(robust) smoked porter help/advice needed

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I_used_to_brew
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(robust) smoked porter help/advice needed

Post by I_used_to_brew »

I'm planning another daft beer (like a craft beer....) would like to know your thoughts on the odd ideas that are mingling in my head so far.

Grist

50:50 smoked malt/ Vienna malt.
Small amount of special b
Special carafa I for colour.

Hops

Continuously hopped with Tettnang and Saaz to about 50ibu

Near to 10%abv

Advice appreciated :-)
Capn Ahab
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Re: (robust) smoked porter help/advice needed

Post by Capn Ahab »

Ferment it with a lager yeast at lager temps, then lager it for three months and it'll be fucking awesome.
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alikocho
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Re: (robust) smoked porter help/advice needed

Post by alikocho »

Well at 10% ABV you've left Robust porter territory for something else...

I'd back off on the smoke - 35% of the total grist should be plenty smoky enough (assuming beechwood smoked malt)

And for the colour, I'd use something darker than Carafa I (I quite like III) or even consider sinamar.

And when you say "continuously hopping" could you clarify. Hopping at the start of the boil and then nothing else would be a continuum, as would a Dogfish Head style constant pouring of hops.
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Capn Ahab
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Re: (robust) smoked porter help/advice needed

Post by Capn Ahab »

alikocho wrote:Well at 10% ABV you've left Robust porter territory for something else...

I'd back off on the smoke - 35% of the total grist should be plenty smoky enough (assuming beechwood smoked malt)

And for the colour, I'd use something darker than Carafa I (I quite like III) or even consider sinamar.

And when you say "continuously hopping" could you clarify. Hopping at the start of the boil and then nothing else would be a continuum, as would a Dogfish Head style constant pouring of hops.
I think 10 % ABV sounds a bit high, trim it to 8ish %; but I think that amount of smoke sounds good and if the beer is made as a lager could make for a very interesting Rauchbier/Baltic Porter hybrid.

As for colour, I think carafa special I would be better for the porter-y aspect as it will need to be used in a higher proportion and will provide more chocolate. Though, maybe pale choc would be better than both for the roast note.

I'm guessing that 'continuous hopping' means roughly equal quantities of hops at 60, 30, 15, 10, 5, 0 and possibly dry as he has put up a few recipes on here with that kind of hop schedule.
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I_used_to_brew
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Re: (robust) smoked porter help/advice needed

Post by I_used_to_brew »

Abv isn't an issue, I'll just adjust the final volume. The hopping schedule would be to achieve equal ibu per unit time over the boil period, I call that "continuous hopping", whether it's the correct phrase or not....

I'm interested in thoughts on balancing ibu with smoke. More smoke balances more ibu?

For colour, think I've got special carafa I and III might use a combination. Special B for fruitiness is a given.
Capn Ahab
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Re: (robust) smoked porter help/advice needed

Post by Capn Ahab »

RogerP wrote:I'm interested in thoughts on balancing ibu with smoke. More smoke balances more ibu?
Rauchbier has a maximum bu/gu of 0.6 and generally would come in a lot lower than that. Your recipe has malty writ all over it even at this sketchy stage. I think smoke and bitterness are the kind of things you don't want clashing, so with that amount of smoke (and if you're using rauchmalz you should get all kinds of bacony deliciousness) I'd dial back the bu/gu to around 0.4

I really like the idea, and would definitely consider doing it myself if/when I had lagering capacity.
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