Robust Porter Recipe - Green light it! Need by today!!

[AndDrink916]

Let me know what you all think. I took stuff from online and adjusted it to my equipment and made some minor tweaks.



5.5 Gallon
All Grain
72% Estimated BHE
60 Min Boil
6.5%ABV
36.5 SRM
50 IBU
Irish Yeast

FWH – only
2 oz EK Golding
2 oz Willamette

43.7% - 2 Row
20.9% - Brown Malt
11.4% - Munich 10L
7.6% - Crystal 10L
5.7% - Chocolate Malt
5.7% - Flaked Wheat
1.9% - Unmilled carafe III
1.5% - Brown Sugar (15 min)
1.5% - Dextrose (15 min)
Pure Vanilla Extract – 1 oz at Flame out
Organic Cocoa – 6 oz 15 boil
Vanilla bean – 2 – Secondary

 

[m00ps]

I( think it looks good, albeit a bit needlessly complicated

but why are you adding sugars to it? youll loose some body. Are you mashing high?

 

[AndDrink916]

planning a 156F Mash. Maybe stick with a 150F Mash and ditch the sugars?

 

[mkyl428]

I think there is a lot going on there, What's the unmilled grain for? Also why 2 kinds of sugar?

 

[m00ps]

i would ditch the sugars and mash around 154. Replace it with some base malt or maybe some oats or wheat?

 

[AndDrink916]

Kind of threw it together on the fly between work meetings. Gunna ditch the sugars for sure. Good thought.

I threw in carafa Iii unmilled for just color. I don't want any roast flavor.

 

[m00ps]

I add my debittered black malts just at mashout to minimize roast flavors

 

[mkyl428]

Try midnight wheat for color or dehusked carafa III i think it is labeled carafa III special, or debittered black malt. Again IDK if you have used brown malt before, but that seems like a lot I usually only use 10-15% and you can definitely tell it's there, I would reduce it and maybe use a darker crystal malt instead of the crystal 10

 

[dpatrickv]

Kind of threw it together on the fly between work meetings. Gunna ditch the sugars for sure. Good thought.

I threw in carafa Iii unmilled for just color. I don't want any roast flavor.

Carafa III doesnt provide roastiness....

 

[AndDrink916]

thanks for the info. I am going to make some adjustments. Exactly what I wanted to hear to tweak it.

now should I go 002 or 004 white labs?

 

[chickypad]

Carafa III doesnt provide roastiness....

carafa III

Carafa III is roasty, the special is dehusked and will be much less so. At just 1.9% in that recipe though it will probably be a pretty small contribution either way. I think it looks pretty good without the sugar, though I probably would have gone with a darker crystal. I've only used the 004 once and really can't remember anything about it. I really like WY1028 in my brown porters, which I think is supposed to be similar to WL013.

Edit: also, you'd still want to crush the grain. Control the roast by controlling the amount and choosing something debittered.

 

[chickypad]

Another thought to control roast. You may consider pale chocolate instead of regular. I have a brown porter recipe that has 16% brown malt, 7% pale chocolate, and 2% midnight wheat that is really yummy but pretty light on the roast and more chocolate/coffee.

 

[signpost]

You're recipe looks good to me, except for a couple questions. The unmilled carafa III seems unusual.

But the main thing that struck me as odd was adding the vanilla extract at flameout. What's the purpose for that timing? Are you trying to purposely drive off some alcohol or aromatics from the extract by adding it to hot wort? If not, I don't know why you wouldn't wait until the wort is at least chilled.

 

[AndDrink916]

to answer some of that. For example I just finished a Red IPA and the HBS told me to use the unmilled Carafa to avoid the roast but you'll get all or most of the color.

I make some adjustments to the recipe. Let me know what you all think. I am looking for more chocolate, coffee, vanilla notes in this one.

2 row - 49%
Brown Malt or Pale if the HBS has it - 14.5%
Munich - 10.9%
Crystal 10 - 7.3%
Chocolate Malt - 5.4%
Flaked Oats - 5.4%
Flaked Wheat - 5.4%
Carafa III Dehusked - 2%

Same hops

Organic Cocoa or Nibs - Secondary
Vanilla beans - Secondary

6.5 ABV
35 SRM
50 IBU


thanks again for all the help gents!

 

[cshamilton]

I am surprised you don't have any black patent in there. I use about 4% in my porters - yes it will give some roast, but I think you need some to call it a robust porter. If you want to cut the roast flavor a bit, mill the black patent separately and then add it to your mash about 5 minutes before you drain/sparge. I think the chocolate flavor from black patent is great. Also you could drop the carafa then. You could do more of a brown porter and skip the black malt though.

