Can I make an ESB, Stout/porter thats good for the summer, or good amber ale with this? - Design Tips Discussions on Home Brew Forums

flyfisherwes

So I'd really like to make a stout or porter thatd be good for spring or summer. I've never had an ESB though so I might like that too. I'm really open to the best suggestions of a recipe with this. I just don't want to make another IPA just yet. I have 3 in the fermenter and I'm the only person that drinks them. (I know... why is this a problem?)

HOP AA%
columbus 12.8
Magnum 11.6
Cascade 6.6
willamette 6
Tettnanger 4
Magnum 11.6
cascade leaf 8.8
crystal leaf 3.3

Galena 13.2
Nuggett 12.4
Colombus 13.3
Summit 15.5
Warrior 16
Willamette 4

My malts:

Two Row
Marris Otter
Crystal 60
Crystal 120
Vienna
Aromatic
Victory
Unmalted Wheat
Chocolate
Rye
Crystal 10
Special B

The only yeast I will have is S 05 unless if I rack off of some WLP 002 or WLP 001. WLP 002 is the best option for another beer though.

Thanks
Fly.

jlw

Fly, here is my George Washington Porter. I love this beer any time of year and it looks like you have most of the ingredients already.

http://www.homebrewforums.net/discussion/86/george-washingtons-porter-all-grain-ag#Item_3

You could definitely make a porter of some sorts out of what you have on hand.

flyfisherwes

Definitely want to do a porter. Need some more help though. I can only use exactly what I have because I don't have a lhbs. Could you help me rework your recipe to work with what I have?

flyfisherwes

can I make a decent porter without black patent?

jlw

I think I can work wit what you have. I will take a look at it this afternoon. When I get back from activities.

jlw

Hey bud, try this:

Might want to socialize the crystal I used. I'm not sure if it's too much? But I was trying to get your color.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: FFW's Porter
Brewer: George Washington
Asst Brewer:
Style: Robust Porter
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.19 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated Color: 33.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 49.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 82.4 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 71.4 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2 10.5 %
9.6 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.0 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.2 %
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 6.3 %
5.0 oz Molasses (80.0 SRM) Sugar 6 2.6 %
1.00 oz Galena [12.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 41.2 IBUs
0.75 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 8 8.2 IBUs

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 14.6 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 15.50 qt of water at 162.9 F 152.0 F 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (1.24gal, 3.72gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------

Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com

flyfisherwes

thanks man. I'll try to point a few of the other tkt guys over to get their opinions on the crystal.

flyfisherwes

I'm not opposed to toasting grains in the oven either.

flyfisherwes

Or using coffee.

Lothos

ok here's what i got through my program i added just a bit on that

New Recipe
12-B Robust Porter

Size: 5.94 gal
Efficiency: 82.4%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 209.84 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.063 (1.048 - 1.065)
Terminal Gravity: 1.016 (1.012 - 1.016)
Color: 31.31 (22.0 - 35.0)
Alcohol: 6.2% (4.8% - 6.5%)
Bitterness: 47.6 (25.0 - 50.0)

Ingredients:
8.2 lb Maris Otter Pale
2.0 lb Caramel Malt 120L
0.5 oz Special B Malt
1.2 lb Chocolate Malt
20.96 oz Crystal 60
6.0 oz Molasses
1.0 oz Galena (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m
0.75 oz Willamette (5.0%) - added during boil, boiled 20 m
1.0 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15 m
1.0 ea WYeast 1084 Irish Ale or WLP002

how's that look

Fuzzy

i'd definitely back down on the c120L and the C60L a bit. 2# is a bit much for my tastes. 1# of each is more than enough, i'd probably go for more like 3/4# of each. then up the base malt to compensate. if you're trying to get the color right, toast some of the chocolate malt to darken it up, then add it late in the mash, so you don't get too much flavor from it.

Fuzzy

i just saw you have some rye. i'd probably toast that up and add it. i've never used toasted rye, but it sounds good.

Lothos

NICE THANKS i just took what he had and tryed to up the color and % lol

Fuzzy

Lothos said:
NICE THANKS i just took what he had and tryed to up the color and % lol

i always use the darker malts to adjust for color, and base malt to adjust for abv. other wise you can end up with a syrupy sweet beer. :-&

jlw

FromZwolle said:

Lothos said:
NICE THANKS i just took what he had and tryed to up the color and % lol

i always use the darker malts to adjust for color, and base malt to adjust for abv. other wise you can end up with a syrupy sweet beer. :-&

How about this:

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 69.9 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.1 %
9.6 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.9 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 6 4.1 %
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 6.2 %
5.0 oz Molasses (80.0 SRM) Sugar 7 2.5 %
1.00 oz Galena [12.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 41.1 IBUs
0.75 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 9 8.2 IBUs
1 lbs Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 2 8.2 %

Fuzzy

that sounds pretty darn good.

jlw

FromZwolle said:
that sounds pretty darn good.

