Long awaited Plum Porter - without plums!

[GeeThom]

Finally got round to making my Plum porter sans plums. the idea is to get as much flavour from the ingredients and yeast.
Started on Tuesday morning 19/1//2015

Target OG 1048.7
Volume 40 litres
ABV 4.9%
IBU 30 ish
Colour Deep red rather than black

Grain bill

Pale malt 7.1 Kg 84%
Special B 0.60 Kg 6%
Caramalt 0.285 Kg 3.5%
Black malt 0.10 Kg 2%
Chocolate wheat 0.06 Kg 0.5%
Flaked oats 0.30Kg 3%

Hops

Magnum 30g @60 mins
Bramling cross 20g @15 mins
endeavour 20g @15 mins
Bramling cross 20g @5 mins
endeavour 20g @5 mins
Bramling cross 20g @flame out steep for 20 mins
endeavour 20g @flame out steep for 20 mins

Dry hop 20g of each at end of fermentation


Here the usual grain shot

Mashed at 67C for 60 mins, ratio 2.7/1 water

Looked nice and clear when sparging and nice ruby red colour like a deep brown ale.

Boiled for 60 minutes and used my newly constructed Immersion chiller,
My 100 litre kettle is less than half full so I had to make a chiller that was submersed.

Hers a shot of the test sample for OG. Got a volume of 40 litres @ 1051 so slightly over and I expect ABV of 4.9%

Started fermentation with 2 packs of US-04 at 19°C, bubbling within 2 -3 hours
Kept in fermentation fridge at 19°C for 2 days and after 48 hours down to 1012 (Thursday)
Slight bitter taste but fruity.
Reduced fridge to 14°C and added auxillary finings left for 2 days

Checked this today (Sunday)and its a lovely deep ruby red colour darker than a brown ale and verging on being not dark enough for a porter but I wanted a deep red so I'm happy. I have just added the dry hops and already there is a slight hint of chocolate and a deep raisin, almost Christmas cake type flavour, sort of what I was aiming for. The bitterness has faded and the texture is quite smooth probably from the flaked oats but not too thin.I was going to add vanilla paste at end of boil but forgot but it will not be missed as it is..

I have reduced fridge to about 5°C for about 1 week and will then rack, prime and bottle. I may add just a few drops of plum essence just before bottling more for the aroma than the flavour. I am hoping for a nice creamy head also.

My aim was to get a deep fruity porter (plummish maybe) from the special B malt, bramling cross and endeavour hops and so far it's looking good. I think the US-04 has helped with the fruitiness.

[Bunglebrewsbeer]

Sounds good.

[aamcle]

I bough one from lidel it was awful !!
A decent porta messed. Up


Aamcle

[GeeThom]

I know it sounds daft but I am not a porter fan myself but I have tried the Titanic plum porter which is a big favorite round here.
If anything that tastes too much of plums, Titanic add plum extract at the end. This is why I am avoiding the over the top plum flavour but will add just a hint of essence for a bit of aroma.
At the moment it has a chocolat note with nice fruit background and for me a non porter fan it is eminently drinkable.
i really made it just to see if I could but I am sure it will get drunk around Christmas.

[DaveyT]

Looks awesome. Good job!