American Porter Coal Porter

[Bob]

I think that's a fantastic idea!

I've brewed this with North American 2-row pale malt with no additions and liked it fine; I just think the result with the Maris Otter is better. Note that Victory will do its own thing, and will likely in that quantity go out the other side of Maris Otter crackery, nutty flavor. In a beer like this, the flavors provided by the base malt are by no means obvious. If you only want the characteristics of Maris Otter you'll be missing, I suggest reducing the Victory to 4 oz or so. Use the 12 oz you have planned only if you want a distinct Victory character to the beer.

Good luck!

Bob

 

[borden]

Cool, thanks for the advice. I haven't tried an "amber" malt addition for the purposes of mimicking a British pale ale malt before, so I guessed on the quantity. I'll probably do the 4 oz as you say, and switch the rest of the addition back to 2-Row. The praise on this thread is enough to make me not want to mess with the recipe too much!

 

[borden]

I split the difference on the Victory addition, so ended up with 8 oz of that on top of the original recipe, but I'm sure it'll be great. Also subbed out the Amarillo, opting for 8.2% Centennial instead.

20 minutes left in the boil now, and this is a beautiful beer -- actually my first dark all-grain, and it looks and smells gorgeous. Milling that chocolate and black malt this morning was a nice way to wake up.

Can't wait for this to be ready. Good thing I've got 15 gallons of other stuff ready to bottle downstairs. Thank god for the pipeline.

 

[Rivenin]

Swmbo requested a porter for st pattys day. So this is gonna be Tuesdays brew day (2nd time brewing this!). Hopefully it'll be amazing in a month! Thank god for kegging equipment and force carbing.

 

[Bob]

Bob

 

[Rivenin]

so i ended up picking up the grains yesterday for the brew day tonight or tomorrow (depending on if the dishwasher is fixed when i get home haha)
however, the hops were wayyyyy over priced (2.50 an oz in some cases) with the hops i have in the freezer, would they make good subs?
i have..
simcoe, cascade, centennial and about 2 oz of sazz... hrm. halp!

 

[Bob]

Americanize it! Bitter with Centennial (adjust for IBU) and finish with Cascades. It'll be different, but I think it'll be nice!



Bob

 

[Rivenin]

always prompt!

thanks bob! this just gives me an excuse to get another keg so i thank thee again haha

 

[Rivenin]

Grains are mashing as we speak!

 

[Rivenin]

And now out to chill for the next few hours. Hopefully pitch before bed!

 

[Rivenin]

We have bubbles! Didn't take a grav reading though, I know my eff so should be what you gave +-2 or 3 points. I did end up using a little more then a half pound of brown sugar thogh. Had a bag that was getting kinda hard. Decided to use it all. Thanks again, bob!

 

[borden]

Bottled this today after 3.5 weeks fermenting. Might be the best sample I've tasted out of the bucket in my year and a half of homebrewing. Can't wait to crack the first bottle of this one in a few weeks! Thanks Bob.

 

[Bob]

 

[Rivenin]

well i just pulled a carb'd pint (was the inaugural keezer build first pint!) and the cascade and centennial changed it just a tad, but my taste buds are preferring this verision (and belive me, the other one was not bad by anymeans!)

cheers! and thanks again, bob!

 

[philber]

My ingredients are in hand, brewing this one over the weekend. I cannot wait!

 

[duckmanco]

Brewing this up next, and plan to finish it with cascade, but one question Bob. Do you or would you do a steep/hop stand with the flameout addition? Or do you begin chilling immediately? Generally if I do a 30 min flameout steep I'll consider it in the brewing software as a 20 minute addition and then back off the ibu of the main bittering charge to bring the recipe inline with the original. I find that I get killer hop flavor and aroma with this method--- should I even consider doing this given that this isn't really a hop forward beer style anyway? Thanks, can't wait to brew this.

 

[Bob]

Thanks for the question! I always toss in the hops at flameout and immediately start chilling. I encourage you to pursue your flameout addition method and report your results, because it certainly sounds interesting! You're correct that this isn't a very hops-forward recipe, because it wasn't designed like that, but there's no reason you can't tweak it to your liking.

Cheers!

