Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Chocolate Oatmeal Porter

[brevity]

If you've soaked for any period of time, I would dump it all in. You've made pretty much homemade vanilla extract if you soaked the beans. Thats why you've got to be a bit careful adding TOO much vodka. I've used bourbon, as it's already got a bit of vanilla flavor to it from the oak it's been in.

You can try adding the beans, and then half your vodka extract and then taste the beer. If you don't sense any harsh vodka flavors, add more. All the flavor will for the most part, be in the vodka.

Be sure your beans are cut and split open when you add them.. Give it a week and taste it..

Thank you. Could you recommend a substitute for the Pale Chocolate Malt? I believe my LHBS only has regular Chocolate Malt.

 

[FATC1TY]

Hrmm... Does he only have ONE chocolate malt? If so, then sub the amounts for both for what you can get.

You really want the two, as I think it gives the beer a great milk chocolate flavor when you use pale and belgian. My LHBS has around 4 kinds of chocolate malt, and I went through most all of them. This was the best, but it by no means will severely alter the beer. Just add the 8 ounces of the palest roast chocolate malt you can get, or sub it and do the one kind he can get. I think you'll loose some sweetness of the roast however.

If you do that, then I'd suggest knocking the Black Patent down to 3-4 ounces. As it will knock down the burnt roasty notes a tad since you'll lose some of that sweet note from the pale chocolate. Should balance just fine!

 

[daggers_nz]

duuuuuuuuuude... I just cracked one after 3 weeks conditioning, 48 hours in the fridge.... all the flavours, subtle and not overpowering, coming together all at once to make love to my tastebuds

crappy pic:

 

[FATC1TY]

duuuuuuuuuude... I just cracked one after 3 weeks conditioning, 48 hours in the fridge.... all the flavours, subtle and not overpowering, coming together all at once to make love to my tastebuds

Good to hear it mellowed and all came together for you!

Pretty darn good ain't it? I'm gonna take it and do a chocolate pumpkin porter next for the holidays around the corner.

 

[nghtmre4u]

Good to hear it mellowed and all came together for you!

Pretty darn good ain't it? I'm gonna take it and do a chocolate pumpkin porter next for the holidays around the corner.

Now that sounds tasty I may have to try that this is still one of my favorites will be brewing again real soon

 

[FATC1TY]

Now that sounds tasty I may have to try that this is still one of my favorites will be brewing again real soon

Haha. Give it a go!

I plan to do a little nutmeg, cinnamon, all spice, and then use some hungarian oak soaked in some rum and age it for a little while. Get the vanilla, and clove from the wood and the subtle rum note to blend with the spices.

Should be tasty.

 

[brevity]

My 2.5 gallon batch is fermenting now. 4 days in but the kraussen only lasted 1 day, strange. Maybe it fermented really fast since I pitched almost an entire packet of S-04 dry yeast. No doubt it's still working though, just no kraussen at all now. I think I'll skip any secondary additions like the vanilla. Does it hold up on it's own without it? I love a simple chocolate porter as it is.

 

[FATC1TY]

My 2.5 gallon batch is fermenting now. 4 days in but the kraussen only lasted 1 day, strange. Maybe it fermented really fast since I pitched almost an entire packet of S-04 dry yeast. No doubt it's still working though, just no kraussen at all now. I think I'll skip any secondary additions like the vanilla. Does it hold up on it's own without it? I love a simple chocolate porter as it is.

It certainly does hold up without any additions.. It's just diverse enough to allow additions and hold up to them!

Keep the 04 cold so it doesn't throw any fruity esters. This should be a dry-ish tasting roasty porter.

 

[daggers_nz]

my colleague/fellow brewer of 7 years had a bottle of the base porter over the weekend, he was pretty impressed. I'm happy with that.

I'm having one now. Quite good at ~10deg

 

[mpc88]

This beer is a GREAT base Porter. Has a very, very balanced profile to it. Very drinkable, even among people who are afraid of dark beers!

Nice, I hope to make one soon as I get my equipment up and running and I can get a bit more experience in brewing, I don't want to mess up when I try a porter because I love those and having 5+gals would be awesome,

 

[jackers252]

Ok, this is the porter recipe I have been looking for!

Has anyone tried this on nitro?

I'm going to do a 10 gallon batch and ferment with two 5 gallon buckets. I think I'll leave one as a base (for comparison) and I'd like to add coconut to the second one. Any recommendations on how to add the coconut to the fermenter without adding it to the boil? I was planning on toasting the coconut but how would I sanitize it?

 

[FATC1TY]

Ok, this is the porter recipe I have been looking for!

Has anyone tried this on nitro?

I'm going to do a 10 gallon batch and ferment with two 5 gallon buckets. I think I'll leave one as a base (for comparison) and I'd like to add coconut to the second one. Any recommendations on how to add the coconut to the fermenter without adding it to the boil? I was planning on toasting the coconut but how would I sanitize it?

I have thought about coconut myself.. I can't figure out if I want to do vanilla and coconut next or, do roasted pumpkin with all spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla and age it on some oak soaked in rum.

I'd add the coconut to primary fermentation myself..

