Classic Style Smoked Beer All-Grain - Fireside Porter

[Malty_Dog]

Thinking about this beer again, wanted to give it a shout out. There's somethin about those oak cubes in primary...

 

[marcelo]

want to make this beer soon.
but I am concerned about these 50 IBU even with a 1.060 OG, bitterness almost goes off the scale.
I'm planning to keep the IBU near 30. (more comfortable for me)
can anyone give me some advice here? thank you

 

[garrett159]

I have soft water in my area with a ph of about 8.5 and about 45 ppm of Carbonates. Should I add Calcium Carbonate to the mash to get the right target ph? I don't use any buffer, and I would like to use as little additives as possible. Thanks!

 

[JLem]

I have soft water in my area with a ph of about 8.5 and about 45 ppm of Carbonates. Should I add Calcium Carbonate to the mash to get the right target ph? I don't use any buffer, and I would like to use as little additives as possible. Thanks!

Mash pH is critical (not just for this beer, but all beers), so you should do what you need to do to get the mash pH in line. I cannot offer any specific advice, but I like to use EZ Water Calculator (http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/) to figure out what to do for my mash. The specifics of your water profile will determine what to do.

 

[JLem]

want to make this beer soon.
but I am concerned about these 50 IBU even with a 1.060 OG, bitterness almost goes off the scale.
I'm planning to keep the IBU near 30. (more comfortable for me)
can anyone give me some advice here? thank you

Did you end up lowering the IBUs? Sorry about missing this question - my brewing has taken a back seat these days so I am not on HBT as much as I once was and somehow I never saw this

Hopefully you brewed something to your liking.