Porter for a wedding

[spak]

My best friend's wedding is coming up in May, he is also a fan of really good beer. Decided to brew a batch of porter for the wedding. I found a clone recipe for Edmund Fitzgerald and tweaked it a bit. How does it look. I think I should be fine without a starter. I am making 5.5 gallons so I can bottle 2 cases and keep some for myself

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Wedding Porter
Brewer: Spak
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Robust Porter
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (35.0) 

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal      
Boil Size: 6.30 gal
Estimated OG: 1.060 SG
Estimated FG: 1.017
Estimated ABV: 5.6%
Estimated Color: 37.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 36.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount       Item                                       Type         % or IBU     
5.50 lb      Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM)                Dry Extract  56.4 %       
1.75 lb      Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM)          Dry Extract  20.5 %       
1.00 lb      Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)      Grain        10.3 %       
0.50 lb      Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM)                 Grain        5.1 %        
0.50 lb      Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)                 Grain        5.1 %        
0.25 lb      Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)            Grain        2.6 %        
1.00 oz      Northern Brewer [8.50%]  (60 min)          Hops         25.7 IBU     
1.00 oz      Fuggles [4.50%]  (30 min)                  Hops         10.5 IBU     
0.50 oz      Cascade [5.50%]  (1 min)                   Hops         0.4 IBU      
1 Pkgs       London Ale (White Labs #WLP013)            Yeast-Ale                 


Mash Schedule: None
Total Grain Weight: 2.25 lb
----------------------------


Notes:
------
2 seeded vanilla beans to fermenter after 7 days

Steep grains at 155F for 30 minutes and sparge grains over strainer with 180F water

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[RedGuitar]

This recipe looks good to me, but if you're planning on using the vanilla beans, I'm not too sure what this recipe means by "seeded". The seeds are where the flavor is, so don't take the seeds out of the beans. When I've made vanilla porter in the past, I've cut the whole pod in half, then sliced it down the middle and dropped it in. I've also used 3 beans instead of 2.

Of course, if you don't want vanilla in your porter, just leave the beans out.

 

[kanzimonson]

You'll be fine without a starter... IF you pitch 2.4 vials.

Yeast make beer, not you. Don't skimp on 'em.

 

[spak]

thanks for the tips. I will make a 1L starter then. Most of the recipes I read said to split the beans so I always thought that it meant that they removed the seeds. I will make sure to include them. All I need to do now is find some vanilla beans. Perhaps an organic grocer will have them

 

[Golddiggie]

With vanilla beans, you typically split (the long way) and scrape them (use the back of the knife) and toss it all in... I would wait until fermentation has finished before tossing them in... I would also taste the brew after a week and see what the beans have done to the brew. You can always add another bean if you think it needs it. So better to start with one or two, having more in reserve.

Personally, I'd make sure the base porter is ready before adding the beans. For me, that is usually at least 3-4 weeks after fermentation started.

Better to let the brew take the amount of time it needs to become great than try to rush it.

When were you planning on starting this? When in May is the wedding? I hope you're starting it very soon, and the wedding is in late May, so that you have enough time to get the brew great and carbonate it up right. Figure ~3 weeks for carbonation, means you have (at most) 5 weeks to get the brew finished and bottled.

 

[spak]

You'll be fine without a starter... IF you pitch 2.4 vials.

Yeast make beer, not you. Don't skimp on 'em.

yea so I made a 3L starter. Its all done and chilled for tomorrow morning. A little over .5 inches of yeast in my 1 gallon glass jug I bought. The more yeast the better lol

With vanilla beans, you typically split (the long way) and scrape them (use the back of the knife) and toss it all in... I would wait until fermentation has finished before tossing them in... I would also taste the brew after a week and see what the beans have done to the brew. You can always add another bean if you think it needs it. So better to start with one or two, having more in reserve.

Personally, I'd make sure the base porter is ready before adding the beans. For me, that is usually at least 3-4 weeks after fermentation started.

Better to let the brew take the amount of time it needs to become great than try to rush it.

When were you planning on starting this? When in May is the wedding? I hope you're starting it very soon, and the wedding is in late May, so that you have enough time to get the brew great and carbonate it up right. Figure ~3 weeks for carbonation, means you have (at most) 5 weeks to get the brew finished and bottled.

its may 14th. I am brewing it tomorrow. I finally bit the bullet and spent 225 bucks at LHBS. Got the following:

-6.5 gal 1 stage bucket fermenter with bottling bucket and all the bells and whistles(capper, racking cane, spring loaded bottle filler etc)
-25 ft Wort chiller(was thinking about doing a homemade one but after calculating the cost id be saving like 5 bucks, meh. it also comes with a faucet adapter)
-All the specialty grains(chocolate, black barley, black patent, crystal 60L) for the 5.5 gal Vanilla porter, plus 6 lbs of light DME and 3 lbs x lite DME, 2 vanilla beans, and hops (Northern Brewer, Fuggles, Williamette) I changed the hop additions a bit to some I have seen more often in porters.
-3 gallon better bottle for use as secondary for my small high gravity batches(Brewed my DIPA on wednesday, it blew krausen out of the mr beer fermenter less than 8 hours after I pitched the starter yeast) I should be able to rack it early next week to secondary, then dry hop when it clears up.
-24 inch plastic spoon
-1 gallon glass jug for starters(used it on wednesday night to make the 3L starter with WLP002)

I couldnt be happier about this purchase. I might even get a larger carboy bottle for another secondary, because I definitely want to make some full 5 gal batches of moderate gravity beer like American IPA, brown ales, maybe a few wheat beers etc. I am really excited about all of the possibilities I have now that I have a full size kit with all the necessities.

:rockin:

I will probably be keeping the highly imperial stuff in the 2.5 gal batch range though, I hear the fermentation and krausen is insane in belgian ales and RIS, so doing small batches in the 6.5 gal fermenter is a fantastic idea to not get a blown off lid.

 

[jtakacs]

why the small extra light DME addition in a dark beer?

 

[spak]

why the small extra light DME addition in a dark beer?

it was purely to get the gravity to target. The amber extract comes in 3 lb bags, so I have 2 of those, then adding some x lite DME to hit gravity. I want to get almost all my color from the specialty grains.

 

[spak]

just racked it to secondary, down to 1.021 or so from 1.066

Tasted the gravity sample removed with a sanitized wine thief. GREAT! It still needs some time, but right now it is great, just the right amount of bitterness and smooth flavor. No tang at all(used no LME) I will make sure to never use LME again, but I am sure my other beers will also be fantastic, its just that the first sip or two tastes weird then it smooths out. So excited about this one though! :rockin: