PoPo Brown Porter

[koomber]

In yet another attempt to make a dark beer that I like, I'm trying my hand at a brown porter.


Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.45 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter 2013 (3.0 SRM) Grain 77.53 %
0.40 kg Brown Malt 2013 (76.1 SRM) Grain 8.99 %
0.25 kg Amber Malt 2011 (53.3 SRM) Grain 5.62 %
0.25 kg Pale Chocolate Malt 2013 (266.5 SRM) Grain 5.62 %
0.10 kg Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 2.25 %
14.00 gm Target [12.50 %] (60 min) Hops 18.5 IBU
10.00 gm Fuggles [4.60 %] (15 min) Hops 5.6 IBU


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 4.45 kg
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 11.61 L of water at 165.9 F 154.0

Wanting to get a smooth roasty character, without the toastyness I'd associate with a stout, hence going for the pale chocolate, although I am thinking about cranking up the amount). Got me some oats in there too, in the hope that it will help smooooth out the mouthfeel. I may increase the amount of bittering hops slightly to offset the speciality malts.

At the moment I'm planning fermenting with US-05 yeast, since it is a medium attenuating yeast which should help give it some residual sweetness (which as I mentioned I might increase the amount of hops for)

[Rookie]

In yet another attempt to make a dark beer that I like, I'm trying my hand at a brown porter.
Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.45 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter 2013 (3.0 SRM) Grain 77.53 %
0.40 kg Brown Malt 2013 (76.1 SRM) Grain 8.99 %
0.25 kg Amber Malt 2011 (53.3 SRM) Grain 5.62 %
0.25 kg Pale Chocolate Malt 2013 (266.5 SRM) Grain 5.62 %
0.10 kg Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 2.25 %
14.00 gm Target [12.50 %] (60 min) Hops 18.5 IBU
10.00 gm Fuggles [4.60 %] (15 min) Hops 5.6 IBU
At the moment I'm planning fermenting with US-05 yeast, since it is a medium attenuating yeast which should help give it some residual sweetness (which as I mentioned I might increase the amount of hops for)

I'd dump the amber malt and increase the brown. Regular chocolate malt works well with brown in a porter. Increase the oats.
I don't know about S-05 being a medium attenuating yeast, I always get close to , sometimes over, 80%.

[koomber]

Bugger. I had a look around and found some people who said they got about 70-75% Attenuation from it. Checked the manufacturers sheet and they say it is closer to 80%! And I've already got the starter on. Urk. Wonder what the best way to proceed would be...

Higher mash temperature?

[orlando]

Traditionally a lot of Porters often used a lot of Amber and as you are looking for residual sweetness I would leave it in. You say you are after smoothness to the darker grains, have you thought of steeping them separately from the mash? There are no diastatic properties in the brown or chocolate malt so it won't affect the mash conversion. I would go for a cold steep (in treated water) for 24 hours before you need it, warm up separately to boil temperature and then add to the main boil 10 minutes before the end.

I find Target quite a harsh bittering hop so would keep the charge as it is and use it as first wort. I would also avoid a US yeast, go instead for a more fruity English Ale yeast, something like Fullers, this will make for a much more earthy flavour and much more like the brew you associate with a Porter. I would up the oats to more like 200g to give it that extra chewiness and smoothness that will have your mates astounded that a dark beer could be that unctuous and satisfying!

Finally, I notice you are using Beersmith for recipe construction. You can change the weight measurement to 3 decimal places, which I found less confusing, particularly when having odd amounts of grain, .325 say instead of.32. You can also change to centigrade rather than fahrenheit.

[koomber]

Good advice Orlando, I've already got the US-05 in a starter. I think I might swap to doing another American IPA this week (all Cascade) with it and postpone the Brown Porter till next week.

I was't really sure about the amount of oats to add, but about 5% seemed reasonable. I think I've seen people on here who put them in everything because of the effect on their beers.

I'll give the cold soak a try too. Doesn't hurt to try new techniques!

[koomber]

On the other hand (with regards to the yeast) I would like the malt to be the star of the show in this, so a clean fermenting yeast might be a good idea (rather than get too much in the way of esters, etc.) what do you think about increasing the mash temperature, say going for the Full bodied mash profile in beersmiht (mash at around 70°C (158F).

[oz11]

I'd not hesitate recommending Ron P's: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=56792

No amber, but brown, black & crystal malts. Bloomin' nice stuff!

[orlando]

On the other hand (with regards to the yeast) I would like the malt to be the star of the show in this, so a clean fermenting yeast might be a good idea (rather than get too much in the way of esters, etc.) what do you think about increasing the mash temperature, say going for the Full bodied mash profile in beersmiht (mash at around 70°C (158F).

