboy, but I can't get too stressed over it. No matter what happens, I will end up with beer. If anything, this means that I'm probably going to get great head retention!

 

[SwampassJ]

How do you think it would come out if I took the first runnings and boiled it down for half an hour before adding the rest of the runnings?

 

[MilwaukeeBrewGuy]

After 3 months this big ol porter is hitting its stride. I definitely had some hot fusels that faded out with this aging.(OG was 1070) I couldn't drink this for the longest time but now the keg is in trouble!

 

[SwampassJ]

Went and got the grains for this today and will have it mashed in around 6am tomorrow morning. That is if I can get out of bed, hitting the Hard Rock tonight and I might be out for a while.

Had to make a few minor changes due to availability and taste.

11lb 2 row
1lb Crystal 45L
1lb Chocolate (Unknown what L it was, probaly 350L)
4oz Black Patent.
1oz Roasted Barley
8oz Flaked Barley
8oz MaltoDextrin

1oz Northern Brewer 7%
1oz Fuggles 5.1%

US 05 since I dislike Nottinghams taste profile, everyone else likes it but it tastes too tart to me.
I still have about 10oz of Extra Light Extract, thinking of adding it just to increase the alcohol because "why not?".

 

[JOHN51277]

I have this sitting at 1.011 right now. Transfering to secondary before vacation. Gonna keg it up and let it hang out in a closet for about 3 months before serving.

 

[SwampassJ]

Kind of irked after today with my effeciency. Even with over sparging and having to boil it down longer I still came up in the 60% area, including the 8oz Malto addition and 12oz DME I just tossed in to get it used up.

 

[JOHN51277]

Just transfered to secondary since I will be on vacation for a week in NC. Im thinking keg time when I return.

 

[fatman]

My LHBS does not carry Nottingham, what else could you use on this? I want to brew this Saturday?

 

[SwampassJ]

After 6 weeks in primary (really did not have time between school and work) I finally got this transferred to a secondary for it to drop out some more yeast.

Ended up finishing at 1.020 and it tastes phenomenal. It tastes almost mocha like.

 

[SwampassJ]

Been bottled just shy of 3 weeks and it isn't carbonating like I've seen the other beers carbonate. Still semi carbonated but it has developed a strange taste too it. It's almost like someone put their cigarette out in it.

 

[MilwaukeeBrewGuy]

Sounds like possibly too much black patent??

 

[SwampassJ]

Sounds like possibly too much black patent??

The samples at transferring from secondary and from bottling bucket didn't taste like this. I'm wondering if it might be a combination of the patent and the yeast still in suspension trying to carbonate the bottles.

 

[kjones]

what temp. did you ferment this at? thanks

 

[kjones]

i got it and sixty degrees, beer is at 64 hopefully this is good

 

[johnodon]

My LHBS never has Notingham. I have a package of Wyeast London ESB Ale 1968 at home. Would this be a total abomination? If so, what would be the best substitute for Notty in this case?

TIA,

John

 

[johnodon]

Sorry...I have another question. I am still a newb and this through me off a bit.

The recipe calls for "11# of 2 Row"...

2 Row Pale Malt

or

2 Row Pale Ale Malt?

TIA!

John

 

[steinsato]

My LHBS never has Notingham. I have a package of Wyeast London ESB Ale 1968 at home. Would this be a total abomination? If so, what would be the best substitute for Notty in this case?

TIA,

John

I checked Wyeast's website and the 1968 strain does not list Porter as one of the preferred styles for that yeast (although I do not think it would be "an abomination". I recently made this beer and harvested Wyeast Irish Ale off of a Stout I had in the fermenter. Wyeast London Ale and British Ale would also work very well for a Robust Porter. If you want to stick with a dry yeast you might try Safale S-04 instead of Notty's.

 

[kjones]

wow, got home from work today and my airlock was blown off my carboy, and there was a HUGE mess in my fermenting freezer. i switched to a blow off but i hope it didn't get contaminated

 

[johnodon]

I checked Wyeast's website and the 1968 strain does not list Porter as one of the preferred styles for that yeast (although I do not think it would be "an abomination". I recently made this beer and harvested Wyeast Irish Ale off of a Stout I had in the fermenter. Wyeast London Ale and British Ale would also work very well for a Robust Porter. If you want to stick with a dry yeast you might try Safale S-04 instead of Notty's.

