# Chocolate Porter Recipe Help



## Norsman (3/4/07)

I've been dreaming (and salivating) over the idea of brewing a chocolate porter the past few days. I've never brewed a porter before and would appreciate some help to make an extra chocolaty drop. 

I have lots of Carafa III that I'd like to use, but how much should I use? and will this provide enough chocolate notes or should I add in some chocolate malt?

Also should I stay away from roasted barley?

Thanks. Any feedback or recipes will help out a lot.


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## major (3/4/07)

> Also should I stay away from roasted barley?



I bloody hope not. I'm brewing a porter tonight and I'm throwing some in. Haven't got the recipe at work though.

(also...is it bad form to brew on your wedding anniversary?) <_<


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## JSB (3/4/07)

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: 0009 JayBrew Rex's Choc Porter v1.0
Brewer: Jason Burdett
Asst Brewer: 
Style: Robust Porter
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 23.00 L 
Boil Size: 30.67 L
Estimated OG: 1.059 SG
Estimated Color: 31.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.4 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU 
5.25 kg BB Pale Malt (2.0 SRM) Grain 84.7 % 
0.50 kg Weyermann Melanoidin (36.0 SRM) Grain 8.1 % 
0.25 kg JWM Chocolate Malt (381.0 SRM) Grain 4.0 % 
0.20 kg Weyermann Carafa Special II (558.0 SRM) Grain 3.2 % 
60.00 gm Fuggles [5.00%] (60 min) Hops 29.1 IBU 
42.00 gm Williamette [3.40%] (20 min) Hops 8.4 IBU 
28.00 gm Williamette [3.40%] (5 min) Hops 1.8 IBU 
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 min) Misc 
1 Pkgs London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) Yeast-Ale 


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 6.20 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time 
Mash In Add 16.18 L of water at 81.6 C 68.0 C 60 min 


Notes:
------
Here my choccy porter - drinking very well......just a little under attenuated for my liking...

Cheers
JSB


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## Norsman (3/4/07)

I've been doing some reading about using cocoa to add flavour/complexity. Has anyone ever tried this?


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## GMK (3/4/07)

Dont use Cocoa...

It is not sweet - it has a bitter aftertaste.

Go with Choc essence and/or dark compound cooking choc.
I have used these before...
Compound in the boil and then the essence in secondary to give it a choc lift.


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## Maxt (3/4/07)

Be careful of cooking chocolate as it contains cocoa butter as well which will leave a fatty residue in your beer and affect head retention.


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## lokpikn (3/4/07)

GMK said:


> Dont use Cocoa...
> 
> It is not sweet - it has a bitter aftertaste.
> 
> ...





I used some belguim cocoa in my choc porter and it had a great smell but it certanlly had a bitter after taste. It 

seemed to get better the more you drank but it was so think i needed a knife and fork to drink it. I like the idea 

of the essence in the secondary.


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## Norsman (4/4/07)

Well after a jog over to the local micro, I asked for some expertise about chocolate porters (They make a beautiful example of one btw) and they reccomended me to use pure cocoa bean extract, which they sell there in their store. I got this off of their website:




> Pure chocolate extract is a unique, fat-free, natural extract of cocoa beans. It contains the volatile "top notes" which are lost in the processing of cocoa. For an ultra smooth chocolate finish in something like a Chocolate Porter or Stout, try 2 to 4 oz in a 5 gallon batch. This extract contains no fats or oils which can harm the foam retention of a beer, and simply adding a chocolate bar to the boil as some people suggest might not be the best in this aspect.



Apparently they add this extract to their Chocolate Porter and it tastes wonderful. So I believe I will have to give this a try.


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## Uncle Fester (4/4/07)

major said:


> (also...is it bad form to brew on your wedding anniversary?) <_<




surely it's no different to drinking on your wedding anniversary?

Festa


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## GMK (4/4/07)

Norseman

Should get you to send some over to me in Lyndoch


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## Norsman (4/4/07)

GMK said:


> Norseman
> 
> Should get you to send some over to me in Lyndoch



Hey GMK, I believe you can mail order it straight from them. Here's the link: www.paddockwood.com That way it will save me some minor trouble in buying and shipping to you. On the down side bottles pretty damn expensive for their size.


