RecipeDB - REAL Chocolate Porter

[Fourstar]

REAL Chocolate Porter

Porter - Robust Porter
All Grain

4 Votes

Brewer's Notes

Add cocoa 5 minutes before flame out

Malt & Fermentables

%	KG	Fermentable
	4.5 kg	JWM Traditional Ale Malt
	1 kg	JWM Light Munich
	0.5 kg	JWM Crystal 140
	0.4 kg	Weyermann Carafa Special II
	0.1 kg	JWM Roast Barley

Hops

Time	Grams	Variety	Form	AA
	50 g	Goldings, East Kent (Pellet, 5.0AA%, 60mins)
	20 g	Fuggles (Pellet, 4.5AA%, 20mins)
	10 g	Goldings, East Kent (Pellet, 5.0AA%, 0mins)
	10 g	Fuggles (Pellet, 4.5AA%, 0mins)

Yeast

1 g

DCL Yeast US-05 - American Ale

Misc

	100 g	Unsweetened cocoa
	0.5 tablet	Whirfloc

23L Batch Size

Brew Details

• Original Gravity 1.062 (calc)
• Final Gravity 1.016 (calc)
• Bitterness 31.2 IBU
• Efficiency 70%
• Alcohol 5.99%
• Colour 83 EBC
• Batch Size 23L

Fermentation

• Primary 7 days
• Secondary 7 days
• Conditioning 4 days

 

[tallie]

I'm planning on giving this a go on the weekend and am wondering what a suitable mash temperature would be? I have a separate mash tun and will be batch sparging after 60 minutes. I wouldn't mind if it's on the sweeter side, so I'm thinking somewhere around 68C. Does this sound reasonable?

Cheers,
Kris.

 

[MCT]

Mashing higher won't give you a beer that is alot sweeter, it mainly just adds body to a beer. The longer chain dextrins don't have alot of sweetness or so I've been told.
To get a sweeter beer you either need to reduce your IBU's or use a yeast with a attenuation rate that is a little lower.

In saying that though, you need a decent amount of body in a porter so I reckon 68c would be good.

 

[Fourstar]

Go for a 68 deg mash temp.

Ive slightly adjusted the recipe as it ended up being slightly harsh on the palate with the black patent.. rather ashy actually. I aLso subbed the JW choc malt for all Carafa Special II. Allot smoother to rid some of that husky harshness it had.

Up the Cocoa to 100g and add it at whirlpool/flameout or if you are feeling naughty, direct to the fermenter/no chill cube... this is where the Choc flavour will come out.. not sitting on the bottom of your kettle. if you are adding to your fermenter. pop it in boiling water /pasturise for 15 mins to be on the safe side.


Other than that Rock and roll! This recipe was a rather sweetish porter so it will probably match what you are after. I had a higher than avg attenuation and brewhouse ewfficiency so it ended up being 6.8%.. a slight alcoholic warmth to it.. if it comes out at 6%.. i think she will be just right!

 

[MattC]

Interested to Know Fourstar, Im planning a chocolate stout. Is the chocolate character very noticeable? My wife and I recently tried a Youngs Double Choc stout, we both loved it, her especially. She is commisioning me to make something similar.

 

[Fourstar]

Imo the choc will shine if you add some vanilla to it. It tastes more like bittersweet dark chocolate/cocoa than everyday chocolate if you get me.. adding a spice like vanilla will heighten the aroma (which is what gets the flavour going) of the chocolate.

Also IMO, using grain like carafa special is allot better than the everyday choc malts in this beer due to there being no barkey husk and you get less grain astringency, making a smoother beer on the palate rather than being sharp.

 

[drsmurto]

Interested to Know Fourstar, Im planning a chocolate stout. Is the chocolate character very noticeable? My wife and I recently tried a Youngs Double Choc stout, we both loved it, her especially. She is commisioning me to make something similar.

Youngs Double Choc Stout contains choc essence...... presumably adding during the bottling stage.

 

[Katherine]

Imo the choc will shine if you add some vanilla to it. It tastes more like bittersweet dark chocolate/cocoa than everyday chocolate if you get me.. adding a spice like vanilla will heighten the aroma (which is what gets the flavour going) of the chocolate.

Also IMO, using grain like carafa special is allot better than the everyday choc malts in this beer due to there being no barkey husk and you get less grain astringency, making a smoother beer on the palate rather than being sharp.

