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Decided to make use of the 1098 starter i made thinking it was 1056.... so i brewed a porter on Saturday and added honey and then threw in amarillo just cos i could. Well, mainly cos i made one last year using cascade so figured amarillo would work too.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Honey Porter AG
Brewer: DrSmurto
Asst Brewer:
Style: Robust Porter
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 20.00 L
Boil Size: 23.47 L
Estimated OG: 1.059 SG
Estimated Color: 69.8 EBC
Estimated IBU: 51.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.15 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (14.0 EBC) Grain 40.95 %
1.25 kg Pale Malt, Ale (Barrett Burston) (5.9 EBC)Grain 23.81 %
0.45 kg Carafa II (Weyermann) (817.6 EBC) Grain 8.57 %
0.45 kg Caramunich I (Weyermann) (100.5 EBC) Grain 8.57 %
0.45 kg Melanoidin (Weyermann) (59.1 EBC) Grain 8.57 %
35.00 gm Northern Brewer [9.10 %] (60 min) Hops 38.6 IBU
15.00 gm Amarillo [8.90 %] (20 min) Hops 9.8 IBU
15.00 gm Amarillo [8.90 %] (5 min) Hops 3.2 IBU
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.50 kg Honey (2.0 EBC) Sugar 9.52 %
1 Pkgs British Ale (Wyeast Labs #1098) [Starter 1Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 4.75 kg
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
120 min Mash In Add 14.00 L of water at 71.6 C 66.0 C

Yes, you read right. A 2 hour mash. Not intended but thought i had time to sneak off the hardware shop but life is never that simple and 2 hours later i drained the mash tun!

Looks good - you've got a mash ratio of around 3L per kilo...was your sparge volume around the 10-11L mark?

Cheers,
TL

It should have been but i over sparged by at least 4L. Ended up with 24L @ 1.054 instead of 20L @ 1.059 as planned.

The way i measure volume into the kettle is with a piece of wood that has 5L increments scratched into it. I measured it by tipping roughly 5L from a bucket into the kettle and then dunking the wood in there. Not the most scientific thing i have ever done.....

I realised i had oversparged so left the NASA on full for the whole boil but still didnt get enough evap! Didnt have time to do a 2h boil which is what i needed!

I've decided to do this brew after next weekend's IPA - I might have a play with the grainbill, thanks to some recently arrived grains and go with Marris Otter, Munich II, Carafa I, Caramunich I and Melanoidin. I'll stick with your hop schedule - and is Leatherwood honey the one to use? I had a night in Hobart last year in a pub that had a supply of Cascade Honey Porter stubbies that disappeared that night!

I'd like to use the same honey if possible - it was one of the nicest commercially available dark ales I've had in years...

Cheers,
TL

I use Blue Gum Honey from the Clare Valley. Picked it up from a market during a trip there last year. There have been thread(s) on which honey to use and most suggest not to use blue gum or any eucalyptus but so far i have had only good results.

I made a cascade porter last year when i wanted to take the ideas of Wassa's honey porter and beef it up a bit

From memory that was

1 can Coopers lager
1kg dark malt extract
500g blue gum honey
500g weyermann carafa special II, steeped
25g POR hops at 45mins
20g cascade at flameout
US56

It was the memory of how good this porter was that led me to using a good whack of carafa II and a fruit american hop. Need to buy a new hydro tonight (my last one dided this week after 10 years service - yes, i had a minutes silence). so will taste it and get back to you.

New hydro isnt as nice to use as my old faithful. its now sitting on my bar till i decide where she will be laid to rest.....

Anyway, tasted the porter when i racked it. MMMMMMMMmmmmmmalty! This is a ballsy porter, not high in ABV but its got so much flavour coming from the malt. Warm and flat its hard to detect any amarillo, i may have underdone it and i would expect some fruitiness from the yeast (1098) as i brewed it at the higher end of the scale (22C). I was planning on bottling this for winter as i have the remainder of a guinness keg on tap along with a newly acquired dark ale - The chocolate soldier but now i just dont know..... Dilemmas!

I just dont get these ppl who dont drink dark beers..... I LOVE THEM

I'd set it aside for a while, Doc....I did a 1.065 OG Robust Porter some time ago and it tasted less than perfect out of the bottle after only a week or two and by now, some 4 months later, it's getting better each week. The grain complexity takes time and whilst you may suffer a bit of hop profile, the grain complexity is well worth the wait.

Cheers,
TL

Good point. Its my first AG porter so i really want to get my head and mouth around how good these can be.

No probs....you won't regret it.

There's some badass voodoo happening around here - I broke my trusty hydrometer last weekend as I was about to take my post boil / efficiency gravity reading....8 hours of making an IPA and I've no idea what gravity it ended up at.

The hydrometer read 1.045 with about 1cm of wort inside it!! I might name this batch Mercury IPA!

Cheers,
TL

bottled this on Saturday to leave it down for a few months but will sneak 2 into the tanunda show for some prelim feedback......

Had a few bottles of this now, a very nice porter. Its going to be my case swap beer so by the time its swapped it will have had 4 months on the bottle! Better pull my finger out and brew another one for myself, this time upping the amarillo additions cos i cant taste any fruit. Its still nice and malty tho, hopefully next time i can hit my target volume and get an even richer beer!