Third Batch, Robust Porter

Here we go again in the same week. So two of my very good friends are getting married in the middle of next month, and they both like delicious beer. So I asked the groom to be what I should make. He said that there is going to be Stella Artois and Bud Light at the bar for beer, so I should make some kind of light stout or porter. Well, I have been lurking around looking at clone recipes, and I know he likes Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald, so I took that clone recipe and made some slight modifications in beersmith. I changed the hops up a bit and added a bit more crystal malt and some black patent. It sure smelled fantastic in the boil.

I also went to my local homebrew supply(Grape and Granary) last week to get some supplies to make this all possible. I already had a 34 qt turkey fryer with propane burner stand around so that was covered. I needed a fermenter, bottling bucket, wort chiller, and a stir spoon. I ended up purchasing a 1 stage bucket ferment kit that comes with all the essentials(primary, bottling bucket, racking cane with siphon hose, bottling wand, capper, bottle brush, caps, and lid with airlock.)



I already had one step sanitizer laying around so the extra sanitizer included is just a bonus, and it is definitely indispensable stuff. So now onto the recipe:


BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Wedding Porter
Brewer: Spak
Asst Brewer:
Style: Robust Porter
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
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Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.74 gal
Estimated OG: 1.065 SG
Estimated Color: 37.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 42.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 58.5 %
2.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 19.5 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 9.8 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 4.9 %
0.50 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 4.9 %
0.25 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 2.4 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50%] (60 min) Hops 29.0 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (30 min) Hops 5.9 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [5.50%] (15 min) Hops 4.7 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (10 min) Hops 2.8 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [5.50%] (1 min) Hops 0.4 IBU
1 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) Yeast-Ale (3000 ml starter)


Mash Schedule: None
Total Grain Weight: 2.25 lb
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Notes:
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Steep grains at 155F for 40 minutes, sparge with 1 gallon of 190F water

Add extra light DME after boil

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Now, I forgot to check the Alpha Acids on my hops and reenter, but I am almost positive my Northern Brewer Pellets were 7.5% so the bitterness will be slightly lower(about 3 points probably, not that bad). Here is the first runnings after I steeped the grains, black as night.



And here is the grains in total, my steeping bag was just big enough to accommodate everything. I sparged over the strainer into the original pot I used to steep(not the one pictured).



The propane tank I had outside was really low, so I went out and got it exchanged, and I was ready to go with the boil. I kept my floating thermometer in the boil kettle initially so I would know when the hot break was coming, and I would be able to get some other stuff done, such as sanitizing the fermenter; weighing out the light DME in a bag to pour in immediately post boiling; and weighing out my hop additions since they are .5 ounces and the hop bags are 1 ounce. It boiled over twice, as I was unable to tame the break even with controlling the burner and using a spray bottle. Overall it wasn't that bad because I slightly overfilled the boil anyways(I put 6.5 gallons in before I added the Light DME which ultimately raised the final boil volume). But after all of that was done, it didn't flare up ever again, even after I added the hop additions. After I added the 1 ounce of northern brewer:



The color looks fantastic in my opinion, i checked it with the spoon during boiling, and when I took my gravity reading. Also not included in the recipe above, I added a tsp of Irish moss, because there is no reason not to as it will help with clarification. I also added the chiller at 15 minutes and waited for it to boil again before I started the timer again.



One slight mishap occurred during chilling, I had turned up the hose too much and the inlet hose popped off and let in a small amount of water to the kettle. I am not going to worry about it though because it was negligible. I just turned off the water and reattached the hose and tightened both clamps down and continued chilling at a low pressure, stirring occasionally with my spoon which was sitting in sanitizer. It actually cooled it down a little too far(to 67F) but that is absolutely nothing to worry about right there. I then poured the whole thing into the bucket(hops and all accidentally, but I checked homebrewtalk and it said that its not going to matter because I will just have more trub to rack off of anyays). There was a ton of foam on the top. I got my decanted 3L starter that was warmed up and pitched it afterward. I pulled a sample for a gravity reading before I pitched the yeast. 1.066 OG at 69F! Not bad considering the boil overs and the slightly increased batch size.



I affixed the lid and was ready to go! I made sure to stop by the local homebrew supply the day prior and pick up a siphon hose to fit over one of the econolocks I had as a blow off tube. With all of that foam it was bound to happen. Here we are ready to go sitting in the basement:



Everything was clean and sanitized including the airlock, hose, and jug. I pitched the starter of White Labs English Ale WLP002 at 3PM or so, and by 10 PM it was already going full force with blow off as well!



So everything seem to be going OK now. The lid is distended because of the pressure, but the CO2 is coming from the airlock only. I am going to rack it off the trub when fermentation slows down, and add vanilla beans. This should turn out fantastic when it is all said and done!

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The DIPA I brewed on Wednesday night blew off of the fermenter by morning, which was 8 hours after I pitched the yeast



I am going to rack it off into a 3 gallon better bottle probably tomorrow and wait til it clears up to add the dry hops for 7 days. Sure smells good in there haha. I cleaned up the mess Thursday night and it really hasn't made any more mess after that so I should be fine.

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Here is an update on the Dry stout I brewed last month. I bottled it about 11 days ago. It fermented for 2 weeks and bottle conditioned for 10 before I had some, with cold crashing the same day as I had it. The FG only came down to about 1.022, which was higher than I wanted it, but I shouldn't have expected much from the dry yeast packets. Nothing amazing, but it is pretty good stuff, a little bit of off flavors on first taste but they smooth out afterward. A lot of chocolate flavor. Very nice dense head and good head retention and great glass lacing. Very smooth drinking.



Cheers!