[PORTERHAUS]

This is a beer I brew for the wife, it started off as a Robust Porter but I haven't brewed it as that Robust Porter in a while. This recipe is about 2 years old and although there has been slight adjustments I haven't really changed the recipe much in that time. When I look at it I wonder if I can simplify it by dropping the Roast Barley which probably is adding much and bump the mash temp in place of the Carapils. Going from say 156* to 160* would that be sufficient to take up for the body/mouthfeel the Carapils adds?

I add an 8 oz can of Hershey's Cocoa powder to the end of the boil and I add cold brewed coffee to the beer at kegging. I have no complaints with the beer, the wife loves it, but brewers are always playing around. The main idea is having a nice, smooth, rich flavored Porter. Creamy, but not sweet to let the Coffee and Chocolate come through. One thing I changed recently was moving .5 oz of the bittering down to 30 minutes. When I brew it as the Robust Porter only I leave the 30 min addition at 60. Here's the recipe as it is usually brewed. Does anyone have a good Robust or Specialty Porter they brew for comparison?

Robust Porter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (G):           6.0
Total Grain (lb):         14.375
Total Hops (oz):          3.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.064  (°P): 15.7
Final Gravity (FG):       1.016  (°P): 4.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  6.29 %
Colour (SRM):             37.8   (EBC): 74.5
Bitterness (IBU):         30.7   (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 75
Boil Time (Minutes):      60

10.000 lb American 2-Row (69.57%)
1.500 lb Munich I (10.43%)
1.000 lb Crystal 40 (6.96%)
0.500 lb Black Patent (3.48%)
0.500 lb Chocolate (3.48%)
0.500 lb Chocolate, Pale (3.48%)
0.250 lb Carapils (Dextrine) (1.74%)
0.125 lb Roasted Barley (0.87%)

1.50 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes 20.48 IBU
0.50 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes 5.36 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes 3.46 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes 1.39 IBU

Single step Infusion at 156°F for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 66°F with Safale US-05

[Wort-H.O.G.]

Robust Porter made with wlp013
 
  Mash Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs Pale Malt Avangard (3.3 SRM) Grain 1 67.9 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Munich Malt light-Avangard (5.0 SRM) Grain 2 11.3 %
1 lbs Brown Malt (Crisp) (65.0 SRM) Grain 3 7.5 %
12.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.7 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 5 3.8 %
6.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.8 %
2.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 7 0.9 %
 
 
  Boil Ingredients Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.70 oz Hallertau Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 30.3 IBUs
0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 9 -
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 10 5.6 IBUs
 

[PORTERHAUS]

Looks like a nice Porter as well. I make a Brown Porter with Brown Malt, love that malt.

[PORTERHAUS]

Well instead of modifying/simplifying my recipe above I decided to go with something a little different. This will be pretty much Jamil's Chocolate Hazelnut Porter recipe from BCS with a few minor hop tweaks. It has a number of awards, and although I won't be adding the Hazelnut this is the base recipe I kind of worked off to make what I posted above. I think cutting back on the roasted malts some and bumping the malt bill up with the addition of the C-80 should make for exactly what I have in mind. Remarks on my last scoresheet for my recipe above where exactly that...maybe to cut back some of the roasted malts that may be adding acrid bitterness to the overall coffee character.

So I think we are going to try something more like this. It pretty much takes care of the tweaks I had in mind anyway. (Less roast, a bump in the Crystal malt, ditch the Carapils, bump the mash temp). I'll ferment nice and cool with good ol' US-05. I'll add 8 oz of Hershey's Cocoa powder to the end of the boil. I'll be looking for a nice coffee to cold brew and add to the beer at kegging.

Chocolate Coffee Porter
Robust Porter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (G):           6.0
Total Grain (lb):         14.750
Total Hops (oz):          3.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.067  (°P): 16.4
Final Gravity (FG):       1.017  (°P): 4.3
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  6.58 %
Colour (SRM):             37.6   (EBC): 74.1
Bitterness (IBU):         37.6   (Tinseth)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 75
Boil Time (Minutes):      60

Grain Bill
----------------
10.000 lb American 2-Row (67.8%)
1.500 lb Munich I (10.17%)
1.000 lb Crystal 40 (6.78%)
1.000 lb Crystal 80 (6.78%)
0.750 lb Chocolate (5.08%)
0.500 lb Black Malt (3.39%)

Hop Bill
----------------
1.00 oz Northern Brewer Pellet (8.5% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes
1.00 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes
0.50 oz Fuggles Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes
0.50 oz Fuggles Pellet (5% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes

Misc Bill
----------------
8.00 oz Cocoa Powder @ 0 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 156°F for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 65°F with US-05 Ale yeast.

Recipe Generated with BrewMate.

[PORTERHAUS]

Got this brewed up over the weekend. My brewing has been a little slow since summer, only had a couple batches since then. This went well for getting back into things. Everything but the trouble with a stuck sparge worked out great. Hit my OG for the first time in a long time. My Northern Brewer were lower AA's but I just went with it for a few less IBU's...no biggie and mash temp was more like 154*...good enough.

On a side note, I upgraged to a glass carboy and man do I like seeing the fermentation so much better! It's chugging along at 66*.

[2brew559]

Porterhause  and Wort-H.O.G.d

these recipes look tasty..!!!

porterhaus.. like the pale choclate..

so how smooht is  the porter? descuttes Balck Butte porter smooth??  I need to make a good porter!

wort-hogs your recipe looks awesome too!

dilemma... which one to brew 1st..LOL  coin toss..LOL