Robust Porter

[Coodgee]

Don't do it.
You can achieve chocolate flavours without the cocoa. Brew beer first, tinker later.

BTW Marynka hops are great for aniseed.


Simpsons Brown is AMAZING....

can cocoa be added in secondary? does boiling it in wort do anything desirable?

 

[Dan Pratt]

From what I've read adding about 150g direct to secondary and racking onto that will extract the flavours/aromas. Some use a vodka or bourbon soak method for 48hrs before racking and that does a couple of things, kills any bugs, gets higher extraction.

Indica86,

Can you share how you get chocolate without cocao nibs?

 

[indica86]

For me this tasted quite chocolatey... witht he Marynka giving aniseed hints.

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4.50 kg Pale Malt, Ale (Barrett Burston) (5.9 EB Grain 1 68.7 %
1.00 kg Munich II (Weyermann) (16.7 EBC) Grain 2 15.3 %
0.50 kg Brown Malt (Simpsons) (295.5 EBC) Grain 3 7.6 %
0.35 kg Caraaroma (Weyermann) (350.7 EBC) Grain 4 5.3 %
0.20 kg Roasted Malt (Joe White) (1199.7 EBC) Grain 5 3.1 %
26.00 g Chinook [12.60 %] - First Wort 90.0 min Hop 6 34.7 IBUs
25.00 g Northern Brewer [5.85 %] - First Wort 90 Hop 7 15.5 IBUs
50.00 g Marynka [7.30 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 20.0 Hop 8 9.9 IBUs

 

[Dan Pratt]

^ hey, I'm unsure what exactly in that recipe gives chocolate flavour/aroma??? Roasted malt maybe a very,very slight hint, but we are talking about adding actual cocao to get actual chocolate into the beer.

What experience did you have with cocao to say don't do it? What went wrong with the beer you tried it with?

 

[Parks]

The combination of Simpsons brown malt and Roast malt will give chocolate if the IBUs stay restrained.

I'm not certain, but I reckon that last recipe is a little too bitter to be nice and chocolatey. I imagine more toffee and coffee.

 

[indica86]

OP brewing his first Porter, I was suggesting to try it without the additives. Always good in my opinion to keep it simple then go from there.
For me that beer tasted chocolatey. I have not brewed with cacao nibs or any such thing.

I brewed it twice with similar IBUs and malt bill and had similar flavours.

 

[Dan Pratt]

I do agree that for a first porter, get a basic recipe and see how you like the beer before adding other components like cocao and vanilla bean.

I've added the link for a read:

http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/formulating-and-brewing-winning-chocolate-porter

 

[Coodgee]

4.50 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 2 72.0 %
0.50 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (150.0 EBC) Grain 3 8.0 %
0.50 kg Munich Malt (15.0 EBC) Grain 4 8.0 %
0.35 kg Carafa II (450.0 EBC) Grain 5 5.6 %
0.25 kg Brown Malt (128.1 EBC) Grain 6 4.0 %
0.05 kg Black (Patent) Malt (1300.0 EBC) Grain 7 0.8 %
0.05 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 8 0.8 %
0.05 kg Special B Malt (354.6 EBC) Grain 9 0.8 %
50.00 g East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.70 %] - Boil Hop 10 27.9 IBUs
20.00 g East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.70 %] - Boil Hop 11 6.8 IBUs
20.00 g East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.70 %] - Boil Hop 12 0.9 IBUs
1.0 pkg British Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1335) [124. Yeast 13 -
This is what I have settled on. There are a few malts there but it's really only base malt, a couple of caramel malts and a few roasted malts. The added complexity comes from the small amount of Special B, the brown malt and the fact that there are 3 roasted malts instead of the usual 1 or 2. I don't think it's too crazy.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

looks good, thought you would have brewed it by now

 

[Coodgee]

looks good, thought you would have brewed it by now

my fermenting fridge was full of kegs! We had a party on the weekend and I stockpiled 5 kegs. Now I have some room in the fermenting fridge again. So it's about 25 minutes into the mash right now. is there any better smell than mashing in for a dark beer? mmmmmm

 

[Zorco]

Such a build up....What a top thread. Post up a pic of brewday Coodgee. :beerbang:

 

[Coodgee]

No pics sorry but brew day went well. 21L at 1064. It's the biggest beer I've brewed in some time. Pitched 1.5l of starter into 22 degree wort. It's got a thick krausen this morning and sitting at 19 degrees. Should be a gooden.

 

[Coodgee]

So this beer turned out pretty nice. A very big beer in terms of flavour. a bit of alcohol warmth to it. I'm brewing another porter today which is much more in the session beer end of the porter spectrum:

Estimated OG: 1.052 SG
Estimated Color: 43.8 EBC
Estimated IBU: 26.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.50 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.4 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
1.11 tsp              Baking Soda (Mash 60.0 mins)             Water Agent   1        -             
3.75 kg               Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett)  Grain         2        77.3 %        
0.42 kg               Brown Malt (128.1 EBC)                   Grain         3        8.7 %         
0.42 kg               Caramalt (Thomas Fawcett) (80.0 EBC)     Grain         4        8.7 %         
0.26 kg               Chocolate Malt (Thomas Fawcett) (650.0 E Grain         5        5.4 %         
28.00 g               Fuggles [4.20 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           6        13.4 IBUs     
12.00 g               East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.70 %] - Boil Hop           7        7.8 IBUs      
20.00 g               East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.70 %] - Boil Hop           8        4.7 IBUs      
1.0 pkg               Thames Valley Ale II (Wyeast #1882PC)    Yeast         9        -