Bert Grant's Perfect Porter Clone

[teach]

It's been about three weeks since the crash cool, humann. What's the latest? I am very interested in this recipe.

 

[humann_brewing]

It's been about three weeks since the crash cool, humann. What's the latest? I am very interested in this recipe.

It is a great beer, not quite to Bert's level though. I oaked it and I think the wood had a too much whiskey on them still. I only had them in 1 day because I could already smell it, very faint though, also the smokiness is pretty strong right now which came from the peat. This faded in the bottle conditioned first batch, this is in the keg and will take longer to fade I am guessing.

For next batch, my changes would be:

.75% peat instead of 1.1%
hit the gravity numbers better, I was 1.047 > 1.017, should be 1.048 > 1.014
no oak on next batch

 

[motobrewer]

i've been watching this as well.

how's the peat at 1.1%? I don't like peat much at all. what do you think about switching it to regular smoked malt?

 

[humann_brewing]

i've been watching this as well.

how's the peat at 1.1%? I don't like peat much at all. what do you think about switching it to regular smoked malt?

I am trying to stick as close to the original as possible and I know Bert used Peat. I do think that 1.1% is a tad too much that is why I am bringing it down to .75% next time.

This beer is still really young so time will tell but being such a light beer, I think it will be prime later this month.

 

[humann_brewing]

I am thinking of dropping the black patent in half on the next batch too. Also not sure if the C60 and Choc should be the same amount. Currently the choc is overpowered by the peat so that is definitely going down next time.

 

[humann_brewing]

So I was able to talk to one of the brewers that brewed for Bert and will hopefully be getting more info in the near future but one thing he mentioned was to use Vanilla extract, the kind with alchohol in it and use C40 instead of 60.

So it looks like there will be a v3 coming soon but we will get this down one of these days.

 

[teach]

So I was able to talk to one of the brewers that brewed for Bert and will hopefully be getting more info in the near future....

That is fantastic news! Looking forward to better and better versions of this.

 

[tmongoose]

keeping my fingers crossed and watching this thread for the "perfect" recipe..thanks

 

[humann_brewing]

Yeah, the brewer has started another brewery in the same town and is actually using Berts old 120G copper kettle and mash. I was able to check out the brewery, pretty cool, they are just using one of those instant hot water heater for their strike and sparge water and they have the whole glycyl system going with their fermentors, kinda nice to see on the small scale.

 

[geolover]

....they are just using one of those instant hot water heater for their strike and sparge water....

That is a great idea.

 

[humann_brewing]

Back with more info from the source or at least what they can remember.

At that time, this was probably a step mash starting with a thicker mash around 127f. The final rest would have been around 158f. It would have been at least an hour mash, total time.



The malt bill would have looked something like this:



Pale Malt 76%
Chocolate Malt 11%
C-40 10%
Peated Malt 2%
Black Malt 1%



For the hop, obviously this is not a focus for the style. The original boil time would have likely been 90 min., but that would have been to caramelize sugar, which isn’t something you can do as easily without copper. So, you may want to consider a 60 min. boil.



If you go with 90, your first addition would be at 90 min., and your last should be late, with 15 min. to go. Use either Willamette or Cascade, and you’ll want to shoot for around 25 or so IBU.



For yeast, I think it was probably a fairly clean strain, so you could go Chico. But, if I were doing this, I would go with White Lab’s Edinburgh (WLP028); that should add a nice roundness.



…don’t forget the alcohol-based Vanilla extract. Good luck,

So there will definitely be a version 3 coming up and with the info above, I think we are extremely close.

 

[BillyBeer]

Me and a buddy from Yakima are going to give this a shot Jan.2. I went to college in the Yakima valley and he grew up outside of Yakima so we are both very familiar with Grant's Brewery.

Cheers

 

[DSV]

So I was able to talk to one of the brewers that brewed for Bert and will hopefully be getting more info in the near future but one thing he mentioned was to use Vanilla extract, the kind with alchohol in it and use C40 instead of 60.

A new brewery in Yakima!? That is great news! Do they have a name and/or website yet?

Also, nice work on data gathering for the perfect porter. I'm going to give the recipe a whirl after the new year.

 

[humann_brewing]

A new brewery in Yakima!? That is great news! Do they have a name and/or website yet?

Also, nice work on data gathering for the perfect porter. I'm going to give the recipe a whirl after the new year.

Sure, it's http://www.yakimacraftbrewing.com/

They have some good beers so far, I had a sample of the 1982 at the brewery and was fantastic, a tribute to the early beers of Yakima by Bert and they call it a mid hopped amber but with 45 IBUs it tastes pretty hoppy to me and their other amber is 60 IBUs, their simple 1.060 IPA has 102 IBUs :cross: These boys like their hops

 

[humann_brewing]

I have updated the recipe for all here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/bert-grants-perfect-porter-tribute-149888/

I think this is as accurate as we are going to get and the only thing I need to be able to brew it more accurately is to have a copper kettle but I do have a copper dip tube and could have the immersion chiller in during the whole boil.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

I have been following this quietly, and it has been great to see the developments throughout... just checked your last edit to the recipe, and looks good. One question about your mash schedule though: a 30 minute protein rest at 127 seems a bit long. Was there a source/recommendation that I am forgetting about from earlier in this thread that suggested such a long protein rest?

