50 shades of pale - traditional porter

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periolus
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50 shades of pale - traditional porter

Post by periolus »

This is an ambitious one, but I am going to give it a try.

This brown porter starts on a base of 5kg Maris Otter, 50% of which will be added to the MT as it is.

The other 50% will under go home-roasting in 50 equal portions, each of which will become progressively darker, passing through gold, amber, deep amber, deep copper, brown and chocolate, and whatever else in between. One final portion will be taken all the way to black.

This will all involve removing portions at equal time intervals to start with, and then adjusting the timings to ensure that I get the percentage of darker malts that I want. To avoid excessive cooling, I will use two ovens (have a double oven) and alternate the removal of samples between them.

That might represent the entire grist, or I might add some dark crystal (5%).
Not decided on the yeast yet. I have WLP004 in the fridge, but also really like Nottingham for Porter.

I have other ideas that involve enriching it once it is added to the 2ry, but need to research those very carefully before going any further (involves blending a stale/soured sample of the porter back into the 2ry before leaving it to condition).

All that will then sit in 2ry for 3 weeks or so before being bottled and aged for a few months.

What I need to do first is work out what percentage of each of the stages of malt I want to run with and then work out the timings. Unfortunately, it sounds like producing Brown and Chocolate in this way significantly raises the acidity of the mash, so I may need to tinker with the water as well.

If I do this right, I could have some ready for March, but I don't know if it might end up being a bit young.

Wish me luck!
FV1: EMPTY
FV2: EMPTY
Conditioning: NOWT
Drinking:Countdown Conundrum - Best Bitter; Haka! The Herald - Pacific IPA
Planning: San Francisco 4.9er - California Common; Event Horizon - Robust Porter; Cold Dead Hand - American IPA
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Bimster
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Re: 50 shades of pale - traditional porter

Post by Bimster »

periolus wrote:That might represent the entire grist, or I might add some dark crystal (5%).
It'll never work - 8% crystal, you know the Grundy rule!!!
James

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periolus
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50 shades of pale - traditional porter

Post by periolus »

Ha! Ha! I KNEW someone would say that! Brilliant : )
FV1: EMPTY
FV2: EMPTY
Conditioning: NOWT
Drinking:Countdown Conundrum - Best Bitter; Haka! The Herald - Pacific IPA
Planning: San Francisco 4.9er - California Common; Event Horizon - Robust Porter; Cold Dead Hand - American IPA
mrlard
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Re: 50 shades of pale - traditional porter

Post by mrlard »

Why?!?!?!


Life's to short ;-)
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periolus
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50 shades of pale - traditional porter

Post by periolus »

Well, apparently it makes a noticeable difference to flavour if you roast your own, plus you get to try things like gold and copper malts in the process.

Just fancied the experiment really : )

It's not something I would do all the time, that's for sure.
FV1: EMPTY
FV2: EMPTY
Conditioning: NOWT
Drinking:Countdown Conundrum - Best Bitter; Haka! The Herald - Pacific IPA
Planning: San Francisco 4.9er - California Common; Event Horizon - Robust Porter; Cold Dead Hand - American IPA
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MapperMatt
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Re: 50 shades of pale - traditional porter

Post by MapperMatt »

The other 50% will under go home-roasting in 50 equal portions, each of which will become progressively darker, passing through gold, amber, deep amber, deep copper, brown and chocolate, and whatever else in between. One final portion will be taken all the way to black.
Hmmm.. not sure you're gonna be able to take it up to black are you? I though that creating black malt was only possible after the invention of the roasting cylinder that wet the malt as it was being roasted to stop it catching fire.... I'm sure I read that in Durden... or it could be a brewing myth.

All in all though I'm with Lardy on this.... seems like a hell of a lot of effort. I feel brew day's are too long as it is and this seems like the most complicated, arduous and tedious possible way of making what may turn out to be an average beer..... having said that I would be very curious to try it!
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steve crawshaw
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Re: 50 shades of pale - traditional porter

Post by steve crawshaw »

MapperMatt wrote:
I though that creating black malt was only possible after the invention of the roasting cylinder that wet the malt as it was being roasted to stop it catching fire.... I'm sure I read that in Durden... or it could be a brewing myth.
I saw the same story repeated on a video about the guinness "megafactory" so it must be true...

I applaud your ambition Barney, though I personally would be spending time achieving a consistent result and experimenting with basic versions of different styles. I still feel, after 2 or 3 years brewing that I'm learning the basics... But like Matt, I look forward to trying it.

cheers
steve
I like to keep a bottle of stimulant handy in case I see a snake, which I also keep handy.
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periolus
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50 shades of pale - traditional porter

Post by periolus »

Tell you what chaps, I'm going to get another couple of brews done first and research the roasting further and them get the 50 shades brewed for drinking in the Spring. I will do it though : )

So, California Common, then another pale, then the big 50.
FV1: EMPTY
FV2: EMPTY
Conditioning: NOWT
Drinking:Countdown Conundrum - Best Bitter; Haka! The Herald - Pacific IPA
Planning: San Francisco 4.9er - California Common; Event Horizon - Robust Porter; Cold Dead Hand - American IPA
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I_used_to_brew
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Re: 50 shades of pale - traditional porter

Post by I_used_to_brew »

Agreed. Draft idea. Learn to brew some tried and tested recipes first.
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