Base for a Chocolate Porter

The grocery store down the street recently started carrying some home brew stuff. I wanted to try and do a chocolate porter using some of the stuff they have available. This is what I have so far, what do you guys think?

Batch Size: 5 gal
Efficiency: 70%

According to Brewtoad...
OG: 1.056
FG: 1.014
ABV: 5%
IBU: 43

Fermentables
Golden Light DME: 5 lb 67%
Briess Caramel 20L 1 lb 13%
Briess Caramel 40L 1 lb 13%
Briess Chocolate 0.25 lb 3%
Briess Midnight Wheat 0.25 lb 3%

Hops
Centennial 1 oz 60 min
Willamette 0.25 oz 30 min
Willamette 0.25 oz 15 min

Yeast
Wyeast 1028 London Ale

Planning to add some chocolate nibs to secondary. Going for a balanced very chocolatey porter. Open to suggestions...

 

you're going to need more dark grains. I would do half a pound of the chocolate and half a pound of the midnight wheat. As far as working with chocolate, I don't have any experience so I would only be able to tell you what I've read elsewhere on the forum. 70% efficiency is also pretty high for BIAB. Have you actually calculated your efficiency, or is that what it was preset to? I think when I used to brew that way, my efficiency was in the 50's or 60's

 

Yeah, you will definitely need more dark grains. Probably not as much as for a porter that is either drier or has no chocolate flavor, but still a significant amount to get you into dark beer territory. Just as an example, Jamil's robust porter from Brewing Classic Styles has 3/4 lb of chocolate and 1/2 lb of black patent. You can tone those down, but that's more in line with a porter.

You also should probably use both less crystal overall (say, a pound in total) and use darker varieties--this is your chance to use 60 and up. I'd use, say, 3/4 of a pound of 60 and 1/4 of 120L, which layers your flavors a bit.

 

70% was a preset. I'll lower it.

the store doesn't have 120L, but they do have 60L. I guess from your suggestions I'll up the chocolate and midnight wheat and i guess switch the 20L to 60L?

They also have Traditional Dark DME, maybe that might help with the color instead of the golden

 

I'll echo what others have already said: You do need more dark malt (~10% overall) and WAY less crystal. Your crystal total is 26% and that's with a LME base beer which will already tend to leave a few unfermentable sugars. Use the 40L, or even better 60L, at ~5% and maybe 2-3% dark crystal (90-120L) for some added complexity. Doubling the 3% each of the dark malts listed will get you in the ballpark for color.

 

I like to use Maris otter as my base malt, 80 L crystal, debittered black malt or chocolate malt depending on the flavor profile I want and a touch of wheat malt in mine. If you want an extra chocolate flavor boost, use 1/2 cup crushed cacao nibs for one to two weeks (to taste) in the fermenter (primary or secondary) for five gallons. A few split vanilla beans also doesn't hurt.

Another area where I take issue with your recipe is in the hops choices. Centennial and Wilamette aren't typical of what i've seen in a lot of porter recipes. Consider using Challenger, Fuggles, EKG or even Bramling Cross and keep the bittering addition towards the low end for bittering. Porters are malt-forward beers and benefit from both herbal and blackcurrant flavors from hops. My favorite hops are Challenger for bittering and EKG for aroma and flavor additions.

 

I would recommend not using dark malt extract for this beer. In most extract beers--and when I say most, I really mean pretty much anything--you'll get better results by using light ME and then using dark steeping grains to get the color and roastiness you want. It's harder to control the level of dark flavor and color when you use a dark extract, and using the specific dark grains you want allows you to get different types of dark flavor (e.g. black patent vs roasted barley, which are different). Plus, dark grains have the advantage of never really needing a mash, so they work well for a steep.

As for the crystal, if they don't have 120L that's cool. Layering is nice but not essential.

 

I definitely agree on not using the dark DME, go with your original plan so you know exactly what the make-up is for reproducing or tweaking the recipe in the future. As for the efficiency you might not want to set too low until you find out what you really get on your system. I get the same 77-80% efficiency with BIAB as I do on my fly sparging system.

Edit: hang on, just realized there is no base grain there so this is just a steeping grains recipe. Efficiency doesn't really apply, but steeping you will likely get a good yield with roasted grains as mentioned, also a fair amount from the crystal. I assume brewtoad has a setting for extract/steeping vs. mash so you just might want to double check that.

 

Wow, thanks guys for all the responses. The forum is so helpful!

So I've re-done some things, have a look:

Extract
Batch Size: 5 gal

According to Brewtoad...
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.014
ABV: 5%
IBU: 43
OG/IBU: 0.8

Fermentables
Golden Light DME: 6 lb 75%
Briess Caramel 60L 0.5 lb 6%
Briess Caramel 120L 0.25 lb 3%
Briess Chocolate 0.75 lb 9%
Briess Midnight Wheat 0.5 lb 6%

Hops
Centennial 1 oz 60 min
Willamette 0.25 oz 30 min
Willamette 0.25 oz 15 min

Yeast
Wyeast 1028 London Ale

I figured I can order some 120L shipped here. ( Nearest LHBS is 4 hours away). According to Brewtoad's Robust Porter guidelines it says that this recipe is way too dark (at 41L, it suggests 22 -35L). Not a problem?

As for hops, still unsure about schedule and type. The store does carry fuggles, but i don't have much experience with fuggles. Not sure what other hops it pairs with or schedule.

 

Fuggles are Willamette but grown in England. And this isn't a very hoppy beer. I wouldn't worry about matching things exactly. I also wouldn't do a 15 minute addition, though .25 oz isn't much. Porter is not (traditionally) a hoppy style.

I also still wouldn't make a big fuss for the 120L, especially with your other dark grains.

Feel free to tone down the dark grains a little if you're worried. Alternative idea: cold-steep them, which means soak them at room temperature for 12+ hours (overnight works well), and pour that liquid into the boil at pretty much any time. It ensures a smooth, non-harsh roast flavor, like coldbrew coffee. If you want something sharper, though, steep hot.

Finally, the good news: whatever you change from here won't matter too much. You have a good base, and this is a forgiving style. It'll be good.

 

When I used to BIAB, I never once used any extract other than light. You have so much more control over your beer if you steep your dark grains.

That being said, this is your beer. If you want it to have more hop flavor than a traditional porter, go for it. But if you want it like more traditional examples of the style, I also would not add a 15 minute addition.

I also wouldn't worry about the 120L too much. If you have to order it, just take it out and add a little more of the 60L.