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## Phrak (8/5/07)

I brewed this one for last weekend's Big Brew Day (yes, I know it wasn't an "official" recipe, but so what? ). It's bubbling away at the moment. I initial tasting is very very nice 
Thanks to you all here for recipe inspiration :beer: 

```
BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com

Recipe: Big Brew Day Porter

Brewer: Tim

Asst Brewer: 

Style: Robust Porter

TYPE: All Grain

Comments:

Full Cube (concentrated) = 16L @ 18.8Brix = 1.076SG. 68% mash efficiency



Recipe Specifications

--------------------------

Batch Size: 20.00 L	  

Boil Size: 26.27 L

Estimated OG: 1.067 SG

Estimated Color: 75.9 EBC

Estimated IBU: 44.6 IBU

Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.0 %

Boil Time: 90 Minutes



Ingredients:

------------

Amount		Item										  Type		% or IBU  

3500.00 gm	Pale Malt, Traditional Ale (Joe White) (5.9 EBGrain	   55.6 %	

1500.00 gm	Munich, Light (Joe White) (17.7 EBC)		  Grain	   23.8 %	

500.00 gm	 Amber Malt (Joe White) (45.3 EBC)			 Grain	   7.9 %	 

500.00 gm	 Chocolate Malt (Joe White) (750.6 EBC)		Grain	   7.9 %	 

250.00 gm	 Crystal (Joe White) (141.8 EBC)			   Grain	   4.0 %	 

50.00 gm	  Roasted Malt (Joe White) (1199.7 EBC)		 Grain	   0.8 %	 

40.00 gm	  Fuggles [4.50%]  (90 min)					 Hops		22.0 IBU  

30.00 gm	  Goldings, East Kent [5.00%]  (60 min)		 Hops		17.1 IBU  

15.00 gm	  Fuggles [4.50%]  (15 min)					 Hops		3.8 IBU   

15.00 gm	  Goldings, East Kent [5.00%]  (5 min)		  Hops		1.7 IBU   

1.00 items	Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)			  Misc				  

1 Pkgs		SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04)		  Yeast-Ale			 





Mash Schedule: My Mash

Total Grain Weight: 6300.00 gm

----------------------------

Name			   Description						 Step Temp	 Step Time	 

Full-volume InfusioAdd 0.00 L of water at 65.0 C	   65.0 C		60 min		

Mash Out		   Heat to 75.0 C over 20 min		  75.0 C		20 min
```


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## petesbrew (9/5/07)

Phrak said:


> I brewed this one for last weekend's Big Brew Day (yes, I know it wasn't an "official" recipe, but so what? ). It's bubbling away at the moment. I initial tasting is very very nice
> Thanks to you all here for recipe inspiration :beer:
> 
> ```
> ...


We all smelt this one boiling away and are eagerly awaiting a tasting, Phrak!
petesbrew


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## barneyhanway (9/5/07)

500gm choc. wow thats a lot. let us know how it turns out?

nice tip on the cocoa bean extract! saving that nugget of information for later.

Cheers


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## drsmurto (9/5/07)

barneyhanway said:


> 500gm choc. wow thats a lot. let us know how it turns out?
> 
> Cheers



i just put 450g of choc malt and 50g of roast barley in my porter. Nice and chocolatey! Tis only a kit plus spec grain. Tastes bloody nice in secondary at the moment waiting to be bottled!


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## Phrak (9/6/07)

barneyhanway said:


> 500gm choc. wow thats a lot. let us know how it turns out?



Well, what can I say about this choc porter... How about that this was the fastest drunk brew I've ever had? or that it was one of the best beers I've ever tasted?

Suffice to say I was very happy with it :beerbang: The 500gms of choc malt worked out beautifully!

Just after fermentation, the beer was a little too roasty for my liking, but once it was chilled down and aged (for a whole week! :blink: I was in a hurry h34r it drank very very smoothly. 

v1.1 of this brew will probably up the Munich to 2kg and drop the Ale to 3kg and see how that works out. I might also try US56 instead of SafAle S-04. 
The S-04 didn't attenuate exceptionally well, only down to 1.022. Another week or two might have helped bring it down further as well, but I'd like to try the US56 out on this beer.


*Norseman*, did you get around to using the cocoa extract in a brew?

Tim.


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## Jazzafish (9/6/07)

Tim,

If this was the beer I tasted at the HBG pizza night, I have to agree with you that it was a great beer as is. 

Sure it finnished rather high gravity wise but something to consider is that the lower the final gravity, the more the roast/choc will stand out. 

Just something to keep in mind if your going for a different yeast/higher attenuation or planing on tweaking the grain bill.

Cheers,
Jarrad


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## Phrak (9/6/07)

Jazzafish said:


> If this was the beer I tasted at the HBG pizza night, I have to agree with you that it was a great beer as is.


 'Twas indeed mate. Thanks for the comp! :beer: 


> Sure it finished rather high gravity wise but something to consider is that the lower the final gravity, the more the roast/choc will stand out.
> Just something to keep in mind if your going for a different yeast/higher attenuation or planing on tweaking the grain bill


 Thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind :super: 

Tim


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