Well that high a mash might make it a bit too cloying 68-69 tops I would say, but you might try it and see what happens, you want a bit of alcohol in it . I disagree with you on the yeast though, I think you should go for a London style yeast, this was after all the "home" of Porter, maybe just make sure the ferment doesn't go over 20c. Best one I've made to date used Fullers yeast "reclaimed" from 4 bottles of Bengal Lancer and stepped up.

[koomber]

On the other hand (with regards to the yeast) I would like the malt to be the star of the show in this, so a clean fermenting yeast might be a good idea (rather than get too much in the way of esters, etc.) what do you think about increasing the mash temperature, say going for the Full bodied mash profile in beersmiht (mash at around 70°C (158F).

Well that high a mash might make it a bit too cloying 68-69 tops I would say, but you might try it and see what happens, you want a bit of alcohol in it . I disagree with you on the yeast though, I think you should go for a London style yeast, this was after all the "home" of Porter, maybe just make sure the ferment doesn't go over 20c. Best one I've made to date used Fullers yeast "reclaimed" from 4 bottles of Bengal Lancer and stepped up.

Hmmm. why not both? I was wanting to do a 2 corny batch of this stuff (one for me and one for a mate) but things are a bit tight on the fermenter side, so I'll do an American Pale as my next recipe (to use the US-05) then once that has fermented, I should have some more Fermentation vessels free to do the Porter. I'll then do one corny with the US-05 and one corny with an English Ale strain (I might even spring for a White Labs. With any luck my new yeast slanting gear will be here by then). That way I can do an empircial piss up to see what the differences are. For consistency I'll use the medium mash profile.

[Barley Water]

If you want to make a beer with a fair amount of residual sugar (ie; sweeter) then the best way to do that would be to use a yeast strain with does not attenuate all that well. If you jack up the mash temperature you will generate unfermentable dextrins which will add to the mouthfeel of the beer but because they are relatively tasteless will not necessarily lead to a sweeter beer (especially if you ferment with a good attenuator like the Chico strain for instance). I agree with a previous poster, since you guys over there are the home of porter, why not use a traditional UK yeast? If I want a British yeast strain and dry beer I usually go with WLP013, if I want less attenuation my go to strain is WLP002 (Fuller's). In my humble opinion, a great English porter should have the roast and toast flavors that the brown malt and chocolate malts bring to the table but there should also be some sweet caramel flavors which you get by using more than a little good English crystal malt. If you are lucky and God is smiling on you, the yeast you choose will give you just a touch of diacetyl and that really works well with the afore mentioned flavors, sort of a buttered toffee sort of effect. I just got back from Bend, Oregon here in the states, home of Deshuttes maker of among other things Black Butte Porter. That stuff is very good and the house yeast they use has been described as being very much like the Ringwood strain. That stuff is particular but it will attenuate while at the same time giving you the nice yeast derived flavors including a touch of diacetyl (and if you screw up and don't treat it nice it will give you a butter bomb). Anyhow, porter is a great style, enjoy and good luck.

[oakwell]

if you haven't seen this it's well worth a look
http://beersmith.com/blog/2011/11/10/po ... odcast-26/

[orlando]

On the other hand (with regards to the yeast) I would like the malt to be the star of the show in this, so a clean fermenting yeast might be a good idea (rather than get too much in the way of esters, etc.) what do you think about increasing the mash temperature, say going for the Full bodied mash profile in beersmiht (mash at around 70°C (158F).

Well that high a mash might make it a bit too cloying 68-69 tops I would say, but you might try it and see what happens, you want a bit of alcohol in it . I disagree with you on the yeast though, I think you should go for a London style yeast, this was after all the "home" of Porter, maybe just make sure the ferment doesn't go over 20c. Best one I've made to date used Fullers yeast "reclaimed" from 4 bottles of Bengal Lancer and stepped up.

Hmmm. why not both?

See Barley Water's comments above.

I was wanting to do a 2 corny batch of this stuff (one for me and one for a mate) but things are a bit tight on the fermenter side, so I'll do an American Pale as my next recipe (to use the US-05) then once that has fermented, I should have some more Fermentation vessels free to do the Porter. I'll then do one corny with the US-05 and one corny with an English Ale strain (I might even spring for a White Labs. With any luck my new yeast slanting gear will be here by then). That way I can do an empircial piss up to see what the differences are. For consistency I'll use the medium mash profile.

That's just the sort of experiment that I like, control for everything else and change just one variable. If you can do that you will have more to say on this than most, just make sure you do a brew day post and keep us updated on your findings.