Beer Recipe of the week: Rocket Rod Romanak's Positively Porter

"Rocket" Rod Romanak (right) was a tremendous influence to the homebrewing community. Rod passed away on February 4, 2011. He and his wife founded the Kona Brewers Festival Hombrew Competition in Hawaii in 1995. Also, in 2004 Rod won the American Homebrewers Association's "Homebrewer of the Year" award. He operated Rocket Suds Homebrewing and Winemaking Supplies, teaching hundreds of customers how to brew.

As a tribute, Kona Brewing Co. brewed Romanak's award-winning Positively Porter on February 16. The AHA is honoring "Rocket" Rod by including Positively Porter as one of this year's official Big Brew recipes.

Here is a tribute to him with his famous porter.

"ROCKET" ROD ROMANAK'S POSITIVELY PORTER

(AHA 2004 NHC Homebrewer of the Year)

Robust Porter

INGREDIENTS

for 5.3 U.S. gallons (20 liters)

10 lb (4.5 kg)	pale malt (two-row)
1.75 (0.8 kg)	Special B malt
1.1 lb (0.5 kg)	light roasted barley
0.5 lb (227 g)	black patent malt
0.5 lb (227 g)	chocolate malt
0.9 oz (26 g)	Nugget whole hops (60 min)
0.9 oz (26 g)	Chinook whole hops (30 min)
0.9 oz (26 g)	Chinook whole hops (steep)
0.75 tsp (3 g)	Irish moss (20 min)
3 packages	Wyeast 1056 American ale yeast or White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast

Original Specific Gravity: 1.068

Final Specific Gravity: 1.015

IBU: 73

Boiling Time: 90 minutes

Primary Fermentation: 7 days at 66 °F (19 °C) in glass

Secondary Fermentation: 21 days at 66 °F (19 °C) in glass

DIRECTIONS

Mash grains at 154 °F (68 °C). Sparge with 173 °F (78 °C) water. Collect enough run-off to end up with 5.3 U.S. gallons (20 liters) after a 90-minute boil. After the 90-minute boil, chill to 62-66 °F (17-19 °C), transfer to a fermenter, pitch the yeast and aerate well. Ferment at 66 °F (19 °C) for seven days, then transfer to a secondary fermenter for three weeks. Rack to keg, or add bottling sugar and bottle and allow to carbonate at 66-68 °F (19-20 °C) for two weeks minimum. Force carbonate at approximately 2 to 2.5 volumes of CO2, or bottle condition using 2.6 to 3.9 oz by weight (73 to 111 g) corn sugar.

EXTRACT VERSION:

Substitute 8.5 lb (3.9 kg) light liquid malt extract, or 6.8 lb (3.1 kg) light dry malt extract for the two-row malt. Place 1.4 lb (635 g) Special B malt, 0.75 lb (340 g) light roasted barley, 0.3 lb (136 g) black patent malt and 0.3 lb (136 g) chocolate malt in a grain bag and steep in 2.5 gallons (9.5 L) of filtered water at 154 °F (68 °C) for 30 minutes. Stir in malt extract (add water if necessary to bring to 3.5 gallons), and bring to boil. Increase hop amounts to 1.13 oz (32 g) for each addition. Follow remainder of recipe shown above. (The full extract version of the recipe is available on HomebrewersAssociation.org in the Big Brew section.)

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