American Porter Bee Cave Brewery Robust Porter

[bolus14]

No reason you couldn't use a growler for the purpose of aging on chips, but given that small amount I would.knly go a few days at most. Using chips imparts flavors pretty quick and only doing a half gallon worth it won't take long to get oak into it.

This beer is big enough that you should be able to play with adding flavoring, extracts, spices, etc. Just remember less is usual more and you can always add more, but you can't take it out.

If adding flavorings make sure you read the labels closely for what's really in them. I would add extracts or flavorings at bottling or kegging time. If you aren't sure of how much to add you can put it in the fermenter, give it a real gently swirl, allow a day or two for it to mix in, then taste and see if it's where it want it. Some would say to pull a sample and use a very small amount of flavoring and find how much you like, the scale it to the full batch, personally this hasn't worked for me, but it might for you

 

[Kharnynb]

with secondary transfer, add a bit of some sugar to purge oxigen from the headspace.

with the beer only a few days old, you want to let it sit at least a week or 2 more, as it's a big beer and needs time to clean up, just add any flavourings around the 10 day mark and bottle around 14-17 days depending on final gravity reached etc.

 

[Ki-ri-n]

This is good!
No kidding this ferments vigorously! Had to deep clean the fermentation chamber afterwards. Even using a blow off!
I added 6oz of cold brewed coffee on top of it. One of the better beers I've done to date.

 

[luckybeagle]

Awesome recipe that surprises my taste testers/guinea pigs. It's nice to hear, "Wow, you brewed that?! Tastes just like xyz vanilla porter!" (for us our local examples are Hop Valley's Vanilla Infused Porter, and Klamath Basin Vanilla Porter). Looks just like ki-ri-n's pint above. Below are my rambling notes.

I brewed this one on the morning of 10/13 and had it in bottles by the evening of 10/23. My OG was a bit higher than the OP's, but FG was reached and stabilized about a week after pitching. I agree that it fermented vigorously, too. Blow off tube was a must.

On day 8 I added roasted cacao nibs to the primary (I did not rack to secondary). It started taking on a bitter taste so I decided to bottle early and add vanilla extract. I wanted to do hazelnut but the LHBS was out of it.

I lost a fair amount to the carboy, trub after boil, and my equipment, so I ended up with just 3.5 gallons in the bottling bucket. Unfortunately I added enough vanilla and priming sugar for a full 5 gallon batch. Initially the vanilla was sickeningly sweet, but the beer is now pleasantly drinkable and well-carbonated a week after bottling. I used thick 22 oz glass so I'm hoping I don't have a bunch of bottle bombs in the closet, but I guess we'll see. Kind of wish I bottled in 12 oz bottles because these 18 or so bombers I have will go way too fast. If I'm drinking alone, it's a lot of beer (of this style) to get through. The maltodextrin really added a lot of body.

I bottled one 12 oz bottle without vanilla and opened it 4 or 5 days after bottling. Flavor was great--I'd definitely consider brewing this beer without any cacao or vanilla and agree with others in that it is a super solid base recipe. Maybe a 10 gallon batch with a lighter vanilla dose at bottling, or one carboy sitting with vanilla beans /coffee/nibs etc and the other just plain. I'd be curious to try coffee, oak chips, etc. Very nice porter.

 

[edgarss]

Awesome recipe, thanks a lot! Bottled it a month ago, nothing left due to huge demand from friends and family! Will brew it today for an additional batch.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Have had this sitting in a keg since last march I believe.
It came out WAY higher in ABV% and tasted fine except for an over malty whiskey or bourban finish and not in a good way.

I was hoping it would of mellow'd by now but no such luck.
I'm still new to brewing but have learned more hops fix over malty beer and bad beer. lol.

So I dry hopped it with some 5% aa hops and notice no difference.
I'm thinking i need a higher AA hop to soak in it to balance this out but I don't know.
I really don't want to dump it.

any suggestions?

