Batch 17: Chocolate Porter
     
 
 
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Original
Gravity
Final
Gravity
Alcohol
By Volume
Mash
Efficiency
Primary Secondary Keg
1.055 1.012 5.6 % 76 % 17 days 12 days 6 days

 

rewed on Saturday, May 7th, 2005
A yeast starter was made on Monday, May 2, 2005 for the White Labs Irish ale yeast with 550 mL of water, 3 oz of Light LME, and 1 tsp yeast nutrient. This is my second time making this recipe and I doubled the amount of cocoa powder this time to 1 cup, hopefully this will add more chocolate flavor. I did notice that I wasn't able to get the wort as frothy with the mix-stir aerator because of the oils in the cocoa powder. We'll see if this effects head retention in the finished beer.

Partial Mash
5.00 gal Batch Size
3.53 gal Boil Size

 

Amount Item Price
4.00 lb Light Liquid Malt Extract (8 L) $6.00
4.00 lb Briess 2-row Pale Malt (2 L) $3.80
1.00 lb Briess Caramel Malt (120 L) $1.15
0.75 lb Briess Chocolate Malt (375 L) $1.01
0.25 lb Briess Caramel Malt (80 L) $0.29
1.00 oz Pearle Hops (6.60 %) at 60 min $0.95
0.50 oz Fuggles Hops (4.40 %) at 60 min $0.48
0.50 oz Fuggles Hops (4.40 %) at 2 min $0.48
1.00 cup Cocoa Powder at 5.0 min $48.00
1.00 tsp Irish Moss at 30.0 min $0.10
1 pkgs White Labs Irish Ale (WLP004) $4.95
    $20.20

 

Time Step
2:00 PM Sanitized equipment
2:20 PM Heated 2 gal strike water to 173 F, preheated mash tun
2:45 PM Doughed in at 168 F, mashed at 154 F for 60 min, 153 F for 30 min, 152 F for 0 min
  Heated 2.25 gal sparge water to 182 F, preheated hot liquor tank
3:45 PM Lautered 3.5 gal of wort, 1.030 @ 137 F = 1.045 SG, 76% Mash Efficiency
4:55 PM Boiled, added hops on schedule
5:55 PM Cooled to 72 F
7:10 PM Fermented for 17 days, 1.054 @ 70 F = 1.055 OG (Estimate: 1.056 OG)
7:20 PM Cleaned equipment

 

acked to Secondary on Tuesday, May 24th, 2005
After a long primary fermentation of 17 days at 62F the Chocolate Porter was racked to the secondary fermenter. It was not my intention but maybe the long primary will be beneficial in extracting more chocolate flavor from the cocoa powder. Most of the cocoa powder has dropped out of solution along with the yeast with some still floating on top. Probably just a couple more weeks to clear more in the secondary.

 

egged on Sunday, June 5th, 2005
After secondary fermentation at 62-65F for 12 days the Chocolate Porter was kegged in a newly rebuilt 5-gallon corny keg and put at 12 PSI at 40F in the new Sanyo refrigerator. Should be ready for tasting in a little less than a week.

 

asted on Saturday, June 11th, 2005
Not quite fully carbonated after 6 days but definitely drinkable. Great chocolate flavor in this beer with a mild roastiness. This beer is not carbonating a quickly as the last batch and I'm not sure why. I turned up the pressure to 15 PSI and shook the keg a little. It's now a week later and nicely carbonated, not sure why it took almost two weeks. Head retention is not as long as my other beers probably due to the cocoa powder but it's definitely not a problem.