Boulevard Brewing :- Bully Porter

[Deebee]

Hi All.

I am guess ing our friends across the pond ( namely SEYMOUR) will have an idea on this.

Does anyone have any idea regarding the recipe for this BULLY PORTER from Boulevard Brewing in`?

Secondly it is bottle conditioned, so does any one know if it is primary strain in the bottle or whether it s reseeded with something else after primary fermenaion.

thanks

[Deebee]

From the website:

Malt: Pale Malt, Cara 300, Cara 120, Malted Wheat, Chocolate
Hops: Magnum, Bravo, Cascade, Athanum.

What is cara 300 and 120. Is this basically light and dark crystal.
Any other thoughts on percentages of malts

[seymour]

Wow, I never thought I'd get a Bully question from you guys. Boulevard makes lots and lots of great beers, but their Porter is especially delicious, one of my favourite "locals" (still Missouri, but several hours down highway 70.) I think I love this beer because it's so strong but balanced, lots going on but no single aspect overpowering the others, with definite English and American traits. I mean, seriously, take a look at those grains and hops, what's not to like?

How did you come across it? If Boulevard is being distributed over there, that's a positive development from their recent Belgian Moortgat-Duvel buy-out. If you liked Bully! Porter, you'll love Dark Truth Stout.

Here's what I've got in my notes. The ingredients listed on their website change slightly from time to time, but I've been drinking this beer since I came of age and haven't noticed any changes. I still insist an English ale yeast would make it even better. Can you imagine this recipe with the Ringwood Brewery dual-strain?! Hmmm…note to self…

Boulevard Bully! Porter
Boulevard Brewing - Kansas City, Missouri, USA
OG: 1058
ABV: 6.0%
IBU: 49
Colour: 66/131, opaque black
Grainbill: 65.2% English Pale, 13% Wheat Malt, 14.1% CaraMunich Malt, 5.4% Chocolate Malt, 2.2% Special-B Malt
Bittering hops: Magnum and Simcoe (60 min)
Aroma hops: Ahtanum and Cascade (10 min)
Yeast: American Ale/Chico/Sierra Nevada/Ballantine/White Labs WLP001/Wyeast 1056/Safale US-05, blah, blah, blah

[Deebee]

It was given to me by a neighbour who bought it in the state owned wine shop here in Norway. Am notna great lover of cascade but this porter was great.
Its bottle conditioned.. primary strain?

Ibu is 49 so any thoughts on hopping schedule in regard to ibu at which stage?

[Deebee]

So i managed tomplay a bit and got the grist sorted.
Hops wise i have come with a plan. The cascsde is not my favourite hop butnit was very mild and the aroma is withoubt doubt from the ahnatum
So my thinkingnis the simcoe and magnum with a bittering charge of srojnd 41 then the 10minute hops for the remaining 8. Mainly from the ahnatum.
Have harvested the yeast from the bottle but have no idea as to whether it is primary strain. MaYbe i will use edinborough to bring more malt through.
All bring well and the hops will arrive this week and the mild will be ready for tapping too..... meaning maybe friday is the day....

[seymour]

Sorry for the delay. Yes, it's bottle-conditioned, and yes it's the primary strain, but it's plain ol' American Ale/Chico/1056/WLP001 just like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which you can also buy dried as US-05, so I wouldn't bother too much with bottle-culturing it.

I honestly don't know more about the hopping schedule, but I'd personally start with enough Magnum in the full boil to do the heavy-lifting IBU-wise, Simcoe around 40 minutes to keep some of the cool flavour intact, then equal parts Cascade and Ahtanum near the end of the boil, or right at flame-out. They surely use a whirlpool after the boil and/or certrifuge after fermentation, the agitation from which extracts far more hop aroma in a short amount of time than our time-consuming homebrewing dry-hopping methods can. Take that into consideration as you will.

I'm slightly confused by your insistence that you dislike Cascade, though. Bully! Porter is a very Cascade-flavoured beer. And those grapefruit rind/black currant/piney traits which Cascade is known for...Ahtanum possesses far more of them, not less (plus some additional flowery complexity, but I digress.) But again, much of this comes down to individual perception. No matter, any combination of Magnum + Simcoe in early additions, and Cascade + Ahtanum in late additions will produce delicious beer.

[Deebee]

I guess i dont notoce the cascade as much. I fojnd the beer a little sweet as an af tertaste. Maybe thats why?

[seymour]

I guess i dont notoce the cascade as much. I fojnd the beer a little sweet as an af tertaste. Maybe thats why?

Could be. And fresher bottles are always hoppier so maybe the Cascade essence faded by the time you tasted it. Yeah, it's more caramelly-sweet and rounder overall than a dry London porter, for sure, which enables the brewer to use more hops in balance...

If you wanna lean mostly on Ahtanum, by all means go for it. Can't wait to hear how it goes. Happy brewing!

[Deebee]

Thanks.

I have no 05 at the moment so will try culturing what is in the bottle.

Otherwise i will either use nottingham or maybe even the edinborough ( wow notw that could be something)

Am planning a 10 l batch just bas a trial and to see how it turns our, so will make a seperate thread in brewdays when i get that far. The malts are all mixed up in the bucked ( which is air tight and in the dark ) so i only need to cruch, seeing as this takes little more than about 40 seconds i will crush as the strike water heats and warms the tun.

All being well ( and brew gods permitting) My interpretation of the Ported ( which will be called RAGNAROK in line with my " Nørron gods theme at the moment) will be brewed next friday.... due to the small batch and the nice amount of yeast this should ferment out quickly, leaving my brew fridge ready for a nice IPA a couple weeks after.

Thaks for your help. Watch the brewdays:)

[Deebee]

Just to revive this a tad... brewday appears to be approaching.

I have started thinking about the mash temperature. What is the concensous for this beer Seymour. Was thinking of mashng a little higher, say 67-68, the beer was sweet on the palet after the swallow and still had some body.

Do you have any thoughts?

[seymour]

...I have started thinking about the mash temperature. What is the concensous for this beer Seymour. Was thinking of mashng a little higher, say 67-68, the beer was sweet on the palet after the swallow and still had some body...

I would mash at 151-152°F/66-67°C for 60 minutes. Cheers!

[Deebee]

Brewed this today as a trial. Load of pics will get em up later. Once again i suffered too high efficiency though. 7points high

[seymour]

...Once again i suffered too high efficiency though. 7points high

My efficiency has been too low the last couple times, so I'd love to have your problem. Nice work! I think of Bully Porter as pretty dry, so don't worry about it being too fermentable. Can't wait to hear how it turns out.

Cheers!