 

[BongoYodeler]

Brewed 3 weeks ago today, still in the fermenter. Planning on bottling it in a few days.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

It's been a while since I brewed this one and it ferments crazy but dang I wasn't expecting this.

11.5 gallons in a 17ish gallon conical with nearly a foot of headspace fermented at 65 and its the first beer that's ever broken out of this fermenter.

Robust porter fermentation

• FuzzeWuzze
• Feb 23, 2019

 

[CodeSection]

Wow! I'm considering this to be my next brew two weeks from now. I typically have 2.75 gallons headspace in my conical. Based upon your experience and of some others, I will use a vegetable base defoamer in the conical. Hopefully, that will help.

 

[Joetyszk33]

Brewed this twice last year, it’s simply a great, simple beer that has great flavor. For the second brew I simply threw over the previous yeast cake and it was almost as if the second batch tasted better. Definitely worth it to leave in primary for at least a month then rack to keg and let the keg sit in a closet for another month, if you can. Definitely worth letting this beer improve over a little time.

 

[NZJoe]

I brewed this back in April, leaving out half of the Maltodextrin (just because that much white powder in a beer scared me a bit). I left it in the fermentor for 3 weeks and then in the bottle for 3 weeks before trying it. It came out really nice. It was initially a little bit sweet, not quite as sweet as a milk stout but not as dry as some porters, kind of an off-dry. But now after almost 2 months in the bottle it has dried out slightly more and rounded nicely. It`s a fantastic beer, easily the best I have brewed and really showcases the malts more than anything. It`s so good and so drinkable that I can easily have a couple of these in an evening. I had a pint of McLeods Porter (brewery here in NZ) the other day and I swear it was so similar to this beer, just slightly drier. I was pretty happy with that. I`m already planning on brewing this again in the next month so that I can save some for next winter.

Now, a quick question. My water here is SUPER soft, as in Pilsen level softness. So seeing as this beer turned out so well, should I adjust the water at all (like adding some Gypsum) or just keep it the same? I`m leaning towards adding maybe 1t of Gypsum to see how it effects it.

 

[Chicago_Eric_]

My local shop only has Maris Otter and Golden Promise available. Which base would be better for this recipe?

 

[Albionwood]

My local shop only has Maris Otter and Golden Promise available. Which base would be better for this recipe?

I think I'd lean toward the GP for a Porter. MO will contribute a noticeable biscuity character, which isn't out of place and could be great, but it also is one more flavor component to mix with all the others - potentially over-complicating things. GP will contribute a rich maltiness that tends to compliment the Porter character. I'd cut back on the maltodextrin though (tbh I would eliminate it entirely, but that's me liking dry Porters).

 

[Chicago_Eric_]

I went about a 60/40 split with the golden promise/maris otter blend. Pre-boil was 28 liters and ended with about 24 in the fermenter. The first 48 hours of fermentation have been wild, I could hear the blow off bubbling from a room over. It's finally chilled down, is replacing the blow off with a normal airlock actually necessary? Also during peak fermentation I was having trouble getting it down to 68, it was sitting about 72 until now, it's perfectly at temp more or less. Did I screw anything up with those higher temps? OG was a touch over 1.06. Really excited with how this beer could turn out.

 

[JLeuck64]

Here is a pic of the 1st pour from a keg that i naturally carbonated. Brewed this back on May 27th and fermented with Wyeast Pacman (Imperial Joystick is the same yeast strain). I also cut down the Maltodextrin in half to 8 oz.

Ended up with 7.25 gal at a SOLID 7.5% ABV ( ; the reason I decided to naturally carb this batch is simply because it forces me to wait until it has finished conditioning/carbing. SO worth the wait!!! ( ;

 

[NZJoe]

Here is a pic of the 1st pour from a keg that i naturally carbonated. Brewed this back on May 27th and fermented with Wyeast Pacman (Imperial Joystick is the same yeast strain). I also cut down the Maltodextrin in half to 8 oz.

