Fixing My Too Light Porter

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Fat Bastard

Brew Cvlt Doom
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Recipe follows below. Seems there was some issue with the Brewmate Style Nazi, as it rated my original recipe as being too dark (highlighted yellow) when in actual fact it was spot on. I reduced the Crystal 60 and Black Malt additions until it was ok according to BM, but after taking a sample last night it is far too light for a Porter (the EBC in the recipe is probably about right for what it is, but it's out of style) Undershot my SG by 0.011, which is pretty off for my process, I'm normally within 0.005 either side of the target and between 79 and 83% efficiency. Something amiss with my Brewmate perhaps?

In any case, I'm thinking of doing a mini BIAB of 3-5 litres with some Black Malt and Crystal 60 and adding it to the FV on the weekend to get some colour into it. Or maybe just leaving it and seeing how it goes. It does look quite dark in the cube, but certainly too light for my idea of a porter in the sample glass.

Any sugestions?

Cheers,

FB.

Bongin Bongin Der Krampus Christmas Porter
Robust Porter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 17.0
Total Grain (kg): 5.750
Total Hops (g): 40.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.083 (P): 20.0
Final Gravity (FG): 1.021 (P): 5.3
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 8.15 %
Colour (SRM): 24.3 (EBC): 47.8
Bitterness (IBU): 46.8 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 80
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
5.000 kg Pale Malt (86.96%)
0.300 kg Crystal 60 (5.22%)
0.300 kg Vienna (5.22%)
0.150 kg Black Malt (2.61%)

Hop Bill
----------------
20.0 g Pacific Gem Pellet (13.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.2 g/L)

20.0 g Pacific Gem Pellet (13.7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (1.2 g/L)


Misc Bill
----------------
25.0 g Fruit Mince @ 60 Minutes

0.7 g Whirlfloc Tablet @ 10 Minutes (Boil)

100.0 g Fruit Mince @ 10 Minutes

Single step Infusion at 67C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 19C with WLP002 - English Ale

Notes
----------------
Christmas Pud Spiced Porter

Mashed in 18.8 l pudding water

12/19/2011 10:37:48 PM : after 48 hours primary fermentation 9.5 brix corrected to 1.016 in brewmate. Not very dark. No Krausen evident. Good pud aroma though

Recipe Generated with BrewMate
 
If you think it's off and know how to fix it, then fix it.

If you're not sure, leave it or just test a bit (proportionally) and see.
 
If you think it's off and know how to fix it, then fix it.

If you're not sure, leave it or just test a bit (proportionally) and see.


Thanks manticle, sounds like you're validating my idea. I guess I'm just Truman-ing for reassurance. It might be worthwhile giving it a couple of extra weeks in the FV to see how it tastes anyway, given I'm not sure how to deal with the WLP-002 either. That stuff seems to drop out like snot made of lead, and I don't trust the brewmate conversion calc or the table that's been posted here about one million times. My FG's always end up way lower. (using US-05 anyway!)
 
Thing about beer is that you can actually tweak it once FG is reached. Nothing is set in stone so don't be afraid to **** with it. Also don't **** with it too much.

Most of all though - don't expect every batch to be a winner. You can tweak it now or tweak it next time - most important thing ist to know what and why you are tweaking.
 
I did the same with a rye porter. Got 1.068 instead of 1.076, because I used 12 kg in the Braumester and my efficiency was up to shit. It was dark enough though. I did the cold steep method with the dark grains for 24 hrs and it worked out sweet but the S.G problem is something that i'll have to live with for the rest of my life....
Question is will your F.G make a big difference on your pallet and how fucked you get after a beer? You can always balance these things after or before fermentation but there are always things you can do to fix colour or style.
 
You could always steep some more crystal/choc/black and add it to the wort at some stage. no issue there

You could also add some treacle in there to up the fermentables and darken it a touch. Would work nicelt with the fruit mince I'd imagine
 
I like the idea of adding some treacle. I have a tin of Tate and Lyle treacle in the cupboard. It tastes pretty strong though. I suspect 50g might be a good starting amount, and I guess I can give it some more in a week or so if it needs it.

The WLP-002 seems to have fermented out to 1.016 (corrected in BM) from 1.073 in 4 days without doing anything. There doesn't appear to be a krausen or anything, and it's been steady for the last 2 days. Is that normal for that yeast?
 

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