Or chilli chocolate.....

how did the cocoa turn out FourStar? Probably the best way Im thinking. I remember in my kit days making a dark ale adding chocolate chunks to the bottle! mmm big mistake.

I remember reading about cocoa and its the 100% stuff you need but really hard to get.

 

[MattC]

Imo the choc will shine if you add some vanilla to it. It tastes more like bittersweet dark chocolate/cocoa than everyday chocolate if you get me.. adding a spice like vanilla will heighten the aroma (which is what gets the flavour going) of the chocolate.

When do add the vanilla, into boil, primary or keg?

 

[MCT]

What form is the vanilla you would use? Essence or say a whole vanilla bean?

 

[geoffi]

What form is the vanilla you would use? Essence or say a whole vanilla bean?

Haven't done one of these brews myself, but I'd think vanilla extract would work. Easier to use than beans, and much better flavour than essence.

 

[Katherine]

Haven't done one of these brews myself, but I'd think vanilla extract would work. Easier to use than beans, and much better flavour than essence.

Use the paste....

 

[Fourstar]

id go vanilla bean, split or extract. If going for essense/extract id do a trail 1st into a glass of commercial porter and scale up form there into the keg.

vanilla bean added to the kettle at flamout and transferred to the fermenter too. keep it there as long as you can i'd say.

The cocoa flavour was noticable, if it wasnt there you could probably tell. it got a 35 from memory at least years VICbrew in the specialty/spice category. Notes said choc was noticable but lacking. so upping the coca to 100g should suffice.

 

[tallie]

Go for a 68 deg mash temp.

Ive slightly adjusted the recipe as it ended up being slightly harsh on the palate with the black patent.. rather ashy actually. I aLso subbed the JW choc malt for all Carafa Special II. Allot smoother to rid some of that husky harshness it had.

Up the Cocoa to 100g and add it at whirlpool/flameout or if you are feeling naughty, direct to the fermenter/no chill cube... this is where the Choc flavour will come out.. not sitting on the bottom of your kettle. if you are adding to your fermenter. pop it in boiling water /pasturise for 15 mins to be on the safe side.

Other than that Rock and roll! This recipe was a rather sweetish porter so it will probably match what you are after. I had a higher than avg attenuation and brewhouse ewfficiency so it ended up being 6.8%.. a slight alcoholic warmth to it.. if it comes out at 6%.. i think she will be just right!

Thanks for the tips! When I said sweet, I guess I was thinking more the opposite of dry, so yeah, fuller bodied is probably what I should have said.

I only just had enough Carafa Special II for the original recipe, so I think I'll stick with 200g each of Choc/Carafa. I'll drop the Roast down to 100g as suggested and rock and roll with the 100g cocoa in the NC cube :super:

Thanks again for the original recipe and suggestions - I'm really looking forward to this one!

Cheers,
Kris.

 

[Fourstar]

I only just had enough Carafa Special II for the original recipe, so I think I'll stick with 200g each of Choc/Carafa. I'll drop the Roast down to 100g as suggested and rock and roll with the 100g cocoa in the NC cube
Thanks again for the original recipe and suggestions - I'm really looking forward to this one!
Cheers,
Kris.

Yeah no problems, as i said.. just a suggestion. I feel it would be a better beer for it thats all As for the roast.. if its black/patent i'd drop it to 50g.. if its roast barley.. stick with the 100g. If you get unlucky with a uber high attenuation (which you shouldnt by doing a high mash temp) it might finish too dry and the roat character of the black malt will push forward..

Cheers!

 

[churchy]

My last AG was a chocolate stout.My OG was 1050 but my FG was 1030.I mashed at 68-70 degrees.Would a lower mash temp be better say 65 degrees?


Cheers Andrew

 

[Fourstar]

My last AG was a chocolate stout.My OG was 1050 but my FG was 1030.I mashed at 68-70 degrees.Would a lower mash temp be better say 65 degrees?
Cheers Andrew

I'd say your thermometer is stuffed or a fermentation issue. 70 deg shouldnt riddle you with an app attenuation of 40%~

 

[tallie]

This brew turned out fantastic! I must have forgot to update my notes before the brew, because the 100g cocoa went into the kettle at 5 mins before flame-out. It came out what I would consider to be almost a double-chocolate taste with little roast flavour present. Efficiency and attenuation were just under what the recipe predicted (1060-1016.5), leaving me with something around the 5.7% mark.

Next time I'll give the vanilla a go, as I think it would compliment the flavour very well.

Cheers,
Kris.