 

[jackers252]

Do you sanitize the coconut first? I was thinking of lightly roasting it, then soaking it lightly in a little rum overnight. Then I was planning on adding that to a weighted bag and drop it in the fermentor after pitching the yeast.

Is that how most people do it now?

 

[Curtis2010]

I have thought about coconut myself.. I can't figure out if I want to do vanilla and coconut next or, do roasted pumpkin with all spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla and age it on some oak soaked in rum.

I'd add the coconut to primary fermentation myself..

Here in the W Caribbean we have a type of palm that drops what we call a "kahun" nut, its oily with a strong coconut flavor. I use it to smoke fish sometimes. I've thought of making a "Kahun Porter" by smoking some of the grains using Kahun nuts.

 

[brevity]

Mine has about another week in the primary. Coconut and vanilla both sound good. How about coffee though?
I love Founders Breakfast Stout which is classified as a double chocolate coffee stout.

 

[FATC1TY]

Mine has about another week in the primary. Coconut and vanilla both sound good. How about coffee though?
I love Founders Breakfast Stout which is classified as a double chocolate coffee stout.

Coffee would work. A little ground coffee at flame out, and then use whole beans in the secondary.

 

[daggers_nz]

I've been reading about coffee in beer for years.. still can't come to a decision! was told to grind coarsely and cold-brew overnight. Why whole beans? less surface area for extraction of flavour I would have thought

 

[brevity]

I've been reading about coffee in beer for years.. still can't come to a decision! was told to grind coarsely and cold-brew overnight. Why whole beans? less surface area for extraction of flavour I would have thought

If I do coffee I plan on cold brewing for 24 hours and then adding it when I transfer from primary to keg. Not sure how much i'll add or what ratio to cold brew with.

 

[FATC1TY]

I've done cold brew, and don't like it. It's insipid coffee to me at that point. Flavorless and stale.

I've course ground the coffee and added a couple ounces at flame out, as to avoid boiling it. You want to steep it like your using the wort and making coffee with it.

The beans I put in whole, or slightly cracked, but not grinded. There's plenty of surface area, and it gives the best roasted fresh coffee taste and aroma to a beer. I soak the beans in a bourbon for a day or two before I toss it all in secondary. Usually needs a couple days and the coffee aroma and flavor is pretty pronounced.

 

[daggers_nz]

cool cheers

 

[brevity]

I dont want to derail this but could anyone give me some recipe guidance on converting this to an imperial? Do I increase the specialty grains the same percentage as the base malt? And do I go for the same target ibu's or increase it?

 

[CptnRedbeard]

... How about coffee though?
I love Founders Breakfast Stout which is classified as a double chocolate coffee stout.

Mine finished bottle conditioning about a week ago and was surprised to find some significant roasted coffee notes without any coffee in the recipe. Might have just been a quirk of my process. Anyone else get that?

Side note, also delicious.

 

[FATC1TY]

Mine finished bottle conditioning about a week ago and was surprised to find some significant roasted coffee notes without any coffee in the recipe. Might have just been a quirk of my process. Anyone else get that?

Side note, also delicious.

No, there's some coffee notes to this recipe. The BP and the chocolate will lend a roasty coffee note to the beer. You aren't crazy!

 

[daggers_nz]

I keep thinking it would be a bomb with coffee added

 

[bolus14]

I think this is next up for me, I've been debating between this, one of Yoopers Porters and BierMuncher's Black Pearl Porter. I think this will serve as a good starting point and from the sounds if it will lend itself to some tinkering.

I'm thinking of using Northern Brewer or Perle hops. I haven't used them in any other brew but given that many say they have a mint quality to them it can't hurt. Then if batch 1 plays out well I think I'd brew it again using Hershey's Mint Chocolate powder if the mint doesn't come through from the hops.

Given the time of year has anybody brewed this as a Pumpkin Porter? My problem with the commercial pumpkin beers is there's too much spice, either cinnamon or nutmeg. I want to taste Pumpkin and many times the spices over power it.

 

[bolus14]

I brewed this yesterday and can jsut say it wasn't my best brew day.
I do BIAB and ended up almost overfilling my kettle, mash temp started at 158, so I did an "open mash," no cover on top and no blanket to "insulate the kettle." After my hour mash, my temp was down to 150 so we'll see how that works out. I may end up with more unfermentables, a higher FG, and thus a sweeter beer.

I ended up having to use WLP002 London Ale since it was all LHBS had that fit what I think this should end up being. I also didn't add the cocoa powder, I want to see how this ends up without it. I'm still debating on whether I want to use the vanilla beans.

Any thoughts on whether it'll be worthwhile to add the vanilla beans or not? Part of me wants to see what this taste like without any additions, another part like vanilla and wants to throw it in. I could split it after primary fermentation, bottle all but say a gallon or so and add a vanilla bean to that.

 

[FATC1TY]

Split the batch. It's perfectly fine without the vanilla in it. Even fine without the cocoa in it. Plenty of roasty chocolate notes in there.

It'll be good. Might have a higher fg is all due to mash temp.