The crystal 120 and 60 gives it some color but I think the rye will help dry it out a bit. That's probably not the right terminology but its that flavor the rye gives it that should balance out the sweetness.

Fuzzy

jlw said:

FromZwolle said:
that sounds pretty darn good.

The crystal 120 and 60 gives it some color but I think the rye will help dry it out a bit. That's probably not the right terminology but its that flavor the rye gives it that should balance out the sweetness.

yep. perceived dryness. i like rye.

Lothos

nice

flyfisherwes

FromZwolle said:

jlw said:

FromZwolle said:
that sounds pretty darn good.

The crystal 120 and 60 gives it some color but I think the rye will help dry it out a bit. That's probably not the right terminology but its that flavor the rye gives it that should balance out the sweetness.

yep. perceived dryness. i like rye.

Its flaked rye if that makes a difference. I think I should have bought more rye. LOL. I got 5lbs and I want to do a rye IPA as well. Definately gonna use it in the porter though.

jlw

flyfisherwes said:

FromZwolle said:

jlw said:

FromZwolle said:
that sounds pretty darn good.

The crystal 120 and 60 gives it some color but I think the rye will help dry it out a bit. That's probably not the right terminology but its that flavor the rye gives it that should balance out the sweetness.

yep. perceived dryness. i like rye.

Its flaked rye if that makes a difference. I think I should have bought more rye. LOL. I got 5lbs and I want to do a rye IPA as well. Definately gonna use it in the porter though.

You don't need a ton of rye for a rye ipa so you should be good.

flyfisherwes

jlw said:

flyfisherwes said:

FromZwolle said:

jlw said:

FromZwolle said:
that sounds pretty darn good.

The crystal 120 and 60 gives it some color but I think the rye will help dry it out a bit. That's probably not the right terminology but its that flavor the rye gives it that should balance out the sweetness.

yep. perceived dryness. i like rye.

Its flaked rye if that makes a difference. I think I should have bought more rye. LOL. I got 5lbs and I want to do a rye IPA as well. Definately gonna use it in the porter though.

You don't need a ton of rye for a rye ipa so you should be good.

sweet (or should I say dry) haha. Thanks.

So I should do this right?

jlw said:

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 69.9 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.1 %
9.6 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.9 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 6 4.1 %
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 6.2 %
5.0 oz Molasses (80.0 SRM) Sugar 7 2.5 %
1.00 oz Galena [12.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 41.1 IBUs
0.75 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 9 8.2 IBUs
1 lbs Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 2 8.2 %

I've been using an excell spreadsheet to convert all recipes to fit my biab system. I input a gravity and desired beer length and it tells me how much grain I need total then splits it all up for me when I put in the original recipe. It won't account for the molasses in the gravity so how much about how much grain in a mash would equate to 5oz molasses? That way I can just put it in as a grain and go from there so I hit my gravities correctly. I guess its really not much so I could just put the rest of the recipe in and add the 5oz. But it would be helpful to know ballpark how much its gonna raise my og. I've been ending up with about 22-23 L at the end of a boil to get 19 L of beer at bottling.

If this looks good, should I still toast some of the chocolate malt? or some of the base malt? How much, what temp, and how long?

Also what temp should I mash at and how long? I don't have iodine for that iodine test so I've just been doing either what the recipe says or a 90 min mash to be safe.

I'm such a noob.
Thanks for all the help fellas.

Fuzzy

i would toast some of the chocolate malt at 300F for about 30 minutes, stirring often. stop when it just begins to smoke a little. you don't want charcoal, just a deep toasting. some folks say to leave it in a bag for a week or two to let the flavor mellow, but i've had no problems using it right away.

for a porter, i like to mash at 154 or 156. just enough body to back up the roasty, deep flavors.

you should get some iodophor. they sell it at just about every big grocery store, chain pharmacy, and lhbs. it's about $3 for a 9 oz bottle. you can use it to sanitize and for starch conversion tests. it's a really handy tool to have around. without it, though, i would just go for a 75 min mash. 90 is overkill and likely to dry the beer out more than you intend to. mashing beyond the full starch conversion is tantamount to mashing lower.

so if you mashed for an extra 30 minutes beyond full conversion, the enzymes keep breaking things down. the long chain dextrines that you created start to get chopped into shorter, more fermentable chains, giving you a wort that is more fermentable, as if you had mashed several degrees lower.

Fuzzy

it's always a good plan to stop the mash when you have conversion. that way you have better control over how the final beer will turn out. especially if you plan on repeating a recipe.

flyfisherwes

Thanks FZ

jlw

For what its worth my Rye IPA only has about 1.5 lbs of rye.