Thx stein. I actually lucked out and my LHBS now carries Notty dry.

Regarding my other question about Pale Malt 2 Row and Pale Ale Malt 2 Row...

Here is what my LHBS carries:

1927 PALE ALE MALT (2-Row): Slightly darker than #1928 2-Row Brewers Malt.

1928 2-ROW BREWERS MALT: Gives a smoother, less grainy flavor. Basic malt for all beer and ale styles.​

So, are these essentailly the same other than color? Can I just use 1927 for darker beers (like this porter) and the 1928 for lighter beers?

John

 

[midfielder5]

I'd use 1928 for both. The black patent and other dark grains will take of the color!

 

[SwampassJ]

2+ months in the bottle and this beer is awesome. I'm making some more in two weeks.

 

[steinsato]

I brewed 5 gallons of this 3 weeks ago. Let it sit in primary for 2 weeks Then racked 2 gallons on top of .2 oz of fresh spearmint and 3 gallons on 1, 7 inch vanilla bean split scraped and chopped. Each sat in secondary for a week. Tasted the mint porter last night and it is excellent. Much better than I'd thought it would be. The mint is not overwhelming at all. There is just a touch of it in the aftertaste. I may go for a full 5 gallons of this next time.

Edit: now that the mint porter has conditioned and carbonated a bit I tried another one. It's not as good as I had thought. Now it tastes a bit medicinal and really just isn't that enjoyable. If I ever make this again, I'll use the same amount of mint but will only let it sit in secondary on the mint for 4 days.

 

[knappster]

I searched the thread and saw a couple people did partial mash revisions of this, but never posted recipes. I haven't made it yet, but plan to brew in about a month, and I will just end up substituting some DME for some of the 2-row. I've always just done 5 gallon batches, but this would be a pain to measure for 5 gallon, so I guess I'll just add that extra 2 quarts of topoff water to make it 5.5.

I will be going with (changes marked in bold):

This will make 5.5 gallons of Porter. Preboil is 3.5 gallons.

3.5# 2 Row
4.33# Extra Light DME
1# Chocolate Malt
1# Crystal 40
4 oz. Black Patent
1 oz. Roasted Barley
8 oz. Flaked Barley

Mash at 150 degrees for 60 minutes

Add DME pre-boil

Add 8 oz. of Malto Dextrin to boil at 20 minutes

Hops.

1 oz. Northern Brewer at 60 min.
0.5 oz Cascade at 60 min.

Hydrate a package of Nottingham.

This ferments vigorously, so use a blow off or be prepared to wipe up some beer.

Ferment for 2 weeks, then rack to keg or secondary.

 

[johnodon]

I brewed this on 18SEP. I took a hydro reading last night after 15 days in the primary and got a reading of 1.020. I am going to take another reading in about 6 hours. If it is still 1.020, what should I do? Leave it in the primary? Rack to secondary?

.

Thanks,

John

 

[EdWort]

I brewed this on 18SEP. I took a hydro reading last night after 15 days in the primary and got a reading of 1.020. I am going to take another reading in about 6 hours. If it is still 1.020, what should I do? Leave it in the primary? Rack to secondary?

It's almost done. Leave it in the primary till Saturday and let the yeasties doe their cleanup work, then keg it, bottle it, or rack it to a secondary if you wish.

It should drop a point or two by then.

 

[johnodon]

Well, it never made it past 1.020 for whatever reason. I kegged it last Sunday and enjoying it now.

I suck at taking pics but you guys get the idea.

Ps. I am on my third pint and my lips are numb. :S

John

 

[Surface_Tension]

I brewed a batch of this and it turned out excellent. the only thing I would change is I wouldn't rack it on top of a bed of Nottingham. I lost a couple of inches of brew out throught he blowoff and at one point I was afraid the thing might explode! LOL

Thanks Edwort.

