Brew Day - Lap-Sang Sou-Chong Smoked Porter

Brew Day #4 in The Jing
Lap-Sang Sou-Chong Smoked Brown Porter

10 Gal batch

Grill Bill in kg
pale 15.43 81%
chocolate 1.76 9%
Black patent 0.132 1%
crystal 40 1.76 9%
Smoked 0.06 0%

Mash @ 71c for 60min

Boil 90min

Hops:
willamette 3 90 4.0% 23.48
willamette 2 15 4.0% 7.26

Total IBUs 30.74

Yeast - 04

Primary - 10 days

Prepare a Lap-Sang Sou-Chong tea and add to secondary
Secondary 4 days


We have our wort chiller now, just tested it out and it is leak-free and ready to chill.

Fry Sparging should start at 11:05am local time

OG target = 1.048

90 min boil started at 12:54
Pre-boil reading = 1.043
We added a bit more water to the boil pot (12gal) to compensate for the 90 min boil, so I am curious to see if we hit 1.049 post boil.

Wort is a little bitter at the end of the taste, more so than with any other beer we have brewed. What is this caused from? Higher mash temps?

not sure what else you have brewed, but black patent and chocolate malt both have a natural bitterness to them.

beerspitnight said:

Wort is a little bitter at the end of the taste, more so than with any other beer we have brewed. What is this caused from? Higher mash temps?

Click to expand...

This is from a preferemnted sample, yes? That's always going to taste bitter with a dark beer. Try brewing an RIS sometime and take a taste of the wort. It'll be like chewing some hop cones. It all mellows with time.

Right on guys, thanks. This is our first dark brew, so it is good to know that chocolate and black patent have a bitter taste.

No problem. I still remember tasting the hydrometer sample from my first stout right before pitching. I was incredibly surprised at how harsh tasting it was, and was worried the beer would be unpalatable. It turned out quite good, actually. I think I even have a few more bottles of that tucked away in the basement. I'm almost temped to break one out, but it's been so damned hot here recently. Ugh.

Another thought: the tannins from the tea may be adding a bit of bitterness as well. Not a lot, I wouldn't imagine, but you might expect more bitterness than usual from that grainbill, given the tea addition. It's something to think about as you refine the recipe. Still, give this one time yet. I imagine the tea addition is actually quite tasty in a porter. I'm glad someone thought of it. Keep us updated. I'm tempted to try this, myself. How much tea (weight in leaves) did you use?

We have a tea ball - thinking we might put in 20g in there with 3 minutes left in the boil. And then brew up 30g worth 10 days from now and add it to the secondary.
Thoughts?

did a 20g tea ball of smoked tea with 3 minutes left - removed at 0 and chilled to 27c in 30minutes. Pitched yeast - and waiting.
Final gravity was 1.053
Efficiency calculated at 84%
10 days in primary and 4 days in secondary.
Pitch 30g of cold-steeped tea when it is racked to secondary (might reevaluate tea amount when we rack it - suggestions welcome.)

That will definitely be interesting. I like the tea, it's intensely smokey. I've also had it in an ice cream where someone used it to add smoke flavor. Let us know how it turns out!