American Porter Bee Cave Brewery Robust Porter

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


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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?
 
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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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?

porter and rye pale ale.jpg
 
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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
 
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
 
We brewed this on Monday, while enjoying the last few bottles of the batch we made last fall. This beer ages very nicely.
 
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...
 
How long are most people letting this sit in the fermenter from brew day till keg/bottle?
 
One week in primary then 2 weeks in secondary. It improves with age, so after keggimg or bottling, just be patient.
 
I'm picking up the supplies for a Monday brew day. That being said, why rack to secondary? How long in the secondary? I read in one post where a month is good. What about 2 or 3 weeks?
 
Generally speaking, you don't want the beer sitting on the trub for too long. I've had good results with two weeks of secondary fermentation during which time the oak cubes are added. I'm sure you could go longer, particularly if you want more oak flavors.
 
I put 5.5 gallons of this into the fermenter last night. I am fermenting at 60 degrees and already have slow bubbles coming out of the airlock this morning.
 
Just kegged my second batch of this brew and it is a great robust porter. Forgot the malto dextrine so it doesn't have the same body as the last batch, but it is still awesome.

I am in a homebrew club called the Middlesex Malters (Middlesex County/New Haven County, CT). We used this recipe as the base for an experiment. A few of us brewed this with a different base malt. I stuck with 2 row, but have sampled a version brewed with Vienna instead and it is great too. Looking forward to sampling this with Marris Otter as well.

Thanks again Edwort. This recipe never disappoints. :mug:
 
Hmm, cracked open two bottles so far tonight and no head. Not sure what I did wrong. Has anyone else experienced this? Maybe it just needs more time ... good beer otherwise!

~Joe :mug:
 
Hmm, cracked open two bottles so far tonight and no head. Not sure what I did wrong. Has anyone else experienced this? Maybe it just needs more time ... good beer otherwise!

~Joe :mug:

how long has it been carbing with priming sugar? It will need at least 2 weeks or more.
 
Hmm, cracked open two bottles so far tonight and no head. Not sure what I did wrong. Has anyone else experienced this? Maybe it just needs more time ... good beer otherwise!

~Joe :mug:

According to your last post, you racked to secondary on 11/30 (or thereabouts). That was roughly 3 weeks ago. So you did secondary fermentation, bottling, and conditioning/carbing in only 3 weeks? Not possible, as you have learned.
 
it's time to bottle,,,,,,but I'm finding inconsistent amounts of priming sugar to use. Anywhere from 3.19 oz's to 5.0 oz's. Ferment temp, 64F. What is recommened for this 5 gallon recipe?
 
10903727_774742502617617_1918677449_n.jpg


Brewed 7 weeks ago, been bottled for 3. Still needs some time in the bottle, but d#$n, this is good.

I added two vanilla beans in secondary for 2 weeks. This is my 5th all grain batch and the best yet!

Cheers!
 
Wow this beer is amazing! Only a week in the bottle and it is outstanding. Still not quite fully carbed. I will give it a few more weeks but it is hard to be patient!!!
 
cracked one open yesterday after 2 weeks in the bottle, carbonation is incomplete. Maybe not enough priming sugar? Another week and I'll try again....
 
10903727_774742502617617_1918677449_n.jpg


Brewed 7 weeks ago, been bottled for 3. Still needs some time in the bottle, but d#$n, this is good.

I added two vanilla beans in secondary for 2 weeks. This is my 5th all grain batch and the best yet!

Cheers!

Great picture!

I'm looking for a porter or stout and Edwort never steers me wrong in his recipes? Can't seem to stop brewing them. Did you get that creamy a head via bottling or kegging? If the latter did you use a nitro tap? It just looks amazingly delicious.

One other question. Have you also tried it without the vanilla? Did you scrape the insides of the pods into the secondary or just slice them? Is it tastier with the vanilla?

Thanks
 
Ed: I've made variations of this beer three times and it is one of my favorite "big beers." The third time I substituted some warrior hops for the Northern Brewer with good results. It gives a good bottom end bitterness that complements the chocolate and coffee tones. I do twelve gallon batches so I do two corny's and a few bottles with each batch. Thanks for all that you do.
 
Brewed this one today. My setup tends to be super efficient, so I had an OG of 1.079 at 5.5 gallons into the fermenter.

The sample tasted great; I'm stoked to try it in a few weeks!
 
Great picture!

I'm looking for a porter or stout and Edwort never steers me wrong in his recipes? Can't seem to stop brewing them. Did you get that creamy a head via bottling or kegging? If the latter did you use a nitro tap? It just looks amazingly delicious.

One other question. Have you also tried it without the vanilla? Did you scrape the insides of the pods into the secondary or just slice them? Is it tastier with the vanilla?

Thanks

This one keeps getting better with age. I only bottle and with 6+ weeks in the bottle this is by far the best one I have brewed. Albeit I am very new to this hobby so I wish I could take credit for the creaminess but I believe that is because of the Malto-Dextrine.

The vanilla beans I used came from the local Piggly Wiggly. Found them in the spice section, two beans to the jar. Expensive little suckers..... I split them length wise, scrapped out the gooey insides, cut into 1/4" pieces, returned them to the jar and covered with Vodka. Transferred beer to secondary after two weeks primary and just dumped beans and vodka into the batch. Probably not necessary to transfer, but that's what I did.

I have only brewed this once and it was with the vanilla beans. It has a definite vanilla aroma, but the taste is not strong at all. To me it is just right, good aroma and not overpowering vanilla taste.

Cheers!
 
This one keeps getting better with age. I only bottle and with 6+ weeks in the bottle this is by far the best one I have brewed. Albeit I am very new to this hobby so I wish I could take credit for the creaminess but I believe that is because of the Malto-Dextrine.

The vanilla beans I used came from the local Piggly Wiggly. Found them in the spice section, two beans to the jar. Expensive little suckers..... I split them length wise, scrapped out the gooey insides, cut into 1/4" pieces, returned them to the jar and covered with Vodka. Transferred beer to secondary after two weeks primary and just dumped beans and vodka into the batch. Probably not necessary to transfer, but that's what I did.

I have only brewed this once and it was with the vanilla beans. It has a definite vanilla aroma, but the taste is not strong at all. To me it is just right, good aroma and not overpowering vanilla taste.

Cheers!
Thanks so much for the helpful info. Really appreciate it.
 
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