Ended up with 7.25 gal at a SOLID 7.5% ABV ( ; the reason I decided to naturally carb this batch is simply because it forces me to wait until it has finished conditioning/carbing. SO worth the wait!!! ( ;

Looks awesome. Naturally carbing is also called "Spunding" right? What was the gravity reading when you transferred it to the keg and then what did it finish out at? And can you do this if you're bottling?

 

[JLeuck64]

Looks awesome. Naturally carbing is also called "Spunding" right? What was the gravity reading when you transferred it to the keg and then what did it finish out at? And can you do this if you're bottling?

Hey there I think that my technique is a bit different than what you are thinking. I let the beer ferment down to finished gravity. Then I transfer it all into a keg. I treat the whole keg like one big bottle of beer though.

In the past when I bottled beer it would look like this: transferring a batch from the ferment bucket into another bucket for bottling and I would also add the priming sugar at that time. Then I would bottle it all, cap it and let it condition. Then I would taste a few along the way... and then I would cold crash them in the fridge and enjoy! ( ; Maybe you have done this as well?

Lately I have been exbeerimenting with transferring it all into a keg, with the correct amount of bottling sugar, then I purge the O2 and let it carb naturally... for as long as I would let a bottled batch condition (like 3-6 weeks depending on the style of beer). Then I cold crash it and hook up CO2 just for dispensing it... and enjoy! ( ;

When I first switched over to kegging my home brew I would force carbonate. Lately I have started experimenting with adding the priming sugar for a 5 gallon batch into the keg and then letting it sit for same amount of time that I used to bottle condition a batch, if that makes sense.

It takes longer before the beer is ready but might taste better? It's pretty subjective I know, but if nothing else I am forced to let these big beers mellow out for a while before I tap them ( ;

 

[NZJoe]

Hey there I think that my technique is a bit different than what you are thinking. I let the beer ferment down to finished gravity. Then I transfer it all into a keg. I treat the whole keg like one big bottle of beer though.

In the past when I bottled beer it would look like this: transferring a batch from the ferment bucket into another bucket for bottling and I would also add the priming sugar at that time. Then I would bottle it all, cap it and let it condition. Then I would taste a few along the way... and then I would cold crash them in the fridge and enjoy! ( ; Maybe you have done this as well?

Lately I have been exbeerimenting with transferring it all into a keg, with the correct amount of bottling sugar, then I purge the O2 and let it carb naturally... for as long as I would let a bottled batch condition (like 3-6 weeks depending on the style of beer). Then I cold crash it and hook up CO2 just for dispensing it... and enjoy! ( ;

When I first switched over to kegging my home brew I would force carbonate. Lately I have started experimenting with adding the priming sugar for a 5 gallon batch into the keg and then letting it sit for same amount of time that I used to bottle condition a batch, if that makes sense.

It takes longer before the beer is ready but might taste better? It's pretty subjective I know, but if nothing else I am forced to let these big beers mellow out for a while before I tap them ( ;

Oh ok, I thought when you said it was carbonated naturally that you were transferring it to keg when it was almost done fermenting, but not quite, resulting in the remaining sugars fermenting in the keg and carbonating the beer (spending). Didn't realise you were referring to carbing with sugar.

 

[NZJoe]

I brewed this again today. Everything went well except I kind of forgot it was a 90min boil. I added the hops thinking it was a 60min boil and then realised part way through my mistake. So I removed the hops after 60mins and then let it boil for another 30mins. Will this have any effect on the beer? I know it's not big quantities of hops we're talking so hopefully it won't matter. I'm thinking it will have just boiled off some of the fresher hop compounds that came from the 15min addition...
I also racked this onto a s-04 yeast cake which had an English bitter fermenting on it so I'm expecting fermentation to take off pretty quickly.

 

[JLeuck64]

Oh ok, I thought when you said it was carbonated naturally that you were transferring it to keg when it was almost done fermenting, but not quite, resulting in the remaining sugars fermenting in the keg and carbonating the beer (spending). Didn't realise you were referring to carbing with sugar.

Oh Spunding! Right, that was the first way invented to naturally carbonate huh?! I have always wanted to try that approach, guess I need to figure it out one of these days ( ;

 

[alexipas]

Any thoughts on adding some seasoning this fall and making this a "Pumpkin Style Porter"?

 

[deadwolfbones]

Any thoughts on adding some seasoning this fall and making this a "Pumpkin Style Porter"?

My thought: sounds gross.

I know other people like pumpkin beers, though! Just my opinion.

 

[Novims]

My thought: sounds gross.

I know other people like pumpkin beers, though! Just my opinion.

That.
But if you like them, just brew a smaller batch...just in case.

 

[fendersrule]

Brewed today. Does anyone else get less than usual efficiency for this? I was shooting for 1.072 OG and got 1.065 instead. I get 70% like clockwork but today I got 65%. Hmm. I’ll check one more time with my refractometer, but I believe it is what it is. I filled up carboy, shook it for 20 seconds, then pulled a small sample...twice with same result.

Nothing wrong with 1.065 OG with this...it’s just one of those perfection things.

Brew day went perfect otherwise. Going to definitely ferment this one in the bathtub per this thread. Will use a 3 gallon blow off bucket.

I substituted carapils to maltodextrin since it’s impossible to find. I also decided to mash at 153 instead of 150.

Will use 1.5-1.7 packets of Nottingham yeast, rehydrated...once I get the carboy to cool more using the ice and wick method.

 

[Novims]

Have you ever brewed higher OG beers like this one or is it the first time? This 5% efficiency difference tells me it might simply be a case of the "bigger beer drop". In short, you used less sparge water because you had to use more in the mash to reach your water to grain ratio. So more grain = more mash water = less sparge water = efficiency drop.

This is only one thing that COULD have happened though. Might as well be something else.

 

[fendersrule]

I use BIAB, so sparging doesn't apply. With my setup, 7.5 pre-boil gives me an exactly 5 gallon carboy with just enough headspace to get by.

It may have to do with the lower PPG for the black/roasted malts (even though they don't account for much of the grain bill). I did not mill the .5lb of flaked barley, which I think is correct. Maybe just a freak thing. The good news is that I wanted to shoot for 1.072, but landed at exactly what the recipe called for, so I can't complain too much! Perhaps I should check my mill settings...

Fermentation started to kick off within 8 hours of pitching. It wasn't overly violent or anything...I used a 3-gallon bucket with 2 gallon of headspace and a very large blow-off tube. My 1-gallon w/ half gallon of head-space probably would have gone over. So while it's more than usual, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Carboy temp is holding at 64F.

I pitched 1.6-1.7 packets of Nottingham, re-hydrated.

 

[Kharnynb]

yearly christmas batch brewing, adding some dark syrup for bonus flavours

 

[user 263363]

I know that bigger beers do better from some aging, but is it possible to bottle this beer and drink it a month after brewing?

My wife and I have sort of an unexpected Christmas gathering that just got planned yesterday. I think I can have the ingredients to get this brewed up this week, but I don’t want to waste fermenter space if it’s not worth drinking that soon.

 

[Kharnynb]

month after brewing is a bit tight, you'd need 2-3 weeks fermenting and at least 2 weeks bottle conditioning, preferably at least a month in the bottle before trying first ones.

 

[user 263363]

month after brewing is a bit tight, you'd need 2-3 weeks fermenting and at least 2 weeks bottle conditioning, preferably at least a month in the bottle before trying first ones.

Yeah, my coffee finally set in and allowed me to think clearly so I decided not to rush it. I will do a couple lighter beers to ensure completion. Thanks!