You could swap chocolate malt for pale chocolate malt to have a bit less roast too, or do a bit of each.

I'd go with a darker crystal 40/60/75 but whatever you like

The extras are up to you though I'd recommend save a gallon that you don't treat for comparison.

Hops - I add a small amount, 0.5 oz, with 5-10 min left in the boil. EKG gives a nice earthiness that I feel helps meld the flavors together.

Cheers

 

[dpatrickv]

carafa III

Carafa III is roasty, the special is dehusked and will be much less so. At just 1.9% in that recipe though it will probably be a pretty small contribution either way. I think it looks pretty good without the sugar, though I probably would have gone with a darker crystal. I've only used the 004 once and really can't remember anything about it. I really like WY1028 in my brown porters, which I think is supposed to be similar to WL013.

Edit: also, you'd still want to crush the grain. Control the roast by controlling the amount and choosing something debittered.

Ah yes, I always forget about normal carafa III. I always get the dehusked version in which I get very little if any roast but there is plenty of chocolate to be found.

 

[Yooper]

"Unmilled carafa III" is not the same as dehusked Carafa III special, though.

If you want the dark color without roastiness, Carafa III Special is what you want. It is sometimes called "Weyermann Dehusked Carafa III" or even "Weyermann Special Dehusked Carafa Type 3".

Just not milling carafa III will give you huskiness as well as a burnt roast flavor. So make sure it's the correct grain.

I also agree that the grainbill is needlessly complicated, and glad to see the sugar come out. I personally hate the taste of brown sugar once it's fermented and I really like robust porters.

I'd simplify, alot. I like English pale malt (maris otter) for the base, with maybe a pound of Munich malt for maltiness. I use brown malt in my brown porter, but not my robust porter. Then, about a pound of crystal 40L, a tiny bit of chocolate malt (5-6%), and a tiny bit of black malt or black patent (maybe 4%).

The thing is, a robust porter is pretty roasty. So if you don't want much roastiness, maybe a brown porter is what you are looking for? A brown porter uses brown malt for the deep flavor and has no roasted malt except for some chocolate malt.

 

[chickypad]

Ah whoops, I was thinking thinking brown porter with my advice (my bad, it's right there in the title!). But maybe that's what you want from your description as Yooper says.

 

[m00ps]

IME dont both midnight wheat and blackprinz have darker color and less roast than carafa III? I thought people are only using it cause its been around longer....

 

[chickypad]

Never used blackprinz. I have used midnight wheat and carafe III special before in the same schwazrbier recipe oz for oz and I don' think I can tell a difference, neither had unwanted roast. I've been pretty much using midnight wheat recently though as I only want to stock one.

 

[z-bob]

I'd simplify, alot. I like English pale malt (maris otter) for the base, with maybe a pound of Munich malt for maltiness. I use brown malt in my brown porter, but not my robust porter. Then, about a pound of crystal 40L, a tiny bit of chocolate malt (5-6%), and a tiny bit of black malt or black patent (maybe 4%).

The thing is, a robust porter is pretty roasty. So if you don't want much roastiness, maybe a brown porter is what you are looking for? A brown porter uses brown malt for the deep flavor and has no roasted malt except for some chocolate malt.

My next beer will be a strong porter; don't really know what category. It'll be as strong as a Baltic porter, but it has pale ale malt for the base, and a lot of brown malt and a tiny bit of black patent or black barley (mostly for color). No chocolate malt. Fermented with ale yeast. I've never used brown malt before. Am I doing it wrong?

 

[Yooper]

My next beer will be a strong porter; don't really know what category. It'll be as strong as a Baltic porter, but it has pale ale malt for the base, and a lot of brown malt and a tiny bit of black patent or black barley (mostly for color). No chocolate malt. Fermented with ale yeast. I've never used brown malt before. Am I doing it wrong?

You're not doing it wrong! If you like it, and it's not in a competition where guidelines are stringent, then it's perfect.

What I meant was, a non-roasty porter that the OP says he wants is a brown porter, not a robust porter. A robust porter is roasty. It doesn't matter what it's called, of course, but trying to help with recipe advice is harder if we're not talking about the same thing. That's all I meant.

 

[z-bob]

I don't know what I like. I'm trying something new. (so I really might be doing it wrong) And I appreciate the help.

I want to brew something where I can use the local water, which is so high in carbonates (but not particularly high in calcium) it's only good for very dark beers. (local brewpub is having a terrible time trying to brew IPA's with it)

I think I should call this a brown porter rather than a Baltic porter ("Winter Warmer" is probably the real name for it; it'll be about 7% ABV) ETA: I'll make up a descriptive name for it, "Imperial Brown Porter"