Thanks, and tremendous work on this!

 

[humann_brewing]

I have been following this quietly, and it has been great to see the developments throughout... just checked your last edit to the recipe, and looks good. One question about your mash schedule though: a 30 minute protein rest at 127 seems a bit long. Was there a source/recommendation that I am forgetting about from earlier in this thread that suggested such a long protein rest?

Thanks, and tremendous work on this!

That was just the default that beersmith used when I selected a 2 step mash. I changed it to 20 minutes. In some info above, the brewer said that it should be around an hour for the whole mash.

 

[Jaysus]

This entire thread is great!

 

[cyberbackpacker]

That was just the default that beersmith used when I selected a 2 step mash. I changed it to 20 minutes. In some info above, the brewer said that it should be around an hour for the whole mash.

Thanks, that makes sense. I had seen the old brewer for Bert mention the hour mash time (or 90 for kettle carmelization from the copper).

Thanks again!

 

[humann_brewing]

Anyone brewing this soon, I know there are plans out there just wondering if anyone is taking advantage of the long weekend.

 

[hasbrew]

Anyone brewing this soon, I know there are plans out there just wondering if anyone is taking advantage of the long weekend.

It's on deck for me sometime in Jan, doing an Eisbock this weekend. Thanks for doing all the legwork on this recipe.

 

[electric_beer]

I gotta say, I am very intrigued and I think I might have to add this in the mix at some point. A good porter is an amazing thing.

 

[teach]

I'll probably brew it in about a month. I'd already bought the grains for BierMuncher's Cream of 3 Crops to brew this week, and I would have brewed that today but my mail-ordered hop sale hops (and yeast) still haven't arrived.

However, within a couple of weeks I should have run out of my batch of Orfy's Mild-Mannered Ale and will be ready to brew something else dark to replace it.

 

[BillyBeer]

We brewed this on Saturday and it is happily bubbling away at 66 deg. We hit our numbers so we are hopeful.

I will keep you posted when we get to tasting time!

Cheers

 

[humann_brewing]

We brewed this on Saturday and it is happily bubbling away at 66 deg. We hit our numbers so we are hopeful.

I will keep you posted when we get to tasting time!

Cheers

sweet can't wait to hear

 

[hasbrew]

I have updated the recipe for all here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/bert-grants-perfect-porter-tribute-149888/

I think this is as accurate as we are going to get and the only thing I need to be able to brew it more accurately is to have a copper kettle but I do have a copper dip tube and could have the immersion chiller in during the whole boil.

I'm getting ready to brew this soon...

For the carmelization effect couldn't you take a half gallon or so of the first runnings and boil it seperately reducing it down to a syrup to mimic this? I've seen this done for in Scottish wee heavy recipes (http://www.skotrat.com/skotrat/recipes/ale/scottish/recipes/10.html)

 

[BillyBeer]

Ok we kegged our batch and I force carbed a 2l to try - just couldn't wait.

I took it to a group campout and it was gone in less than 5 min. It has a smokey hint to it but it has mellowed since we Kegged it.

I am giving this another 2 to 3 weeks in the keg before I really dive in (been in the Keg for 1.5 weeks).

So far very pleased with the results.

 

[forceten]

I'm doing one of these this coming Monday. Here's the recipe I'm using for anyone interested.

10 gallon batch

13 lbs, 4 oz - Maris Otter Malt (UK)
2 lbs - Briess Organic Chocolate Malt
1 lb, 13.1 oz - Briess Caramel 40L Malt
5.9 oz - Simpsons UK Peated Malt
3 oz - Belgian Debittered Black (500L) Malt

Hops: Willamette 1.7 oz @ 90, Willamette 1.2 oz @ 15
Finings: Irish Moss 1tsp @ 15

Yeast: 2 x Wyeast 1728 Scottish Ale

Expected stats:
OG 11.82
FG 3.43
Color: 32.9 (87.2)
IBU: 25.1
ABV: 4.48%

We shall see!

 

[carbon111]

Use 1oz (or less!) of the peated malt unless you want a Rauchbier. Seriously. 0_o
Even in a ten gallon batch, 5+ oz is insane...at least if you're trying to match Grants beer.

 

[forceten]

Use 1oz (or less!) of the peated malt unless you want a Rauchbier. Seriously. 0_o
Even in a ten gallon batch, 5+ oz is insane...at least if you're trying to match Grants beer.

Interesting. From the discussion on this forum it was suggested that peated malt made up 2% of the grist. So that's what I calculated.

Phenol count of the UK Peated malt was said to be 12-24 ppm.

If I only use 1oz, that'd be 0.35% of the grist. Is this really enough? I do recall Grant's being noticeably smoky but it wasn't the dominant flavor.