Chocolate Maple Porter - my first ever brew

[dennisdk2000]

First of all, I should be clear that this isn't my own recipe - it's from the Brooklyn BrewShop's Beer Making book. I didn't completely follow their method, and the I've adjusted the recipe for my own brewlength (theirs is a US gallon, I'm doing 4.5L as I'm using English demijohns for my FVs).

Brewlength: 4.5L (1 gallon)

655g Maris Otter malt
165g Chocolate malt
110g Crystal malt EBC 25
110g Black Patent malt

Recipe said 2.25L water for mash, I used 3L. Mashed for 60min at 67°C, mash-out at 77°C. Sparged using 3.75L water. I used Aldi's bottled water because of the high bicarbonate ion content (which should be better for dark beers).

Boiled for 60min.
14g Fuggle hops, divided into four - three quarters of that boiled for 60min, the last quarter for 15min.
At the end of the boil 215ml pure maple syrup was added (I used Aldi's - it's pure maple syrup and the best price I've seen).

Chilled to 21°C, poured/strained into a demijohn and pitched half a packed of Nottingham yeast (re-hydrated as per packet instructions), splashing as much as possible to aerate. Gave the demijohn a good shake, popped in a blow-off tube and left the yeast to do its stuff! Two days later I replaced the blow-off tube with an airlock. Bubbling away nicely.

Bottle using 3tbsp (45ml) maple syrup.

If anyone has a go, let me know how you get on! I'll keep you up-to-date with what happens with mine!

Dennis

 

[orlando]

I predict you will wish you had made 25 litres :lol:

 

[dennisdk2000]

More than likely, but I simply haven't got the room at the moment. In fact, I wish I had the space and money to ge a nice big shiny set-up with a proper control panel like the one The Electric Brewery does! Oh well, my demijohns will have to do for now...

 

[graysalchemy]

Welcome to the darkside :twisted: :twisted:

How is it going?

 

[dennisdk2000]

Bubbling along nicely, but only did it on Tuesday, so will have to wait and see.

Dennis

 

[graysalchemy]

have you had a taste yet :whistle: :whistle:

 

[dennisdk2000]

Bottled this yesterday, and here's what I ended up with:

St George's Dark Side (decided to re-name :lol: ):
9 and a quarter-ish of 450ml Grolsch bottles (courtesy of the pub where I work)
Calculated the ABV to be 6.0%
(using the formula ABV={[76.08*(OG-FG)]/[1.775-OG]}*{FG/0.794})

Did have a little taste a week ago when I checked the gravity, was nice if a little drier and with less body than expected. However, I did struggle a bit with keeping the temperature up during the mash... :hmm:
I resisted yesterday and left the quarter bottle - will use it as a sample in a few weeks time - first two weeks to carbonate, then a few weeks to condition!

Now the hard part starts: waiting! :whistle:

Dennis

 

[tazuk]

sweet nice little test brew is that :thumb: welcome to the dark side :thumb:

 

[Asalpaws]

Nice mini sized brew, agree with the others, I bet you regret not making more! Any chance of a pic when you pour out the first one? T

 

[dennisdk2000]

I'll post a pic once I pour the first one!

Dennis

 

[rich27500]

Please let us know how this goes may well scale up for a Christmas brew

 

[dennisdk2000]

Will do - I'll be conditioning it for about another six weeks. It's had just about two weeks to carbonate, and then following the rule of thumb that says to condition one week per ten original gravity points, I'll condition it for six weeks - at least.

Dennis

 

[Baldbrewer]

Any news on how this is developing?
:pray:

 

[dennisdk2000]

Any news on how this is developing?
:pray:

Cracked open the first bottle (and a few more) last week during my parents' visit - and I was a very happy man! My initial fears about lack of body turned out to be unfounded - somehow the lack of body I had noticed when I sampled during bottling has disappeared and was replaced with a nice mouth-feel.

Nice mini sized brew, agree with the others, I bet you regret not making more! Any chance of a pic when you pour out the first one? T

I'll post a pic once I pour the first one!

Dennis

I have to confess I forgot to take a picture... Once the beer had been poured I was far too excited about getting to drink it! But I will try and remember when I next pour one.

As for regretting not making a bigger batch - I haven't, but I still wish I had the room to brew in bigger batches. I do like the messing about with brewing, so don't mind so much having to do it often. Wouldn't have the space to store many different big batches (though I could probably find a solution to that problem! : ).

Let me know if you have a go yourself - would love to hear how others get on!

Dennis

PS: Had a brew-day with my dad - the stout is now bobbling away nicely! More about that later.