American Porter Bee Cave Brewery Robust Porter

[drunkmonk59]

Brewed up a 10 gallon batch of this yesterday. Beautiful day in NC and the brew day went really smooth. Ended up with just under 10 gal. Gonna do half with some Medium oak cubes soaked in Bourbon and Vanilla beans. Has anyone else tried this with this recipe? If so how much Bourbon and how long did you leave the oak and Vanilla beans in. I was thinking 2weeks and about 8-10oz of Bourbon.

Cheers.

 

[mrduna01]

Dont have time to scroll entire tgread but thinking of making tomorrow. Sorry if this has been asked before but I always get fruity esters when using nottingham and want to try something more forgiving temp wise. Would s 04 or 05 be a better option?

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[bolus14]

Are you set on dry yeast? I have only used Notty in one brew, my first. I haven't used any other dry yeast. For liquid I have had success with WLP002 but for me it requires extra conditioning time to get rid of an almost bread yeast like taste, it goes away just takes about a month in the bottle to do so.
I have seen a lot of people like using Dennys Favorite for porters and stouts, WY1450.

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[mrduna01]

Im only set on dry yeast because I'm brewing tomorrow and don't have time for a starter.

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[pfgonzo]

As long as you can keep the fermentation temp under 68, notty can be just fine. I used it in a different porter recipe a few months back, kept it at 66, and it's wonderful. No fruit at all.

 

[mrduna01]

As long as you can keep the fermentation temp under 68, notty can be just fine. I used it in a different porter recipe a few months back, kept it at 66, and it's wonderful. No fruit at all.

I've had too many bsd experiences with Notty. I've done the swamp cooler with it time and time again and am never pleased. Maybe my palate just doesn't agree with it. Im going with 05. Im going to use a wine fridge I picked up which has a setting of 60 degrees f.

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[mrduna01]

Thanks for the recipe Ed. Waiting on tge boil now. Only got 68% eff but I added a extra half lb of base malt so ended up just shy of my target. Smells delicious already.

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[drunkmonk59]

I Kegged the 10gal I brewed of this yesterday. Half was on vanilla bean for the last 10 days. Decided not to use oak. The vanilla batch was racked into a keg along with 10 ounces of Knob Creek. OG was 1.077 and both finished at 1.018. Almost an imperial porter. Both hydrometer samples tasted fantastic. I will post again when it's carbed up. Can't wait!

 

[mrduna01]

Just kegged mine about 20 minutes ago. Very good indeed. My sample reminded me a lot of founders breakfast stout albeit not a stout. Had a lot of those roast and coffee notes that I love so much in founders. Ill have to do a side by side to see if I memory deceives me. As stated a few post up I went with s-05 due to my dislike for Notty and I couldn't be happier with this yeast however I did have slightly less attenuation then planned. Came out in the end at 1.014 and 6.4 %. I think my estimated FG was 1.011.

 

[jaydog2314]

Brewed this back at the end of December and added 2 vanilla beans and 2 cups cold steeped coffee to the secondary and just last night it took first place in the porter category at the BOSS Challenge in Crest Hill, Il. My first ever beer competition victory! Guess what beer ill brewing again soon. Hopefully it gets good reviews at the national competition too. I also entered it in a previous comp and scored a 31. So this definitely is a quality brew.

 

[bredle]

I know a guy, who knows a guy, whose friend mashed this at 156 as opposed to 150. What might...that friend... expect out of the final product with the extra 6 degrees?! Significantly less alcohol? Taste?

 

[EineProsit]

Sweeter, full body, slightly less abv. Will still be a winner. RDWHAHB

 

[Crispy31]

Very drinkable, my new favorite.

 

[HopHog87]

Just brewed this tonight. 2.5 gallon BIAB. I've been hitting higher OG on my last three BIAB all grains. Don't know what's up with that. Had to add some water to dilute it down to an OG of 1.067ish. Hope it turns out well. Pitched most of a pack of Safeale-04. Got a blowoff tube connected and ready to watch it go! Really excited.

 

[rico567]

Had my first blowout in quite a while on my Spring batch of this beer. I had an extra pack of Nottingham I wasn't going to use this year, so I threw in both of them. Let's just say it got really enthusiastic. I checked after 24 hours and it the airlock was showing normal action. I checked again 6 hours later, and the airlock was jammed up with foam and the bucket lid was domed up.....more than I thought possible. Got everything cleaned up, airlock back in place, and it's cranking away normally this morning. Just another great batch of BCB Robust Porter.

 

[Wilhelms]

This brew is so silky smooth.

 

[Near-Beer-Engineer]

This looks great, will be brewing this up tomorrow.

Just one question: what is the reason for the low mash temps? Is this just to bump the alcohol up a bit and keep the sweetness under control? Could you mash slightly higher (153 F maybe) and forgo the malto-dextrin addition? I read through about 25 pages of this forum but didn't see this question asked before.

Edit: Found a similar discussion on page 77.

 

[Zigzag]

Bottled yesterday (brewed April 29)! Ended up with a higher OG than anticipated (I'm a rookie). Went from .084 - .022. Sample tasted delicious. Ill let you know how it turns out in 3 weeks!

 

[jp27300]

I can confirm that this is a no BS very active fermentation. In fact it's the most vigorous I've ever had. Fermenting this In a wide mouth carboy, so I thought, eh no way the krausen is gonna push up the wide mouth. Lol. Wrong! I'm fermenting in my chilly basement. 55-57 degrees and the beer temp is around 64. Pitched at 60 degrees. I was worried it might not start. Blow off tube required!

Can't wait til it's done.

