American Porter Bee Cave Brewery Robust Porter

[Kharnynb]

all grain recipe done as is, it's our christmas meal beer today

 

[thunderwagn]

all grain recipe done as is, it's our christmas meal beer today

Looks delicious :rockin:

 

[Porsche912Brewer]

Been drinking this for a little over a week now and it is for sure the best Porter I've ever had. It's clean, smooth and has perfect flavor. Thanks for the recipe!

 

[Keelimepeye]

carbed up and i am impressed..
very nice beer and balanced..
Thanks so much for the recipe Edwort!

 

[Subdivisions]

My latest iteration of this beer. I usually scale the 2 row back to 10 lbs. I also do a hopstand with 1 oz of cascade at about 170F for 20-30 minutes. This is a glorious beer. I just put a keg of two-hearted clone on tap that is keg hopped and I'm still drinking this.

 

[Elkobrewer]

Looks yummy

 

[bolus14]

I plan on brewing this up this weekend, extract version since I plan on doing a wheat at the same time and seems wheat extract still doesn't get the best rating, not like light, amber, and dark extract does anyways. Wife and a couple friends want a vanilla coffee porter and I think this will fit the bill nicely. This will be my first extract brew in 3 years since I switched to all grain.

My second kettle is only 5 gal so I won't be able to do a full boil, any thoughts on the best approach? Or should I just go traditional, soak grains in about 155 degree water for roughly 30 minutes, add enough water to bring the kettle up to about 3.5 gal, bring to a boil, add half the extract and hops, boil for 60 min, cool to pitching temp, and pitch yeast? I know OP states to start with 7 gal pre boil and somewhere in the thread someone stated to boil for 70 or 75 min, is that necessary for the extract version?

Are most still sticking with S-05 or has the yeast of choice in this one changed? I plan on adding a couple vanilla beans for about 7 days and whole bean espresso for about 4 days after fermentation finishes.

Thanks for any input/advise.

 

[Subdivisions]

I plan on brewing this up this weekend, extract version since I plan on doing a wheat at the same time and seems wheat extract still doesn't get the best rating, not like light, amber, and dark extract does anyways. Wife and a couple friends want a vanilla coffee porter and I think this will fit the bill nicely. This will be my first extract brew in 3 years since I switched to all grain.

My second kettle is only 5 gal so I won't be able to do a full boil, any thoughts on the best approach? Or should I just go traditional, soak grains in about 155 degree water for roughly 30 minutes, add enough water to bring the kettle up to about 3.5 gal, bring to a boil, add half the extract and hops, boil for 60 min, cool to pitching temp, and pitch yeast? I know OP states to start with 7 gal pre boil and somewhere in the thread someone stated to boil for 70 or 75 min, is that necessary for the extract version?

Are most still sticking with S-05 or has the yeast of choice in this one changed? I plan on adding a couple vanilla beans for about 7 days and whole bean espresso for about 4 days after fermentation finishes.

Thanks for any input/advise.

For your extract version boil as much as you can and just top off with water to 5 gallons in the fermenter.

I only boil this for 60 minutes. I use Nottingham as in the OP but US-05 works fine.

For your vanilla beans, get yourself some cheap vodka and pour a half of a rocks glass then chop up / scrape out a couple vanilla beans and drop them in. Let them sit covered in plastic wrap for the duration of fermentation. This will give you a good vanilla extract that is also sanitary. Just strain the beans out and mix the vanilla vodka into the beer before packaging. I don't have any experience with adding coffee but you could just brew some espresso then cool it and add before packaging. That would also give the benefit of sanitation since it was brewed hot.

 

[bolus14]

I picked up ingredients today, going to use DME, and decided on using WY 1450 as I've been happy with it other porters and stouts I've done.

For the vanilla I have had bad luck getting the flavor that I want from them by just soaking them in bourbon/vodka. So, I talked to the head brewer at a local brewery and he said they boil the beans for about 5 min and add to the secondary and get a stronger/richer vanilla flavor than soaking in alcohol. Since I have tried extract, soaking in vodka, bourbon, and just adding to 70 degree beer and since all have failed I'm going to try his method and boil for 5 min or so, add to secondary, and give it 4-7 days then bottle.

I did a breakfast stout this past fall and used 4oz of whole beans into the secondary for 4 days and after a few weeks in the bottle it was good and the coffee taste really smoothed out after about 5 weeks, so for this I'm thinking of using espresso beans for a little different coffee flavor and likely only going with 2 or 3 oz since the Breakfast Stout was a bigger beer and could handle more coffee.

 

[bolus14]

Brew went OK, only got 1.058 for OG so must've added too much top off water. Sample was more bitter than expected so hoping that subsides a little after fermentation, otherwise taste is pretty good for pre fermentation.

 

[bolus14]

whats the malto dextrin for in this recipe??
JJ

Somewhere in the thread someone stated the malto is to give a creamier mouthfeel.

