American Porter Bee Cave Brewery Robust Porter

[lehr]

I just added light toasted oak chips I soaked in Maker's Mark and was amazed at the vanilla notes that have developed. I've never used actual vanilla, but would be careful not to overdo it. Also, go light on the bourbon. We added 4 oz. to about 5 gallons in secondary and I think that was a little much. The beer is still aging, but the first bottle opened after about 1 month was promising, but a little too much bourbon nose and taste.

From what I've read they say to add 375 ml per 5 gallons when you keg I'll add a little at a time until I get it where I want it.

Thanks Pat

 

[AirRageous]

Bottled my Toejam version (steeped in pantyhose) of this over the weekend. This has to be the best beer at this stage that I have brewed so far. This is brew number 8 for me. Even flat, it is great. Very dark but clear with really nice coffee and chocolate notes and a nice roasty finish. I usually just take a taste of the hydro sample for monitoring purposes. But this was so good, I drank the entire sample and the half bottle at the end that we did not quite get filled.

 

[EdWort]

Ed Wort I want to tweak this into a Christmas Ale with some spices I think. I have some Belgium Ale 1214 from a buddy and would like to use that. Any suggestions?

I would not use the Belgium Ale yeast. I would recommend using my Oktoberfest Ale recipe with some spices for a Christmas Ale.

 

[MX1]

Ok, My Coffee/Chocolate version of this is on the boil.
Had to make a few changes, and was pretty upset about it.
1st had no flaked barley, thought I did, really really thought I did
2nd had to use Target in place of Fuggels
3rd as per Ed added 8oz more of the Chocolate malt.

Tim

 

[MX1]

Well, pitched the Notty last night around 9pm (local) yeast was at approx 70f wort was at aboit 74f....

I could not get the temp to drop anymore that that with my chiller due to no ice and warm tap water temp....

Woke up this morning and nothing......just what was left from the foam when I aerated the wort.

Gonna give this until I come home from work tomorrow night, so almost 48, and if no dice I will re-pitch.

Tim

 

[Paco]

From Ed's original recipe, what is the IBU we're aiming for? Say I intend to use another hop (Phoenix - 10%).

I'm brewing this tomorrow (16/08/2009). Thanks!

 

[chefchris]

Well, pitched the Notty last night around 9pm (local) yeast was at approx 70f wort was at aboit 74f....

I could not get the temp to drop anymore that that with my chiller due to no ice and warm tap water temp....

Woke up this morning and nothing......just what was left from the foam when I aerated the wort.

Gonna give this until I come home from work tomorrow night, so almost 48, and if no dice I will re-pitch.

Tim

A lot of people have been experiencing problems with Notty. There's a thread about it. Took 3 days for my last batch to take off with it. It did, however, do it's job and took it down to 1.011. I just kegged this batch 10 minutes ago so I can't say how it tastes (some people have experienced some off flavors). I'm also in the middle of washing this yeast. I'd like to see if I get the same lag time when it's repitched.

Be patient, it will take off. As long as you were clean and sanitary it should be fine.

 

[smellysell]

From Ed's original recipe, what is the IBU we're aiming for? Say I intend to use another hop (Phoenix - 10%).

I'm brewing this tomorrow (16/08/2009). Thanks!

I was wondering the same thing. I'm planning on using Magnum for mine.

 

[chefchris]

Should be close to 50 IBUs. 47 is what I have in beersmith the first time I brewed this. Then again, I don't know if I really knew what I was doing as I had just gotten the program.

But hey, it placed in a comp!

 

[blebo33]

Notty worked fine for me, actually, a little too good! Brewed on 8/22, airlock bubbling happily within 12 hours. Checked on it this morning and the top had blown off my Ale Pail! I was using a 3 piece airlock, it got clogged, boom. Nothing hit the ceiling but it made a pretty big mess around the bucket. I just hope nothing nasty got in there while the lid was off...

 

[BNVince]

What kind of attenuation are people getting on this beer? I've only got around 68% attenuation after 8 days and I'm a bit worried.

 

[EdWort]

Mine finishes around 1.020-1.022 because of the malto dextrin

 

[smellysell]

Mine finishes around 1.020-1.022 because of the malto dextrin

What do you think about using Magnum in it Ed?

 

[BNVince]

Mine finishes around 1.020-1.022 because of the malto dextrin

Man I wish I knew that. It would have saved me a lot of worrying this week.

I've never used malto dextrin before and I suspected it was the culprit when my batch stopped dead at 1.020.

Thanks Ed. I'm looking forward to chewing on this one.

 

[BNVince]

Disregard this. I submitted twice like an idiot. I suck.

 

[petep1980]

I got this kit again from BM Warehouse and cannot wait. It's doubling as my holiday cheer and winter warmer.

 

[MX1]

Mine is down to 1.023 today, but I had crappy Eff. only started at about 1.052....

I am thinking this is just about done.

