Robust Porter

The robust porter I outlined below has turned out pretty well. Very clean and flavorful. One of the better beers I have brewed. It seems that ever since I have been treating my water the beers have been getting better as well.

My basic water additions are 7g of calcium carbonate, 1.5 grams of Epsom Salt, and 1.5 grams of Baking Soda for about 8 to 10 gallons of water (inclusive of water that goes into the mash, of course). This is to replicate Munich water starting with a base of very mineral-less water (which seems to be my local water). The reason I want to replicate Munich water is due to the fact it tastes so good coming straight out of the tap. And, since beer is mostly water, this is a good starting point. In general this has worked for my darker beers, and even the weissbiers. I figured that the Munich brewers were using local untreated water for their weiss as well as their dunkels, so RA may not be as big a factor... Who knows.

A long time ago I had started using Campden tablets to rid the water of chlorine and chloramine. This has been working wonderfully. No need for water filters here...

It's been a while, how poor of me

Anyhow, drool over this -> Two boils, one batch sparge. You can see where the chiller went in on the boiling sections by the dip in temperature. Below, I will post the recipe i made, it is a Jamil "Robust Porter", pitched US-05.

RobustPorter 29_9_07

12-B Robust Porter

Size: 5.44 gal

Efficiency: 60%

Attenuation: 80.5%

Calories: 197.16 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.060 (1.048 - 1.065)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (1.012 - 1.016)

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Color: 29.01 (22.0 - 35.0)

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Alcohol: 6.31% (4.8% - 6.0%)

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Bitterness: 31.6 (25.0 - 50.0)

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Ingredients:

11.5 lb 2-Row Brewers Malt

1.5 lb Munich Malt

1.5 lb Crystal Malt 40°L

.5 lb Black Malt

.75 lb Chocolate Malt

2 oz East Kent Goldings - 4.5% (4.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min

.75 oz East Kent Goldings - 4.5% (4.5%) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 78.0 °F

Source Water: 78.0 °F

Elevation: 0.0 m

00:03:00 Mash In - Liquor: 4.33 gal; Strike: 170 °F; Target: 153 °F

01:03:00 Rest - Rest: 60.0 min; Final: 149.0 °F

01:04:00 Infusion - Water: 8.02 L; Temperature: 194.2 °F; Target: 162 °F

01:34:00 Sparge - FirstRunnings: 0.0 L sparge @ 168.0 °F, 4.07 gal collected, 15 min; Second: 4.1 gal sparge @ 170 °F, 4.1 gal collected, 15 min; Total Runoff: 8.35 gal

Notes:

Put some comments here:

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.1.0.6-alpha

Breaking in a New System

So of course, when I brewed my first batch, my efficiency was poor. Now, the first element I am going to blame this on is the crush. The grains were very coarse in comparison with my previous all-grain brews. My crushed grains are typically more powdery in texture... this time is was not. I know, I need to get a grain mill.

I broke in the system with a Weissbier. Here is the recipe, it is simple, sweet, and should work out just fine. I used WLP300 for the yeast. Good things have been said of WLP380, next time I will probably try it.

Weissbier 22_5_07

15-A Weizen/Weissbier

Size: 16.36 L

Efficiency: 66.0%

Attenuation: 76.0%

Calories: 166.62 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.050 (1.044 - 1.052)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (1.010 - 1.014)

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Color: 4.5 (2.0 - 8.0)

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Alcohol: 5.0% (4.3% - 5.6%)

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Bitterness: 13.17 (8.0 - 15.0)

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Ingredients:

4.75 lbs Pale Wheat Malt

4.75 lbs Pilsner Malt

0.75 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh (3.2%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min

0.5 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh (3.2%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min

1.0 ea White Labs WLP300 Hefewizen Ale

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 70 °F

Source Water: 70.0 °F

Elevation: 0.0 m

00:10:10 Mash In - Liquor: 6.62 L; Strike: 137.7 °F; Target: 120 °F

00:30:10 Rest - Rest: 20 min; Final: 118.0 °F

00:31:10 Infusion - Water: 7.85 L; Temperature: 194.8 °F; Target: 154.0 °F

01:31:10 Sac. Rest - Rest: 60 min; Final: 148.7 °F

02:01:10 Sparge - FirstRunnings: 0.0 L sparge @ 168 °F, 7.19 L collected, 15 min; Second: 9.5 L sparge @ 200 °F, 9.5 L collected, 15 min; Total Runoff: 17.09 L

Notes:

Put some comments here:

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.26

In Colorado

... is where I am at the moment. I have a chance now to taste a local "Colorado" beer. I saw in the latest Zymurgy (I think), that there is a brewery called Breckenridge. I wanted to try one of their IPAs or APAs, but the local liquor shop only had a Vanilla Porter, and one other one that I forgot the name of.