Jp


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[mtnagel]

I brewed this 5 days ago with WLP005 since I already had some from a previous starter. I used a blowoff tube and it was one of the calmest fermentations I've had. I pitched a huge starter (I used a calculator, but it seems like I had more yeast than I normally see for equal size starters). I did control fermentation temps around 66F. Bubbling stopped greatly after just a few days. I switched to an airlock and it's still offgassing, but slowly.

 

[hio3791]

Brewed a batch Sat night. Only issue was that I accidentally added 4 oz of Special Roast which was meant for another recipe. Not concerned of the outcome but I like to brew recipes that I brew for the first time as "as-is".

Ended at 1.070 and pitched a slurry of S04. 8 hours later, it was already off-gassing and at 12 hours it was going pretty hard! I am trying to keep the temp at 64 which is keeping the fermentation under control.

I am hoping to let this one age for about 5 months so that I can enjoy it around Christmas. Hydrometer sample was great, looking forward to it.

 

[dzachery]

W/o going through all 800 comments, is there an extract conversion of this recipe anywhere on this thread?


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[SudsandBuds14]

Im looking for a good porter base recipe to make a fall Chocolate, pumpkin, Belgian, Porter. What do you think for this recipe as a base. I like the chewy, chocolateyness of the descriptors. Any opinions?

 

[Near-Beer-Engineer]

Im looking for a good porter base recipe to make a fall Chocolate, pumpkin, Belgian, Porter. What do you think for this recipe as a base. I like the chewy, chocolateyness of the descriptors. Any opinions?

In my opinion, this porter isn't all that chewy, atleast my batch wasn't. It's very roasty and complex, with chocolate notes, but nothing overly chocolatey. It sounds to me like your beer may be better suited to an oatmeal or milk stout for the thick and chewy mouthfeel. Not sure how the Belgian characteristic will fit with that however. YMMV


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[bolus14]

W/o going through all 800 comments, is there an extract conversion of this recipe anywhere on this thread?


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Quick search for extract turned up post 657 for an extract recipe, I didn't read through to see if there's any replies to it though, this link should get you on the right page:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/bee-cave-brewery-robust-porter-56768/index66.html

 

[ulnpiper]

I made this on Friday and now Sunday morning, the fermentation is enthusiastic to say the least. I'm glad I listened to the posts on this thread and put on a blow off tube rather than the airlock. It's already blown the stopper out once and every now and then gives a big rumble and a bunch of bubbles come out of the tube.

The OG came out at 1.073 into the fermenter, which is way high, with a brewhouse efficiency (according to BrewTarget) of 84%.

This is my tenth batch so still a relative newbie, my previous nine batches averaged at 70% with variance between 63% and 76%.

I'm sure I'll end up with beer (worst case). I'd like to try and understand the cause for the jump in efficiency.

Two possible causes: 1) Grain crush. When I picked up my order from the LHBS, they had crushed the grain even though the instructions on the order were to NOT crush. I have a corona mill and have been crushing my own grain for the past 6-7 batches. There didn't appear to be a lot of flour in the crush, certainly less than when I use the corona mill.

2) Temperature of the mash. I really screwed the pooch on my temperatures this time. I've started trying to dial in my temps a lot closer, but really messed this one up. I heat the strike water to about 155 and then preheat the 10 gal igloo cooler MT. When the strike water reaches 170F, then I mix the remaining strike water in the cooler and adjust as needed to get to the right temp. In this case it called for 166F, since my grain temp was a little colder at 65F I adjusted the strike water to 168F.

After mashing in, I was watching the mash temp and it only went down to 167F. I stirred a little more and then said WTF, I better add some cold water. That brought the temp down to 165F...bloody hell! So I added more cold water and then ice, before the temp started falling. About that time I realized there was a glob of mash stuck around the end of the temp probe..so after stirring and moving the probe around, the temp ended up at 146F. Crap...so then I started adding boiling water to bring the temp back up, finally got it to 151F, now with the mash at the 8 gallon mark in the cooler.

Let it mash for 60 mins from this point, temp ended up at 146F. Normally, with preheating the MT, my temps will only drop 1F during the 60 mins.

1st runnings came to almost 6 gallons, so I added 2 gallons of sparge water and ended up with 7.75 gallons in the BK.

Preboil gravity ended up at 1.050, then post boil with the malto dextrin addition came to 1.073.

So based on what I've read (and hopefully understand) thanks to everyone on this forum, the lower temps will cause an increase in the fermentable sugar, as well as the longer mash time (took about 20 mins futzing about with the temp after the grain was added to the mash water).

Could the thinner mash also have contributed?

Lesson learned..always stir the mash well, move the temp probe around in the mash and give the temps a couple of minutes to settle out before you start making adjustments! Anything else I should take away from this one?

 

[trapae]

I just brewed this yesterday exactly as the recipe states except using white labs 007. Started getting fermentation bubbles at 2 1/2 hours. This morning going very strong. Excited to see what this thing tastes like. Beersmith said original gravity should be 1.063 with final gravity at 1.015. My OG was 1.068 which makes sense because maltodextrin should increase it about 0.004 in the program does not take this into account. I guess I should expect my final gravity to be about 1.019. I will check back in when it's done.

Cheers

 

[Johnsondog65]

Brewed this on Tuesday, smells great. Didn't show any signs of activity until today, but as all have stated earlier, you need a blow off tube. Glad I check it regularly as it was bulging the lid and had plugged the airlock. Pulled the airlock and got a nice gusher and showered me in beer. lol

Live and learn

 

[smack2000]

We brewed this on Monday, while enjoying the last few bottles of the batch we made last fall. This beer ages very nicely.

 

[rwgaro]

brewed this for 2 friends who are getting married in a week - just gave them their present - got rave reviews, and is prob my best batch yet...