 

[daggers_nz]

the vanilla is great, but I would split the batch because the base porter is a great session beer while the vanilla version is more of a once-off treat

 

[mgohring]

Definitely going to give this porter a shot! Thinking about adding cherries though for a bourbon vanilla cherry porter. Thanks for the recipe!

 

[bolus14]

Sounds like I'll split the batch, about 1.5 gal that I'll add vanilla to and keep the rest as the base recipe.

How have you guys added the vanilla beans? Have ou soaked in vodka/bourbon before adding or just buy and add to secondary? How long have you left them in the secondary. What are thoughts on adding Madagascar Vanilla Extract at bottling rather then doing a secondary with vanilla beans?

 

[FATC1TY]

Sounds like I'll split the batch, about 1.5 gal that I'll add vanilla to and keep the rest as the base recipe.

How have you guys added the vanilla beans? Have ou soaked in vodka/bourbon before adding or just buy and add to secondary? How long have you left them in the secondary. What are thoughts on adding Madagascar Vanilla Extract at bottling rather then doing a secondary with vanilla beans?

I normally take my fresh beans, and fresh is important. You want a nice soft and pliable bean. Not some rock hard one.

Take the beans, and I spray my cutting board, knife and the outer beans with starsan.

I split it in half, scrape the inside a bit, and then I cut it in 1 inch section across the bean, so I have several small pieces. I thin sanitize a glass dish, add the beans and some bourbon. The bourbon is nice as it's got a vanilla flavor from the oak and whatnot.. The beans soak it up and the caviar from the beans gives up it's good flavor to the bourbon medium. Eventually you'll have pretty much your own home made extract. Takes around 2-3 weeks at this point. Pretty much I'll brew, and then I'll do the beans.. By the time it's done fermenting , cleared up, I'll give it some time for a diacetyl rest if I'm using 1968, and then add the whole dish, bourbon and beans to the beer.

Leave as long as you'd like. I like 2 weeks myself. Taste until your happy.

As a side note, you might notice an oily sheen on your beer, perhaps even trapping bubbles much like a pellicle would during an infection. I've had it happen 4 out of the 5 times I've used vanilla. Wasn't ever infected, just the oils from the vanilla beans on top.

 

[daggers_nz]

^^

 

[braineater2448]

So, I plan on taking this recipe and making a Pumpkin Pie Porter out of it. I'd love some constructive advice because I'm fairly new to brewing (only brewed about 4 batches).

I was thinking of using about 2 cans of Libby's pure pumpkin in cans (15oz each). Spread the cans out on a baking sheet and bake at 350F for an hour. I want to add that to the boil (not the mash. I don't want it to clog). Then I will either use 1tsp of pumkpin pie spice or make my own blend as follows:

1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 minute
1/4 tsp ginger(I may not use this) 1 minute
1/8 tsp nutmeg 1 minute
1/8 tsp allspice 1 minute
Use 2/3 of that mix in the boil at 1 minute. The remaining 1/3 should be mixed in at bottling time.

I want to be careful not to use too much spice because I know that can ruin a beer, but at the same time, most recipes I looked at were not porters, so I may be able to be a little more generous with the spices because its going in a bigger beer.

Lastly, add two vanilla beans that have been soaked in bourbon for a week or two at secondary.

Any advice? Thanks in advance.

 

[FATC1TY]

Sounds pretty sound, but perhaps look at maybe a blend of pumpkin pie spices.

30 ounces of pumpkin isn't a whole lot, and you might be happier with it in the mash. Just use some rice hulls in there, and perhaps knock back the oats in the recipe to aid in that.

I'm tossing the idea around of doing this similar thing this weekend. I have my recipe milled and ready to go, but thinking about adding pumpkin to the boil, and some spice to the boil at flame out.

 

[braineater2448]

What if I want to make this into a 5gal recipe? Can I just throw all the ingredients into BeerSmith? Should I go light on any?

Also, I'll update you with my Pumpkin Pie Porter. I've upped the pumpkin to 60oz.

 

[FATC1TY]

The recipe is scaled for 5.5 gallons, but will yield the perfect amount to fill a corny keg. There will be some fermenter loss with the beer, so that was into play.

But yeah, put it in beersmith and dial it into your system. I'd leave it all as is for a 5 gallon batch myself, as I brew 5 gallons batches.

Do comment on how the pumpkin worked in the boil.. I'm gonna mash it I think.

 

[Flipadelphia]

Would this be considered a Robust Porter according to BJCP guidelines?

 

[FATC1TY]

Yes, it would be a Robust Porter.

 

[beamar]

Add everything to Beersmith, and the OG comes up short.

Give a quick look over to your recipe and notice you post that the grain total is 13.lb, 5 oz. Well the recipe you listed only totals to 12lb, 81 oz?


any chance of you uploading your BS profile to the org post?


Thanks,
Brian

 

[FATC1TY]

Add everything to Beersmith, and the OG comes up short.

Give a quick look over to your recipe and notice you post that the grain total is 13.lb, 5 oz. Well the recipe you listed only totals to 12lb, 81 oz?


any chance of you uploading your BS profile to the org post?


Thanks,
Brian

I can when I get home.. Perhaps you have lower efficiency set up in your BS profile, and will need more grain.