So, I decided to go with 5 Barrel Pale Ale from O'Dell Brewing in Fort Collins, CO. First, the aroma seemed a little stale, so I checked the date, and it is 061507, which means it is almost expired. I suppose. There is no noticeably distinct hop aroma or flavor in it, so I suspect a huge blend. Ok, so on the bottle it says that they run it through a hop-back, and that 4 hops are added in the boil. I would expect much bigger aroma, but again, the beer might be old. It tasted fine, fairly similar to SNPA. I am not a BJCP judge or anything (yet), so I will not go through the ratings for aroma, flavor, appearance, etc...

The Ordinary Bitter

turned out pretty well. The FG was a little higher than I wanted (1.016). This was completely out of my control because the extract brand/make determines this, not myself. If I would have mashed this, it would have dropped below 1.010, as have most of my previous brews. This was due to low mashing temperatures, and the use of US-05 (previously US-56).

I ended up having to use a packet of US-05, because I did not make a starter on the WLP002. After almost 24 hours, there was little if any airlock activity, so I could not risk things, and pitched the cal ale yeast. I do not think this was a problem, because the yeast is fairly flavorless, and there is also a whole vial of "50/50 alive/dead" WLP002 to add some of the correct flavor in there.

The beer has turned out good. This has to have been my fastest turnaround ever as far as the "boil->bottle->drinking" time is concerned. The whole process was 2 weeks. Not bad in my opinion.

The only thing i wish that could have gone better is the MoreBeer Marris Otter extract finishing out a little drier. I know that US-05 can attenuate 80%, at least... so it is the extract that has the problem.

BTW, the beer tastes great, I carbonated it a 1.3 volumes CO2.

Short Lived

...was my brewing haitus... I wanted a low alcohol (session) beer, so I had to come back to brewing. Since I needed to do something easy (because of a lack of supplies), I made an extract batch of Ordinary Bitter. This is Jamil's recipe (converted from All-Grain), and I only made some small modifications to it to accomodate batch size. The original recipe is here. Otherwise, this is a tried and true recipe, and I look forward to drinking it. I hope it ferments quickly.

A note, the OG turned out a little higher than I had wanted... no problem though, I can handle the higher alcohol content. The beer is supposed to be under 3.8% or so. Also, this is scaled down to a 4.5 gallon batch... I could not do 5 gallons (not enough bottles, LOL)

Here it is.

Ordinary Bitter

8-A Standard/Ordinary Bitter

Size: 4.49 gal

Efficiency: ----%

Attenuation: 76.8%

Calories: 138.74 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.042 (1.032 - 1.040)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.010 (1.007 - 1.011)

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Color: 14.1 (4.0 - 14.0)

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Alcohol: 4.21% (3.2% - 3.8%)

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Bitterness: 32.2 (25.0 - 35.0)

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Ingredients:

5 lbs Liquid Light (English Pale) MoreBeer

.5 lbs Crystal Malt 120°L

.25 lbs Special Roast Malt

0.8 oz East Kent Goldings (5.4%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min

0.5 oz East Kent Goldings (5.4%) - added during boil, boiled 30 min

0.5 oz East Kent Goldings (5.4%) - added during boil, boiled 1 min

1 ea White Labs WLP002 English Ale

Notes:

Put some comments here:

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.25

Brewing Haitus

I have not brewed in over a month or so. The itch to do it again is being felt, but due to my current circumstances, I may have to wait a few more weeks. At least I am still drinking homebrew.

I shall return!

Some Updates

After another week or so, the Chocolate Hazelnut Porter's roastiness has really mellowed out. It is quite amazing what one week can do for this particular beer in the bottle.

I have opened a bottle of the "Weizenbock accident", and the beer is superb. It is basically a weak Weizenbock. Not quite dunkelweizen, but supremely smooth and drinkable. Even though the FG fell below 1.010, it seems to have very good body. This must be due to a good percentage of wheat (I think I was a hair over 60% or so). I did not have high hopes for it, but it has turned out much better than expected.

