Thursday, March 4, 2010

#35 RP (Chocolate Porter/Stout)

Brewed: 25th February, 2010

I've brewed this recipe a couple of times before, and with St. Patrick's day not far away, I thought I'd brew it up again for that occasion. Unfortunately, the Wild Brew is still chugging away in the fermenter, so I haven't been able to get this one fermenting yet and I'll be pushing it to get it ready in time! Luckily I've still got a few bottles from the last batch if it's not ready in time.

The last time I brewed the beer, it came out a little more roasty than I was expecting it, pushing it more into Stout territory, hence the slight naming confusion in the title. I had to substitute a smaller quantity of Chocolate malt for some of the Carafa Special grain this time, as I didn't have enough of the latter for the recipe. I also added a little more cocoa this time (150g instead of 100g) and added it to the no-chill cube instead of the kettle in the hope of pushing the beer back into Porter territory. The experiment on the last batch with using late citrus style hops didn't have the desired effect of adding a noticeable citrus taste to the beer, but the flavour worked out well, so I went with a similar late hop schedule. I substituted Fuggles for East Kent Goldings as the bittering addition due to stock levels.

The brew day went completely to plan - all target numbers were hit and no mistakes were made. I was joined for part of the day by my sister's friend, Aaron, who currently makes beer from Kits & Bits. He wanted to see the process involved at this level, which I was happy to show.

The recipe (based on the previous batch):

Australian Pale Malt: 4500g
Light Munich: 1000g
Crystal 135: 500g
Chocolate Malt: 250g
Carafa Special II: 100g
Roast Barley: 100g
Cocoa powder: 150g (added to no-chill cube)

Fuggles pellets (4.5% AA): 51g @ -45 mins ~21 IBU
Cascade pellets (6.6% AA): 18g @ -5 mins ~2 IBU
Cascade pellets (6.8% AA): 10g in no-chill cube <1 IBU

Mash time: 60 minutes
Target mash temperature: 68C
Start: 68C End: 66.4C

Run-off: 28L

Pre-boil SG: 1052
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Post-boil volume (hot): 24L
Target OG: 1057 Actual: 1058

Yeast: Re-cultured Coopers yeast (harvested from #31 CSA)
Ferment temperature: 18C

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