Dave

 

[MrInternet]

Just got 5 gallons of this into the fermenter @ 1.074 SG ... did a PM, so the slightly high OG is likely due to splitting the base malt 5# grain/4# XLDME. House smells great, I can't WAIT to try this... I bumped up the roasted barley to 2oz, to hopefully make it a bit of a "coffee porter" without using actual coffee, but other than that, followed the recipe.

Well, I forgot the Flaked Barley... not sure exactly how that will affect it. I had crushed the whole grain bill, and then threw that in a bag... of course, come brew day, I just used the crushed grain in the bag and forgot about the flaked barley that hadn't needed to be crushed. C'est la vie... RDWHAHB.

Well, am down to my last few bottles of this, 10 months later... it placed second in Porters at the Music City Brew-Off in Nashville a couple weeks ago, coming in second only to the Baltic that ended up winning runner-up BOS for the whole thing. I can live with that.

It's a great base recipe... ages BEAUTIFULLY... I am going to make a couple 10-gallon batches of this to just bottle and forget about... they are delicious at 8+ months!

 

[steinsato]

Swmbo and I like this beer so much that this is going to be a regular brew for me in the winter months. I've been adding vanilla beans to it and it is excellent. Think I'll do another 5 gallons next chance I get to brew. I have quite a bit of Wyeast Irish Ale in the fridge I need to use up anyway.

 

[knappster]

Congratulations in providing me with my first blowoff.

Fortunately, I was fermenting in a SOFC which contained it. It was a nice little surprise to go to the garage and see beer leaking out of the SOFC as I was leaving for work, though. Interestingly enough I was using a blowoff tube which got clogged enough to let her blow. I rinsed it out and put it back in place this morning so we'll see if she blows again today.

 

[oparea]

Just brewed up 10 gallons of this, brewed 5 gallons last year and loved it. I could only fit 24 pounds of grain in my mash tun so I supplemented 3 pounds of light DME.
Hit an OG of 1.070, can't wait for this.

 

[HopheadNJ]

The other day some friends and I shared a bomber of some Robust porter I brewed up November of last year. Delicious! I've gotta brew up another batch this year!

 

[oparea]

Congratulations in providing me with my first blowoff.

Fortunately, I was fermenting in a SOFC which contained it. It was a nice little surprise to go to the garage and see beer leaking out of the SOFC as I was leaving for work, though. Interestingly enough I was using a blowoff tube which got clogged enough to let her blow. I rinsed it out and put it back in place this morning so we'll see if she blows again today.

Whoah now just made this and split half the batch with notty and the other half with cal ale yeast. The nottingham had blown the lid off the fermentor, it was going crazy. So be prepared...

 

[512Brew]

Yep, mine blew the blowoff tube right off, the 2nd day in primary with Notti yeast. I used roasted pecans in this and I gotta say it came out oh so good! Big hit at the weekly backyard gatheringBQ! Gonna brew a 10gal batch of this today.

 

[siscokid]

Just brewed 5G a few days ago. Only difference was that I pitched onto a Safale-05 yeast cake (left over from the Haus Pale Ale recipe). Anyone think not using Notty is going to significantly alter the flavor? All in all, I can't wait to try this one regardless, after all, it's still beer.

 

[Eigenbrau]

I can honestly say now that I wish Ed was wrong when he said to use a blowoff. I came home to a nice layer of krausen all over my kitchen floor. The blowoff tube was hastily fashioned from some 7/16" OD vinyl hose I had lying around. I've never needed one before. Heads up to anyone who hasn't brewed this, that Nottingham means business.

 

[Surface_Tension]

I love your evaporative cooling method.

I've got a ten gallon batch of this stuff in the mash as I type.

 

[Eigenbrau]

I love your evaporative cooling method.

I've got a ten gallon batch of this stuff in the mash as I type.

Haha, it's actually a coincidence that it's by the AC intake, but it does keep the temp down a couple of degrees. I don't keep the shirt's wet 99% of the time; the house stays cool enough that I don't have any issues.

 

[elproducto]

I'm going to do a 3 gallon batch of this. Any comments from those that have used something other than Notty? I have US-05 and S-04 avail.

 

[512Brew]

S-04 works great with Porter.