dark christmas's smoke

[rui]

Hello to all

tomorrow i will brew a porter for next crhistmas with some rauchmalt.

here's the recipe:

dark christmas's smoke
Robust Porter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 17.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.455
Total Hops (g): 55.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.054 (°P): 13.3
Final Gravity (FG): 1.014 (°P): 3.6
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.31 %
Colour (SRM): 31.1 (EBC): 61.3
Bitterness (IBU): 37.6 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 67
Boil Time (Minutes): 90

Grain Bill
----------------
2.750 kg Pale Ale Malt (61.73%)
0.510 kg Brown Malt (11.45%)
0.500 kg Rauchmalt (11.22%)
0.250 kg Crystal 60 (5.61%)
0.225 kg Chocolate (5.05%)
0.220 kg Wheat Malt (4.94%)

Hop Bill
----------------
30.0 g Challenger Pellet (6.1% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.8 g/L)
25.0 g East Kent Golding Pellet (5.7% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (1.5 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
3.0 g Irish Moss @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 67°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with Safale S-04

what do you think about it? i would like to have some opinions??


cheers

[Rookie]

I'd use more rauch malt, maybe 2 or 3 times as much and make sure it's really fresh. I made a smoked porter a couple of years ago with some rauch malt that was a bit long in the tooth and I couldn't even tell it was there. I ended up adding some smoky tea at bottling.

[BrannigansLove]

I'd second the recommendation to up the rauchmalt. Personally I'd have at 20-25% in there, and knock the pale malt a bit. I recently made a smoked porter with 15%, and it needed more, so I've just remade it with 25% (fermenting as we speak).

[Laripu]

It looks like a good recipe.
My personal preference (and YMMV) would be to use 120L crystal, and double the amount, for a deeper dark - but - halve the chocolate malt. Maybe not even use chocolate malt, but dehusked black malt instead, 125g.

Also, I wouldn't increase the rauch malt. There's something to be said for subtlety.

All in all, yours would be a more trad porter, mine a sweeter dark ale. I've done that: have a look at the Strong American Porter recipe down the list of topics.

[rui]

Thanks for all the replays!!
I increased the rauchmalt to the double!! everything went well, just i mesured wrong the amount of water i used for the mash (i do biab), and got one litter more!! Not a problem, more beer!! And i forgot the irish moss, but the wort was clear, and S04 floculates well, so wont be a problem!!

here's the recipe:

dark christmas's smoke
Robust Porter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 18.0
Total Grain (kg): 5.065
Total Hops (g): 50.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.057 (°P): 14.0
Final Gravity (FG): 1.014 (°P): 3.6
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.60 %
Colour (SRM): 32.5 (EBC): 63.9
Bitterness (IBU): 37.9 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 67
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
2.750 kg Pale Ale Malt (54.29%)
1.000 kg Rauchmalt (19.74%)
0.510 kg Brown Malt (10.07%)
0.250 kg Crystal 60 (4.94%)
0.225 kg Chocolate (4.44%)
0.220 kg Wheat Malt (4.34%)
0.110 kg Malte Café light (2.17%)

Hop Bill
----------------
15.0 g Magnum Pellet (13% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.8 g/L)
35.0 g East Kent Golding Pellet (5.7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (1.9 g/L)

Single step Infusion at 67°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with Safale S-04

didnt had much time to take some fotos, as i was roasting some pigleys for family's restaurant at the same time i was brewing.






The princess wort having the beauty sleep (mash)






The last one of the day



and after a long day, an amerian amber ale and an AIPA from me to relax


today i checked, and its bubling away witha 5cm high krausen

cheers

[rui]

yesterday, after 10 days in the fermentor, i took a sample and had a gravity of 1014, saturday i will check it again, if its the same i will bottle it!!! but i worried with the amount of sugar i should use for priming....... 1014 its a bit high and i afraid of creating some bombs or having a fizzy porter

how much sugar should i use per liter??

[BrannigansLove]

Wow, yours has attenuated quickly. My smoked porter, that I started before you, is still at 1.022.

[rui]

which yeast did you use? usually S04 starts fast and finish it fast...but depends on temperature, mash temperature or the amount of complex malts (crystal/caramel) you use!!! mine is fermenting at 18ºC!! the sample was lovely, chocolate, coffee with a smokie background, realy nice!! not so dark like i wanted, but i can live with that!!!!

anyone helps me about priming??

[BrannigansLove]

http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

I batch prime with a bottling bucket.

The yeast I used was WLP005 which seems slightly notorious for flocculating early, and stalling as a result. I've given it a couple of swirls since the weekend to get it back in suspension, and it's come down a couple of points (was 1.024 on Saturday). I'm going to check it again tonight, and if it's down to 1.020 I'm going to cold crash it, and bottle on Saturday.

[rui]

helloo, i bottled this 10 days ago with 4.8grs of sugar per liter, because the Fg dropped 2 points!! in some days i try it and post a pic and a review!! i m sure will be smoky when bottling i tried it, and was smoky, realy smoky (bacon), with toffee, chocolate and coffee....i think at christmas will be at its best!!

[rui]

sooo, yesterday i tried this to check carbonation and because i was very curious to try it!!
i want it darker, but boil off wasnt like usually is, so was one more liter in the end (i think with one liter less would be darker), but its still a pretty beer, with a ruby color if agaisnt the light. the aroma is smoked bacon with coffee and dark chocolate. The taste continues the same, but with some toffee showing up with bitterness coming in the end!!
only has ten days in the bottle, so its still young and because i wanna keep it christmas, will have all the time to mature!! its very promising ths beer!!



Now goes to the cold and in a month i will try it again to check how is it going!!
cheers