 

[Subdivisions]

Brew went OK, only got 1.058 for OG so must've added too much top off water. Sample was more bitter than expected so hoping that subsides a little after fermentation, otherwise taste is pretty good for pre fermentation.

You usually get inaccurate OG readings when adding top off water since it doesn't mix very well with the wort.

Also, your last post is a reply to an 8 year old post. Just letting you know.

 

[Oventoasted]

Brewing this today! first porter so im pretty excited for when its all done and in my glass.

 

[bolus14]

Tasted a sample after a week of fermentation since others have said they made this with a 2 week turnaround. I got some clove/spiciness in the taste that I wasn't expecting, temp never went over 67 or 68 and gravity a this point is at 1.010 which seems lower than it should finish at. I'm thinking it just needs a little more time anybody have any thoughts?

 

[gdj7978]

Has anyone use a pilsner 2 row for a substitute in this recipe? Or in any other similar recipes?

 

[gophergoat]

I'm no expert, but I would think some crystal and chocolate added to the steeping grains would be in order. Did you do a 5 gallon batch? 3.3# of lme seems a bit on the low side.

Taken me a long time to reply to this one. Yeah I don't know what I was doing, some miscalculations when converting to 5 gallons and some poor guesstimations.

Remade the beer as:

6.6 lbs Briess Pilsen Light LME
0.7 " Choc Malt
0.7 " Crystal 40
2.8 oz Black Patent
0.7 oz Roasted Barley
5.6 oz Flaked Barley

Hops Warrior 60 min
Cascades 15 min
Yeast: S-04

In the end tasted great, didn't use the Malto Dextrin and have no regrets other than I drank it too fast.

 

[thunderwagn]

Reading through this thread, I don't know how some are drinking this beer so early. I brewed mine back in Dec. Bottled in Jan and it's just now starting to have the proper carbonation. The sweetness and flavors are mellowing and mingling nicely, and in another couple of months, I anticipate this being a great porter.

 

[jp27300]

Reading through this thread, I don't know how some are drinking this beer so early. I brewed mine back in Dec. Bottled in Jan and it's just now starting to have the proper carbonation. The sweetness and flavors are mellowing and mingling nicely, and in another couple of months, I anticipate this being a great porter.

Ive found this porter is decent young, not so great a few months in, but really good after 6 months or more.

 

[jp27300]

Iv found that there is often alot of foam in this beer when pouring, even when pouring very slowly. Anyone know why? Malto?

 

[jp27300]

Btw, my last batch i used Windsor yeast instead of Notty. Windsor is mod. Attenuating, so it produced a much sweeter porter. It came out tasting very good actually. Very velvety smooth and creamy.

 

[jmward21]

Here's a pic of mine. I made it with vanilla and am serving on nitro. Very tasty, I'm proud to have brewed this one.

 

[christyle]

Just brewed a double batch yesterday, came in way high on my gravity, I seem to be chasing gravity issues, as I undershot my last double batch on my new setup. Either way, I know it will be good! I plan to make this a Mexican Chocolate style.

 

[Brewdraitis]

Anyone have feedback on if and how long to age this beer for? I have a party in 1 month and not sure if that will be enough time to enjoy this brew.

 

[jmward21]

Mine keeps getting better with time. It had some slight off tastes when fresh, but that could have been my setup and process. It is one of the best beers I've ever made at this point, but it's also about 6 months old. I have a nice back log of beers so I can afford to spend time when needed.

 

[bolus14]

I made this an extract and added vanilla and coffee and it seems overly thin. All in all its not a bad beer, but I'm wondering somehow if the extract made it thinner. My OG was low too and I ended with less than 5 gal so seems very odd and I'm not sure where in my process I went wrong. Was my first time doing extract in a little over 3 years.

 

[christyle]

What recipe did you use? Did you use the Maltodextrin?

 

[bolus14]

I more or less swapped 6lbs of DME for the 2-Row and kept everything else the same. Brewers friend put it at 1.060 which is 5 points lower than the OP and it finished at 1.008 which is low...

6lbs Light DME
1lb Chocolate Malt
.5lb Flaked Barley
.5lb Maltodextrin
.25lb Black Malt
.007lb Black Barley

.75oz Cascade @60min
1oz Northern Brewer @60min

 

[rockriver74]

Here's a pic of mine. I made it with vanilla and am serving on nitro. Very tasty, I'm proud to have brewed this one.

Did you use vanilla bean or extract? How much and when did you add?

 

[jmward21]

I've made quite a few stouts and porters with vanilla and to be honest I don't take very good notes... with that said, I usually split, scrap and cut into 1" pieces 2 vanilla beans. I soak them in vanilla vodka for a day or two and add them into a secondary. The longer the better for me. The flavors mellow and blend well with time.

 

[jmward21]

Also, taste it and if the flavor isn't strong enough, just add a tablespoon of extract into the keg or bottling bucket.