I believe I still owe all of these great beers to the Munich tap water. This is by far the best tasting water I have ever drank (this includes all bottled water as well). When brewing in other cities, I vow to replicate this water as best I can. I know the RA is for darker beers, but if I need to make a lighter beer, I guess I could try to get many of the minerals as close as possible, while keeping the RA down.

I must admit, if the above sounds crazy, it is because I do not know much about water chemistry. Soon enough I will need to start mucking with it.

Chocolate Hazelnut Porter/Stout is OK

The CHP I brewed turned out fine. It was a little roastier than I would like it to be, so maybe next time I would cut back a little on the chocolate malt, and roasted barley. The amount of unsweetened chocolate I used seemed to be fine. I can taste it, but it is not overwhelming--- in the background.

However, I have a bit of trouble tasting any hazelnut. If I concentrate, maybe I can pick out the flavor, but I think it is more of a mental taste, then a physical one. So, next time I should up the amount of hazelnut extract.

Messed up my Weizenbock

So it will end up being a Dunkelweizen. Funny how these things turn out. I am sure it will end up being quite a tasty Dunkelweizen, because it smelled sehr gut.

The only reason it is not a bock, is because a missed my OG by a few points. I was aiming toward the much lighter side of a bock, but since I missed it (first time I have done wheat, and the percentage was 60%+ of the total grain), it is into weissbier territory. This being said, the IBUs will be a little higher as well, I am sure.

Here is the recipe... I think it will turn out great! Note that it was a small batch, with the final volume being near 10L.

Dunkelweizen in Munich

15-B Dunkelweizen

Size: 10.22 L

Efficiency: 70.18%

Attenuation: 80.5%

Calories: 178.11 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.054 (1.044 - 1.056)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.010 - 1.014)

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Color: 15.3 (13.0 - 14.0)

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Alcohol: 5.7% (4.3% - 5.6%)

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Bitterness: 23.85 (10.0 - 18.0)

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Ingredients:

3.6 lbs Wheat Malt

1.3 lbs Pilsner Malt

0.5 lbs Munich TYPE I

0.33 lbs Caramunich® TYPE II

0.09 lbs Chocolate Malt

0.02 lbs Roasted Barley

0.38 oz Hallertau Tradition (8%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min

0.11 oz Hallertau Tradition (8.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15 min

1.0 ea White Labs WLP300 Hefewizen Ale

Schedule:

00:03:00 Mash In - Liquor: 4.14 L; Strike: 134.2 °F; Target: 122 °F

00:23:00 Protein Rest - Rest: 20 min; Final: 118.8 °F

00:24:00 Infusion - Water: 4.0 L; Temperature: 211.8 °F; Target: 157 °F

01:24:00 Sac Rest - Rest: 60 min; Final: 147.8 °F

01:25:00 Infusion - Water: 2.61 L; Temperature: 212 °F; Target: 160.9 °F

01:55:00 Sparge - FirstRunnings: 0.0 L sparge @ 168.0 °F, 7.0 L collected, 15 min; Second: 7.0 L sparge @ 170 °F, 7 L collected, 15 min; Total Runoff: 14.0 L

Notes:

Put some comments here:

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.22

Bottling Day... and running out of DME

Yes, I am running out of DME as my priming agent. Since I do not have a LHBS nearby, I am going to have to resort to table sugar to do the work. It has been a while since I have done this, but, I am sure things will be fine.

I am going to bottle the CHP I made a couple of weeks ago... and again, I am worried about the amount of Roasted Barley I added. So, I will be giving it a taste later this afternoon.

I have this deep fear that somehow I will forget to add the hazelnut extract to the bottling bucket. Luckily I got plenty of sleep this morning, so my mind should be sharp enough to avoid that catastrophe.

Chocolate Hazelnut Porter/Stout

After doing some research, I have determined what the difference between a stout and a porter is. The reason for the research, was due to limited grain resources on hand. Currently I have these grains in stock:

• Weizen (Wheat)
• Pilsner
• Wiener (Vienna)
• Munich
• Caramunich II
• Carapils
• Chocolate Malt
• Roasted Barley

Now, I have wanted to make Jamil's CHP (Chocolate Hazelnut Porter) for a long time. Due to some forethought on my part, I made sure early on that I acquired Hazelnut extract, although I did not put enough forethought into what specialty grains/malts I should have on hand though. So at the end of the day, I am not able to brew Jamil's recipe, but a clone of a microbrew porter with the CH part.