Bob

 

[duckmanco]

Brewed this up with cascade for finishing, and with my lhbs crush which I'm sure they don't change, I hit 1.054 with my usual batch sparge... I wondering if collecting 7 gallons of preboil on such a small beer upped the efficiency into the 80's? I'm not crying over it. Can't wait to taste it.

Reporting back ---- been in the keg for a few days so has some carbing left to do, but given my lack of experience with it, does Marris Otter give off some serious nutty notes? My LHBS carries Muntons Marris Otter, and I'm getting a serious nutty character, almost overwhelming, but then the chocolate and roast flavors come through. I think this is going to be a winner with some time in the keg. I also fermented with Nottingham at 61 wort temp.

 

[Rivenin]

can't say i've ever had marris otter give a nutty flavor.

i was going to brew a smash this weekend, but my brother in law gave me 2lbs of fresh coffee from the coffee factory he works at... mind immediately went back to this recipe. coffee porter here i come!

so far this is the 3rd time i've brewed it, just keeps getting better!

going to cascade with bittering and glacier for FO, should make it interesting.

 

[Rivenin]

10 minutes left in the boil!

 

[Bob]

Hope it turns out fabulous for you! Let us know.

Bob

 

[duckmanco]

Reporting back here after about a little over a month in keg (5 weeks total cold) and I must say. This beer, as most dark beers do, has mellowed out into an excellent, session roasty ale. I guess what I mean by that, is it feels/tastes like the British bitter's roasty cousin. It's super drinkable, but satisfies the want for dark beer flavor without having to break out the imperial stout.

Great beer I'll rebrew with Willamette for finishing just to see how it differs from the cascade I used. Cheers Bob

 

[Bob]

Hurrah!

I'm glad you like it. Do try it with Willamette. I really <3 Willamette, and use it all the time in beers like this. Gives a lovely vegetal, earthy character.



Bob

 

[CrookedTail]

I brewed a porter 3 weeks ago that I based on this recipe. I had a bunch of leftover ingredients and wanted to put together a session porter, and I've always wanted to brew one of Bob's recipes.

Here is what I brewed:

Fermentables
3.15 lbs Amber LME
3.15 lbs Golden Light LME
.5 lbs English Chocolate Malt
.25 lbs Belgian Debittered Black Malt
.25 lbs Dark Brown Sugar

Hops
1 oz Centennial (9 AAU) @ 60 min
1 oz Cascade (6 AAU) @ 1 min

Yeast
US-05


I just moved it to a bright tank, and took a taste of the gravity reading. Very nice! Chocolate and caramel are front and center. The cascades are noticeable in the finish. It's a smooth beer, which I am sure the debittered black malt contributed to.

I'm looking forward to trying it chilled and carbonated!

Great recipe, Bob!

 

[Rivenin]

brewin this for the 4th time... LOVE this damn recipe!

 

[Rivenin]

count this as a 5th a few weeks ago - aged it on 2oz of med oak chips and 200ml of jameson...

 

[philber]

Brewing my 3rd batch right now. This is a great recipe. I got many requested to review this one. Looking forward to enjoying it.

 

[Bob]

Glad you like it!



Bob

 

[jfk69]

Well, after PM'ing Bob with a couple questions about this recipe, I had a buddy over yesterday who is doing extract brews with a friend to check out the all grain process. The brew for the day was this beer. All I can say is that if it tastes 1/100 as good as it smelled during the boil, this one is an all star! I hit all my numbers except OG, which actually came out a bit high at 1.056....don't know what I did to get such good efficiency, I've never hit over on OG, so I gained some efficiency some where on this batch. If it finishes as it should, it will probably be a higher 5.X% beer...maybe not as sessionable, but certainly still good. Damn I hate when that happens lol!

Anyway, it's sitting in the ferment fridge at set at 67 for the temp. Beer is currently at 64 as active fermentation hasn't started yet. I'll be watching this closely over the next couple days to make sure it ferments in the mid 60's. Can't wait to drink it. What level have you folks carbed this beer to?

 

[Bob]

I always carbed it to between 2.0 and 2.5 volumes.

P.S. Update your sig! Your Empty is no longer!