Robust Porter Grain Bill

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sictransit701

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Porter recipe based on Black Widow Porter from Classic Styles. I brewed this last month. Excellent beer. Dark, malty, subtle and smooth chocolate. Very well balanced. But I want more roasted coffee and chocolate flavors.
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So I did some research online and found a founders robust Porter clone. I found some and gave it a try. This is what I’m after. Very roasty and chocolatey. This is kind of based off of the clones I found online. What are your thoughts? Should I go with Munich 10 or 20? Most recipes I found used a combo of crystal 120 and carapils. I swapped out the carapils with crystal 60. Too much crystal? I liked the previous recipe with the 8% crystal malts, so I kept that percentage.
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I've had a lot of luck recently getting "chocolatey" using a mix of chocolate rye (~10%), crystal rye (~10%), and Phoenix hops. I couldn't tell you whether they need to go together, or if not, what the magic ingredient is, but it's definitely an I-can't-believe-it's-not-chocolate taste.

Kudos on getting rid of the Carapils. That stuff is the Devil's work.

I usually feel that using American crystal is a missed opportunity. If it were my beer, I'd try 4% English medium crystal and 4% DRC. Briess Extra Special could go in for the DRC, in a pinch.
 
I haven’t seen much of a difference with carapils.
Interesting. I’ve never heard of the drc. I’ll try it. So what is it about American crystal you don’t care for?
 
I haven’t seen much of a difference with carapils.
Interesting. I’ve never heard of the drc. I’ll try it. So what is it about American crystal you don’t care for?
American crystal is ok, but boring. To my taste, there's just much more going on in the English: caramel and burnt sugar, toffee, rum-raisin, and the like.

Grab some Fawcett medium crystal and some Briess 40 or 60 L, and crunch on some of the raw malt to make a comparison. That's what sold me.
 
I have been playing with cold steeping my dark malts in a porter I have brewed a couple times this winter.
Basically, put the malts in a grain bag and leave them overnight in water. Drain and add to pot at boil.
Mash everything else normally.
Really brought out the flavors of chocolate and coffee.
Took an already pretty tasty porter to wow, that is a damn good.
 
I find that Chocolate Malt tends to impart a dark roast coffee character. I have had my best chocolate flavors with a combo of Pale Chocolate (or Brown Malt), Crystal Malt, with a little Black Malt.

I tend to use Briess Crystal when I want just some clean sweetness and caramel flavors. I agree with @AlexKay about English Crystal malts giving more complexity. I have been using some Crystal Malts from Murphy & Rude (a craft maltster in Virginia) and they remind me of English Crystal malts with more toffee and dark sugar notes.

A recent American Porter recipe I made was 5% Pale Chocolate (270L) and 2.5% Dark Chocolate (425L). I felt had a bit too much dark chocolate vibe. I have a revision in the fermenter with 3.3% each of the Pale and Dark Chocolate Malts, but also 3.3% of a 300L Chocolate Wheat. Those are all malts from Murphy & Rude. I normally would not use 3 dark malts in a Porter, but it seemed like a good idea to smooth out the chocolate/roast/coffee character and also, I have been wanting to use these malt up.
 
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