Tim

 

[KopyKat]

Should be close to 50 IBUs. 47 is what I have in beersmith the first time I brewed this. Then again, I don't know if I really knew what I was doing as I had just gotten the program.

If you are using Beersmith and are using the default as Tinseth you should be around 33 IBU. 47 IBU sounds more like Rager although when I switched to Rager it came out as 44 IBU. My Cascades are at 7.5% AA and Northern Brewer are 7.4% AA. I doubt your AAs are much higher on either of those hops.

Ed, perhaps you will chime in on this and let me know if I am off base on this.

 

[Beernewb]

I brewed this thursday night and came to 1.072 OG. I pitched two packets of wyeast and aerated with oxygen. I had a crazy blow-off in a 6.5 gallon glass carboy and it's still bubbling albeit alot slower.

My question is this. I don't plan on racking to a secondary, should I just age it longer in th promary or bottle it after a few weeks when I reach the target gravity and then age it in the bottles?

I could rack to a seconday, but I plan on using my other 6.5 gallon glass carboy for an octoberfest ale this weekend and I just lost a better bottle to a crack on the bottom.

 

[MX1]

Mine is down to 1.023 today, but I had crappy Eff. only started at about 1.052....

I am thinking this is just about done.

Tim

I wanted to edit this information, I was at 1.013 not .023...

Ok, after I racked to secondary yesterday, the Porter did not have enough chocolate to cut through the roasted barley, which has given it a great earthy coffee flavor.

I am going to add a few oz of cold brewed coffee to the secondary, and did not know if there was any way to add coco powder to the secondary as well. Can I boil some water and make a coco paste and add that?

Tim

 

[Talloak]

I plan on making this again, following the recipe exactly, but adding some bourbon barrel char in secondary. I am unsure of its potency yet, so I am unsure how much I will add, but I am going for a modest amount, not overpowering. Anyone else done this or something like this?

The bourbon barrel char I will be using is actually chunks of wood 1/4 - 1/2" in size scraped off the inside of real barrels, no extract or anything.

 

[AirRageous]

My "ToeJam" version (extract with grains steeped in pantyhose) has come out great. OG was 1.072 and FG was 1.021 and now in the bottles for 3 weeks. We tried a couple and tastes smokey with subtle coffee and chocolate notes. Very dark but clear. The head was small but lasted throughout the glass and left a nice lace behind. It can only get better. I am saving it for the the big Balloon Fiesta in Oct. Should be wonderful by then. (I hope I can leave it alone that long ... patience is not one of my strong suits.)

 

[dmbnpj]

following, will brew this in a couple weeks

 

[MX1]

Mine will be going into the bottles in the next few days, I can not wait until it is ready to try.

Had some issues brewing this one, but It will be brewed again for sure.

Tim

 

[dmbnpj]

On the recipe, do you add the 8oz. of malto dextrin at 20 minutes into the boil or left in the boil?

And I am guessing the northern brewer and cascade hops both stay in the boil for the full hour?

 

[IXVolt]

Has this brew typically been ready to bottle in 2 weeks, or does it noticeably improve if bulk conditioned in a secondary?

 

[petep1980]

Has anyone made this recipe using Wyeast 1098 in place of the nottingham. I know wyeast is less attenuative, and it may come out WAY too sweet with the MD also, so I should prob stick with the notty.

IXVOLT, I found a HUGE difference in the bottle turnaround when I went to a 3 week primary vs a 2 week primary for whatever reason.

 

[KopyKat]

I would stick with Notty.

Just tapped my second keg yesterday. Perfect!

 

[jacksonbrown]

Ed, Question about this brew. I just hooked it up to the gas this past saturday and drew my first sip last night. It was very, very sweet. Unpleasantly so. The only change I had made was to use MO as my base. Also, my hydrometer broke that day so I didn't get an OG reading. But my 4 brews leading up to it had gotten 92% eff, and I had forgotten to reset BeerSmith from 75%, so I think I ended up with an OG around 1.085. My FG was 1.021 and I'm fairly certain I didn't have a stuck fermentation.
SO... back to my question (yes, I did have one). Is this supposed to be a sweet porter? I've never used malto dextrine before and am wondering if the sweetness could be a result of that. I realise that with a FG of 1.021 it'll be sweet regardless, but this, as I said, is just not pleasant. I'm hoping some extra vols will ease that up somewhat, but if you have any ideas I'd love to hear em. Thanks!

EDIT: I don't know if it's an aging thing too, but it's been 9 weeks since brewday.

Perhaps past due, but I figure I should give an update. This came out great!! I ended up bringing it to a new year's eve party and we had it floating by 3am. Took a couple months but everything came together flavor wise very nicely. In fact, me and three other club member are brewing this up for our club's holiday party as a comparison. We'll be keeping the gravity high, at 1.085 again, because I like how that worked out

 

[IXVolt]

IXVOLT, I found a HUGE difference in the bottle turnaround when I went to a 3 week primary vs a 2 week primary for whatever reason.

Thanks!