How does this recipe look?

[Bitchesbrew22]

I was originally going for a porter but I think I may have crossed into more of a stout, either one is fine by me. Im more concerned with creating a good taste. This is also my first time steeping grains. It is a 5 gallon batch

STEEPING GRAINS
1# crystal malt 60L
10 oz chocolate malt
8 oz victory malt
4 oz black patent
all at 155 for 30 minutes

than..

7# light dme

HOPS
1.5 Goldings @ 60 min
1.5 Willamette @ 30 min
1 Willamette @ 10 min

6 oz maltodextrin
safale s-04
irish moss

SO where do you think this beer stands style wise? Also am I using too much variety of steeping grains? any feedback will be appreciated, thanks!

 

[Calder]

With the black I'd say it was a stout, but as you say it is borderline.

Personally I don't like the burnt/roasty flavors of black, but others love it. I would drop it, but it is a personal thing.

The grains are basically good, but for a dark beer I'd probably up the Chocolate and lower the Crystal. This may be a great beer, and go for it as is; I'm just giving you my personal preference/comments, so take them with a pinch of salt.

I wouldn't sweat the temperature or the time for the steeping grains. All you are doing is dissolving the sugars from the grains and extracting some flavors. Yes around 155, and 30 mins, but 150 to 170 is OK, and 20 mins is probably fine. Stirring will quicken the result.

The biggest issues I have are:

1) I would drop the malto-dextrin. What is the point of it? All it really does is sweeten the beer. You have lots of specialty grains and it is an extract batch; I suspect it will be sweet enough without any additional help.

2) Victory needs to be mashed to get anything out of it. You are just wasting the grain.

 

[DSorenson]

I agree with Calder... always worth a shot. Probably don't need the maltodextrine.

 

[signpost]

+1 to dropping the black malt and slightly upping the chocolate.

Also +1 to mashing the Victory.

A little crystal is fine for a porter. And you could maybe combine a couple different chocolate malts, if you get rid of the black patent. I know my LHBS has at least 2 or 3 different brands of chocolate malt with slightly different specs. A blend could possibly provide some depth, without muddying the flavor profile.

 

[Bitchesbrew22]

I was thinking the maltodextrin for extra body but forgot about the sweetness, is there anything that purely adds body? Thanks for the feedback! I was under the impression that victory could be steeped so I am glad I posted before I went out and bought the ingredients. Can Munich be steeped? Im partial to the toasty flavors but I think I will drop the black patent to 2 oz. Thanks again for the help

 

[signpost]

I am not 100% sure, but I think Munich is right with Victory in needing to be mashed. Maybe Biscuit malt?

 

[chickypad]

Victory and biscuit are similar, some would consider them interchangeable.

Other than probably needing to mash the victory I actually think the original recipe looks fine (might even fall into robust porter category? seems those lines get blurry). I happen to be one of the seemingly few who is a fan of black malt. I like to use it in place of roasted barley in stouts, for some strange reason I actually find it tastes smoother to me than the roasted. Even in large amounts I've not experienced the charcoal thing.

For body I like flaked barley, but again should be mashed.

 

[Bitchesbrew22]

Alright I think this recipe is coming along nicely. One more question though, what should my water volume be when I am steeping? I've head that you want to minimize water volume? I know my boil will be 3 gallons due to lack of equipment and a weak old stove.

 

[Bitchesbrew22]

The more I look around the more confused I get haha, now I keep running into people advising cold steeping for the black patent and the chocolate? If doing cold would I also have to bump up the amount of dark grain to make up for the loss of sugar dissolved?