Smoked Porter

Started with the Homebrewers Outpost Smoked Porter kit:

2.5 gallons water.
8 oz. German Smoked Malt
4 oz. Chocolate

in a mesh bag, heated to boil (just - didn't catch it in time. But at least we're at 7,000 ft where water boils 20 F lower...) Added:

7 lbs. Briess Dark Extract (malt)

stirring, and brought to a rapid boil. Added:
2 oz. Kent Goldings hop pellets (Alpha Acid 4.5%)

in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 60 minutes. Cooled in an ice bath, added cold water to 5 gallons. Added 3 triple shots of fresh espresso with 2 oz. finely grated unsweetened baking chocolate disolved in it. Pitched:

11g Nottingham brewing yeast and put away to ferment.


Starting S.G. 1.052. Pitch temp ~65 F. Ferment temp ~48 F.
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kegged at 1.020; aging in the cellar at ~48F
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:13 pm | #

In trying to sort out the hard cider, I've discovered that these temps are supposedly too low for anything but lagers. Still, the SG drop would seem to indicate that something coped; wonder if it will make the beer sweet or something, by causing the fermentation to stop early?
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:28 pm | #

1.052 - 1.020 = 0.032
* 105 = 3.36% abw
* 1.25 = 4.2% abv
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:39 pm | #

Gassed in the fridge for 2 days at ~14 psi. Nice and smoky - can taste the coffee and I think the chocolate as well, but not too overpowering. Carbonation is a bit low.

German Alps Pilsner

Homebrewers Outpost German Alps Pilsner kit:

2.5 gallons water.
12 oz. Carapils.

in a mesh bag, heated to just before boiling. Added:

6 lbs. Briess Light Extract (malt)

stirring, and brought to a rapid boil. Added:
1 oz. German Northern Brewer hop pellets (Alpha Acid 7.0%)

in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 55 minutes. Added:

2 oz. German Hallertau hop pellets (Alpha Acid 3.9%)

in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 5 minutes. Cooled in an ice bath til the pot was warm to the touch, added cold water to 5 gallons @ ~75F. Pitched:

11g Nottingham brewing yeast and put away to ferment on 1/10/08 at ~48F. Initial S.G. 1.060.

Initial yeast pitch didn't seem to take (is it possible for it to be too _low_ temperature?) so I re-pitched with the packet from a Smoky Porter kit (it looks the same.) This time I followed the instructions on the yeast packet for rehydrating the yeast first (4oz. ~90F water + yeast. Cover with sterile cloth for 15 mins. Add 1oz. wort every 5 minutes until its doubled in volume (to avoid temperature shock), then add to wort.)
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Went to check SG on 1/18 but it was still visibly bubbling, so I didn't bother. Given the slow start and the low temp in my cellar atm, this doesn't seem too surprising.
anti ob | Homepage | 01.18.09 - 3:12 pm | #

Kegged on Jan 23, SG 1.020
anti ob | Homepage | 01.23.09 - 1:29 pm | #

1.060 - 1.020 = 0.040
* 105 = 4.2% abw
* 1.25 = 5.25% abv
anti ob | Homepage | 02.12.09 - 5:37 pm | #

After a month in the keg this was nice, but a month after that it was nicer...

Coffee Porter

Started with the Homebrewers Outpost Robust Porter kit:

2.5 gallons water.
6 oz. Chocolate.
4 oz. Crystal 120.

in a mesh bag, heated to 170F and let to steep (occasionally turning the heat back on to push it back up to 170F) for 10 minutes. Added:

7 lbs. Briess Dark Extract (malt)

stirring, and brought to a rapid boil. Added:
1 oz. UK Challenger hop pellets (Alpha Acid 8.0%)

in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 55 minutes. Added:

1 oz. ?? hop pellets (Alpha Acid ??%)

in a mesh bag. Rapid boil for 5 minutes. Cooled in an ice bath to ~100F, added cold water to 5 gallons. Added 4 double shots of fresh espresso (I have read various recipes involving people adding coffee at the end of the boil, but coffee tastes like shite if you let it boil - it boils off lots of the tasty volitiles - so I opted to make decent coffee and add it after cooling.) Pitched:

11g Nottingham brewing yeast and put away to ferment.

Didn't save the S.G readings for this one. Carbonated it at a slightly higher pressure (I believe it was about 14 PSI) and keg aged for about 1 month.

This was a nice beer! Good body, nice head, you could taste the coffee but it was subtle.