Extract No.2 - Porter

[AdrianTrace]

Having successfully negotiated my first full extract brewday on Sunday, and got it done and cleaned in just over 3 hours, I decided to do an after work brew this evening :thumb:

No Name Porter
3kg Light DME
1kg Light Crystal Malt
500g Dark Crystal Malt
475g Chocolate Malt
50g Black Malt

22g Admiral (16,3%) 60 mins (30.1 IBU)
25g Bramling Cross (5.3%) 10 mins (4.1 IBU)
20g Bramling X at flame out.

Grains steeped at 67*C, then 500g DME added for boil (other 2.5kg dme rehydrated and straight to fermenter). I was only slightly late for the initial boil... there wasn't porter foam everywhere, honest :whistle:

Chilled (with my slightly oversized 4-coil immersion chiller) and S04 pitched

Target OG of 1.058 appears to have been hit :thumb: (slight child carnage in the background)

 

[clibit]

Good pics. Where did you get the recipe from?

 

[AdrianTrace]

Thanks Clibit. I looked at various recipes (here and on the Beersmith pages) to get an idea of the basic porter recipe, then tweaked it to taste.... and then chucked all my chocolate malt in :whistle: I don't like porters & stouts with too much black malt, so kept that lower. The Mrs has never met a porter she didn't like :-D

Brewtarget says it's a little dark for a porter, but never mind. I'll see how it turns out, but so far it seems good, from SG samples. Possibly I could have dry hopped, but these first couple of extract brews I've been trying out crystal malts and the boil/late hops, to get the base knowledge.

English pale is next... once I get the kits people got me for my birthday out of the way :thumb:

 

[clibit]

I look at recipes too to help concoct my own. Porters aren't usually dry hopped. English ones anyway.

 

[AdrianTrace]

I look at recipes too to help concoct my own. Porters aren't usually dry hopped. English ones anyway.

Yeah, but... HOPS :party:

 

[clibit]

I know! Add them late in the boil, or after the boil during cooling.

 

[Sandimas]

Porters aren't usually dry hopped......Add them late in the boil, or after the boil during cooling.

I thought that adding hops during cooling for 30mins was equivalent to dry hopping for a few days i.e. 2 different ways of aroma hopping. Or have I misunderstood?

 

[clibit]

Similar but different.

 

[AdrianTrace]

I think you lose more of the volatile aromatics with flame out hops than with dry hopping, which means it should be more about the hop flavour rather than a full on hoppy nose.

 

[baggybill]

Chilled (with my slightly oversized 4-coil immersion chiller) and S04 pitched

Jeez! Now that's a chiller :shock:

 

[AdrianTrace]

Jeez! Now that's a chiller :shock:

All ready in case I upgrade to 100L :shock:

My local B&Q was selling off copper tube a few years ago: 20 or 30m cost me £12. I decided to use it all in one go I made a coolbox mash tun, my Lidl boiler and chiller, then the house went on the market (early 2012). No brewing allowed due to viewings etc. Now, having spent 2013 and 2014 between houses, I'm finally getting around to testing the kit out. :

The mash tun is still in the shed, untested: I can get away with 3 or 3.5 hours to do an extract brew, but 5-6 hours :nah: may not go down as well with SWMBO, despite the quality of the beer.

A shame it's bigger than my boiler (That's in our garage/studio, not the kitchen ):

 

[AdrianTrace]

It was at 1.020 for a few days, so into the studio to cool to aid dropping and has just been bottled. 40 bottles of nice round warmth with a hint of roast notes. Very pleased with the flavour :)

1.058 to 1.020 comes out at around 5% and 65% attenuation... I have used S04 twice now: in the Blue Admiral it flocculated into big "flowers", but these were loose above the trub and ended up clouding the secondary, and the attenuation has been less than ideal. Not overly impressed so far.

I have some Nottingham in the drawer, and some Gervin GV12 (which I understand to be similar) to try out in future (plus s33 and US05 on the way :whistle:). So many recipes, so little time :

 

[AdrianTrace]

Everybody likes this one - warm and chocolaty. Not so much hop flavour, but a nice bitterness and 5% as well to cut through the maltiness.