The difference between a porter and a stout... the differences I am concerned about are the ones pertinent to this recipe. I could substitute (or have) everything but one ingredient, Black Patent Malt. Porters are "all malt", while stouts can have things other than malt (like "Roasted Barley).

So, I do have roasted barley. I thumbed through BYOs recent clone recipes magazine, and found a porter that contains ingredients that I have on hand. Now, I think this might technically not be a porter, since it does have roasted barley, and I have read that you must NOT-NOT-NOT put that in a porter.

Well, I will brew Bridgeports "Porter" recipe from BYO. Now, the recipe I will show is pretty identical to the one published, except I scaled it down, and substituted in Pilsner for 2-row, and Caramunich for the Crystal. Otherwise, it is identical. The SRM, IBU, OG/FG are close enough.

On brewday, the smell of the wort seemed a little too roasty for me. It tasted like reasonably good unfermented beer. In time the roastyness will die, or? Upon bottling, I will add in the Hazelnut extract... here is the recipe ->

Chocolate Hazelnut Porter (probably stout, but a Bridgeport Brewery clone) I

12-B Robust Porter

Size: 14.45 L

Efficiency: 81.49%

Attenuation: 75.5%

Calories: 199.9 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.060 (1.048 - 1.065)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.012 - 1.016)

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Color: 27.6 (22.0 - 35.0)

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Alcohol: 5.95% (4.8% - 6.0%)

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Bitterness: 34.22 (25.0 - 50.0)

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Ingredients:

6.6 lbs Pilsner Malt

1.0 lbs Caramunich® TYPE II

0.38 lbs Chocolate Malt

0.57 lbs Roasted Barley

0.43 oz Magnum (15%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min

0.47 oz East Kent Goldings (5.7%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min

6.0 oz Cocoa Powder - added during boil, boiled 5 min

18.75 mL Hazelnut (extract) - added dry to secondary fermenter

Schedule:

00:03:00 Mash In - Liquor: 8.9 L; Strike: 167.0 °F

01:03:00 Rest - Rest: 60.0 min

01:04:00 Infusion - Water: 4.48 L; Temperature: 206.8 °F

01:34:00 Sparge - FirstRunnings: 0.0 L sparge @ 168.0 °F, 8.5 L collected, 15 min; Second: 8.5 L sparge @ 170 °F, 8.5 L collected, 15 min; Total Runoff: 17.0 L

Notes:

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.20

It has been brewed! (Dampfbier)

Ok , so I have finally got around to brewing the Dampfbier recipe. Except for some mash temperature maintenance/striking problems, things went smooth-like. I ended up having to use Hallertauer Tradition, instead of Mittlefruh... but I will not be able to tell the difference. You can bet on that. My nose and tastebuds are not that sensitive.

Starter-> Boiled enough DME for 200ml starter, dropped in 1/10 WLP300 tube, let it go overnight. Twelve hours later, boiled 800ml worth of starter, and put 4/10 WLP300 in to go for another 8 hours. The starter was bubbling hard by the time I pitched in the nightime. The wort temperature was 70F.

Fermenter-> Airlock activity started within the hour. The next day the airlock is still active, and the wort is sitting at 63.5F. Ok, so "dampf" means "steam"... at these temperatures, it will not be an active (steam) ferment. The starter smelled like a banana plantation, so that should be enough banana for me. I would rather have it cold ferment (clovey).

Dampfbier I

15-A Weizen/Weissbier

Size: 15.6 L

Efficiency: 82.51%

Attenuation: 79.4%

Calories: 176.26 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.053 (1.044 - 1.052)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.010 - 1.014)

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Color: 7.1 (2.0 - 8.0)

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Alcohol: 5.55% (4.3% - 5.6%)

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Bitterness: 13.26 (8.0 - 15.0)

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Ingredients:

5.33 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger

1.14 lbs Vienna Malt

1.14 lbs Munich TYPE I

0.38 oz Hallertau Tradition (8.0%) - added during boil, boiled 45 min

0.19 oz Hallertau Tradition (8.0%) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min

0.5 ea White Labs WLP300 Hefewizen Ale

Schedule:

00:03:00 Mash In - Liquor: 7.92 L; Strike: 166.9 °F

01:03:00 Rest - Rest: 60.0 min

01:04:00 Infusion - Water: 4.53 L; Temperature: 210.0 °F

01:34:00 Sparge - FirstRunnings: 0.0 L sparge @ 168.0 °F, 8.0 L collected, 15 min; Second: 9.0 L sparge @ 170 °F, 9 L collected, 15 min; Total Runoff: 17.0 L

Notes:

Put some comments here:

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.20p

Dampfbier

After perusing through a BYO magazine from last year, the style of "Dampfbier" has got me interested. The is basically a German Weissbier, without the wheat. Since I love the Weihenstephan yeast strain so much, this beer seems very well suited for me. It is basically 70% Pilsner Malt, and 30% Munich Malt with Hallertauer hops. Ok, this seems simple enough.

Here is the recipe from BYO (more or less)

Dampfbier

15-A Weizen/Weissbier

Size: 5.0 gal

Efficiency: 73.51%

Attenuation: 80.5%

Calories: 169.68 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.051 (1.044 - 1.052)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.010 (1.010 - 1.014)

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Color: 6.4 (2.0 - 8.0)

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Alcohol: 5.43% (4.3% - 5.6%)

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Bitterness: 14.38 (8.0 - 15.0)

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Ingredients:

7 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger

3 lbs Munich TYPE I

1 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh (4.0%) - added during boil, boiled 45 min

.5 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh (4.0%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min

1.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min

1 ea White Labs WLP300 Hefewizen Ale

Schedule:

Just mash at 152F for an hour.

Notes:

Ferment it cold ( <>72F) for the steam "dampf" effect. This would give you huge banana flavors.

Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.0.19

Simcoe Tasting

Ok, so my IPA in Muenchen II (an All-Simcoe beer) recipe had been bottled, and is now ready for tasting. Let me first say how excited I am about this beer. This beer is basically a hop delivery system. First, it consisted of a late hop addition, exclusively. Second, I did not dry hop it because I did not want to impart extra aroma due the experiment with this late hop only (10 minutes, all hops went into the boil).

I needed to check how much aroma went into the brew without staining of a dry hop addition.

So, the tasting, look and feel of the beer. LOL

1. The head is thick, and long lasting. So far so good.
2. The color is spot on according to the recipe I posted earlier. Nice
3. The aroma... piney and fruity, I can not say much more about it, except that it is obvious.
4. Bitterness, normal for a pale ale, not necessarily IPA numbers, according to taste of course.
5. Flavor... yes, this beer is a hop delivery system. The first impression I had when I drank it was ORANGE. Nice. No need to add fruit extracts when you can pull similar flavors from the hops.
6. Mouthfeel. Great, it is not as dry as my last beer. I am not sure what the FG gravity is at the moment since I do not have a hydrometer. But, I would guess 1.012 - 1.015 or so.
7. It must be the Munich water. I can not complain, the water is the best tasting tap I have ever had, and this goes into the beer somehow.

Collecting Wort

Ok, here is a picture of the wort collection from one of my brewdays. As you can see, the worlds cheapest mashtun is being used in a high tech siphon gravity feed system. It is my belief that the fermenter I am using is made for winemaking, but it was the only thing I could really use here. And, it works fine. Previously I had used glass carboys, but I have none at the moment.

The collection of the wort is slow. Tube diameter plays an important role in this, and I have to make do with what I have.

All in all it seems to work out fine. I was going to go through the trouble of drilling a hole in the cooler, and have the runnings feed out of the bottom. But, siphoning works just as well. I do not have to worry about sanitation (starting the siphon) since it is a pre-boil process step.

This type of all-grain system could not get any simpler!

Chill Haze

It seems I have my first case of chill haze, and the symptoms are obvious. My beer seemed to have dropped clear in the third week of it being bottled, and I was thrilled. Unfortunately, once it cools in the refridgerator, things get murky.

The sad part is that I had Whirlfloc on hand for all of my recent brews, but I had forgotten to put it in for the last two out of three batches. So, we will see if the All-Simcoe IPA (no whirlfloc) retains a chill haze quality or not. My last batch I did remember to put it in, I guess I will know in a month or so.

From what has been read, it seems that gelatin, whirlfloc, and irish moss can sometimes solve the problem. But, cold filtering will usually always solve the problem. Since I do not have the means, I will find another way.

The cause of the problem can be everything from what the barley farmer did, to protein content, to tannins, to the maltsters...etc.