Chocolate Porter

[mrphillips]

5 Gallons Batch - 4 gallon boil - Steep grains ~156 degrees for 60 mins.
IBU - 25
SRM - DARK!
OG - 1.062
FG - 1.020
ABV - 5.5%


GRAINS/FERMENTABLES

6 lbs. extra light DME (69%)
1.5 lbs. chocolate malt (10.3%)
1 lb. crystal 80 (6.9%)
1 lb. flaked oats (6.9%)
1 lb. 2-row (6.9%)

HOPS

1 oz challenger 8.9% aau's @ FWH

YEAST

S-05


Primary for 20 days @ 66 degrees, raised to 70 degrees during last 3 days

3.5 oz. priming sugar at bottling


Color - very...very dark. No light excepts it.
Smell - nice and chocolaty. A slight sweetness on the nose, but this pales in comparison to the chocolate aroma.
Taste - it is hard for me to believe that all I added was chocolate malt and not any cocoa nibs or something like that. The dark chocolate flavor is backed by some sweetness, and finishes without any bitterness.

My only complaint is that there's not a lot of...I don't know...depth. It is simply delicious, but it is simple. Not sure what I'd change, but I love experimenting!

 

[CGish]

I recently did a chocolate porter following the guidelines on this page: http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/formulating-and-brewing-winning-chocolate-porter

It is still aging, so I don't know exactly how it will come out. However the racking and bottling samples were promising.

Perhaps there is something in Gregg Citter's write up that can give you insight into the depth issue?

 

[mrphillips]

Great website. I was encouraged to use a little bit of black patent when I picked up my brew supplies, but I was bullheaded and didn't take the suggestion.

I was thinking of bumping up the ABV to around 6.5 like a Founders porter, and the brown sugar would definitely help with that.

I've never used caramunich/vienna before, just the plain ol' munich or vienna as base malts. Is there a big difference between caramunich and crystal malt?

Thanks

 

[mrphillips]

The chocolatiness has faded in the little time it has sat. It is very smooth and velvety.

Next time I will try to up the chocolate through one way or another.