Brewing again

Last weekend I decided to brew another batch. Jenn has been wanting to try an as of yet unnamed coffee porter so I worked up a recipe and we'll see how it goes. The brew day was pretty uneventful except I was in the process of making a lasagna as well so there was a lot of running up an down stairs.

The interesting part of this brew is the coffee. I've read a number of articles and posts about brewing with coffee, some with conflicting suggestions. I ended up using some Dunkin Donuts coffee I had around the house. It's a medium roast and one of the fairly consistent suggestions I've seen is to use a lighter roast since the darker beans tend to shed more oil which can effect head retention.

How to add the coffee seems to be the biggest point of discussion. I decided to cold brew the coffee and add it at the end of the boil. I put about 6 tablespoons of grounds in a container and added cold water to about 2 cups. I refrigerated for about 2 days. The hope is that the cold brewing will minimize the bitterness in the coffee.

I filtered the coffee and added it to the end of the boil, just long enough to sterilize. The rest of the boil was a pretty typical porter. English pale malts, some crystal malts, and some chocolate malt. An ounce of Northern Brewer for bitterness and no additional hops since I don't want to over bitter and I want the coffee and malt flavors at the forefront. The malt bill is a little odd since I wanted to use up some leftover grains I had laying around, thus there's standard UK 2-row and Maris Otter as well as multiple kinds of crystal.

I racked to secondary today and the gravity was at 1.013 which is a little lower than the estimate. Either the yeast was particularly good this go around or I could have mashed a little higher to get more dextrins. The flavor is pretty good for a non-carbonated state. I'll secondary for a little while to let it clarify a little more before I bottle. I'll probably bottle the same time as the Festivus Feats of Strength.

Coffee Porter

Brown Porter

 

Type: All Grain	Date: 10/23/2010
Batch Size: 5.00 gal	Brewer: Trevor
Boil Size: 6.41 gal	Asst Brewer: Jenn
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal) and Cooler (48 qt)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0	Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 5 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 56.57 % 1 lbs 5.3 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 14.33 % 15.2 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 10.24 % 12.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 8.51 % 10.1 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 6.79 % 5.3 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3.56 % 1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 29.6 IBU 0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc 8.00 tbsp Coffee (cold brewed) (Boil 5.0 min) Misc 1 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) [Starter 35 ml] Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.049 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.049 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.30 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.69 %
Bitterness: 29.6 IBU	Calories: 218 cal/pint
Est Color: 28.7 SRM	Color: Color
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body	Total Grain Weight: 9.28 lb
Sparge Water: 3.71 gal	Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F	TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE	Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Single Infusion, Full Body Step Time Name Description Step Temp 45 min Mash In Add 11.60 qt of water at 168.2 F 156.0 F 10 min Mash Out Add 4.64 qt of water at 202.4 F 168.0 F
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar	Volumes of CO2: 2.4
Pressure/Weight: 3.8 oz	Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 60.0 F	Age for: 28.0 days
Storage Temperature: 52.0 F
Notes
Hit OG on the mark, no major problems with the brew day. A little under mark for volume. 10/28/10: Moved to secondary, gravity is 1.013
Created with BeerSmith

Festivus Feats of Strength

Brewed the first of the all-grain FFOS yesterday. It was a great day to be out brewing and I had help from Brent (as usual) and a couple of 2nd assistant brewers/observers. Mostly stuck to the recipe with a couple of minor changes. The hops were both US instead of UK grown and the Goldings was 4.5% but I didn't adjust the amounts since these were short boil hops so the IBUs shouldn't change by more than a point or two. I added the spices and final hops at flame out instead of 5 minutes to prevent the spices from going bitter. Hop additions were slightly higher; I used two 1oz bags of fuggles which weighed in about 2.1oz or so and the second Goldings addition was about 0.55oz but again, this shouldn't make much difference.

The mash went quite well, a little stuck during the initial sparge but the second sparge batch went well, perhaps a little too fast as my efficiency was a bit low. Once I hit a boil, there was a little boil over but not a lot lost although it kept threatening to go over again. This led to frequent spraying to keep the head under control. I ended up with more liquid than expected and a lower OG. Extraction efficiency and the boil water additions led to an OG of 1.048 but the wort didn't taste over hopped or over spiced so I stuck with that instead of adding DME to up the gravity.

The extra water and the 2 quart starter brought the wort level right to the top of my carboy. Instead of transferring again to the 6 gallon I setup a blow off tube and pitched at about 78°F. Unlike BP, my device worked as designed as there was about 1/2 cup of blow off in the growler this morning. There's a solid primary going at about 71°F. I'm expecting it to drop about 5° tonight both of which are good for the WLP005.

I was planning about a week in the primary but there's quite a bit of trub in there, coupled with a healthy fermentation, I might be racking on Thursday. I'll edit and update this post when it goes over to the secondary where it'll sit for a couple of weeks, maybe even a month before going into bottles until Christmas.

Preparing for this year's FFoS

It's time again to brew my holiday ale, Festivus Feats of Strength. I started this beer quite a few years ago when I was an extract brewer and have continued the same recipe. This year I've decided to reformulate as an all grain. I've got two assignments for my readers.

1. Give me some thoughts on the recipe design over the next couple of days. Post comments, positive or negative.
2. Brew along with me. I'm planning on brewing this weekend. It will likely be Sunday, starting in the late morning. If you don't do all grain, comment and I'll post the extract version.

Without further ado, here's the recipe. BeeSmith/BeerXML available on request.

Type: All Grain	Date: 12/9/2006
Batch Size: 5.00 gal	Brewer: Trevor
Boil Size: 4.08 gal	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: Brew Pot (5 Gallon)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0	Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 9 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 78.26 % 1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 13.04 % 8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.35 % 2.00 oz Fuggles [4.20 %] (60 min) Hops 22.4 IBU 0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.20 %] (30 min) Hops 4.3 IBU 0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.20 %] (15 min) Hops 2.8 IBU 0.25 tsp Nutmeg (Boil 5.0 min) Misc 1.00 tsp Coriander Seed (Boil 5.0 min) Misc 1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc 2.00 items Cinnamon Stick (Boil 5.0 min) Misc 6.00 items Clove (Boil 5.0 min) Misc 10.00 items Allspice Berry (Boil 5.0 min) Misc 12.00 items Cardomom Pods (Boil 5.0 min) Misc 8.0 oz Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 4.35 % 1 Pkgs British Ale (White Labs #WLP005) [Starter 1600 ml] Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.064 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.018 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.04 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.43 %
Bitterness: 29.5 IBU	Calories: 203 cal/pint
Est Color: 26.0 SRM	Color: Color
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge	Total Grain Weight: 11.00 lb
Sparge Water: 2.21 gal	Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F	TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE	Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Step Time Name Description Step Temp 45 min Mash In Add 13.75 qt of water at 170.5 F 158.0 F
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar	Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Pressure/Weight: 3.5 oz	Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 60.0 F	Age for: 84.0 days
Storage Temperature: 52.0 F