(Cherry Chocolate) Oatmeal Robust Porter

Beer Recipes
1

I recieved a PM requesting the recipe, and since there was a delay in getting this brewed, I thought I would solicit for comments on it, that I had posted I was going to brew I think last weekend.  What do you think?

Oatmeal Robust Porter

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics

Batch Size (Gal):        11.00    Wort Size (Gal):  11.00
Total Grain (Lbs):      25.75
Anticipated OG:          1.063    Plato:            15.37
Anticipated SRM:          38.2
Anticipated IBU:          37.2
Brewhouse Efficiency:      75 %
Wort Boil Time:            60    Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

%    Amount    Name                          Origin        Potential SRM

31.1    8.00 lbs. Marris Otter                    Great Britain  1.038      3
27.2    7.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)              America        1.036      2
  9.7    2.50 lbs. Munich Malt                  Germany        1.037      8
  7.8    2.00 lbs. Chocolate Malt                America        1.029    350
  7.8    2.00 lbs. Flaked Oats                  America        1.033      2
  3.9    1.00 lbs. Crystal 20L                  America        1.035    20
  3.9    1.00 lbs. Crystal 60L                  Great Britain  1.034    55
  2.9    0.75 lbs. Black Patent Malt            America        1.028    525
  1.9    0.50 lbs. Aromatic Malt                Belgium        1.036    25
  3.9    1.00 lbs. Wheat Malt                    Germany        1.039      2

Hops

Amount    Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time

5.00 oz.    Goldings - B.C.                  Pellet  3.17  33.4  60 min.
  1.45 oz.    Fuggle                            Pellet  4.75  3.9  15 min.
  2.00 oz.    Goldings - B.C.                  Pellet  3.17  0.0  0 min.

Extras

Amount      Name                          Type      Time

1.50 Unit(s)Whirfloc                      Fining    5 Min.(boil)
  1.25 Tsp    Wyeast Yeast Nutrient          Other    10 Min.(boil)

Yeast

Fermentis US-05 American Ale

Mash Schedule

Mash Type: Single Step

Grain Lbs:  25.75
Water Qts:  38.00 - Before Additional Infusions
Water Gal:    9.50 - Before Additional Infusions

Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 1.48 - Before Additional Infusions

Saccharification Rest Temp : 155  Time:  60

Notes

Recipe should use EKG rather than US Goldings, but I’m subbing with hops I have onhand.

With a nod to Jamil’s Black Widow Porter, which is what I based a lot of this recipe on.

I like the creamy head of an oatmeal stout and have a bunch of flaked oats on hand so incorporated them into the recipe.  I will be toasting them at 300F in a pan in the oven with occasional stirring until lightly browned and nutty smelling.

5 gal =  straight recipe

5 gal = will get chocolate and cherries in secondary, after at least two weeks in primary ramped up to steady 65-66F. 
For 5 gal beer, use 1/2 lb low fat, unsweetened chocolate powder that is stirred in with cherries
when pasteurizing them for 20 min at 160F.  Leave on cherries/cocoa for 10 days. 
Use minimum of 2 lbs cherries per gallon of beer, and I will also be adding ~10 oz. “Tart is Smart”
natural tart cherry juice concentrate since I have it onhand.  I haven’t decided if I will bother
pitting the cherries - probably not.  I will use frozen Bing cherries I picked and froze last summer.

Two to three weeks maturing in the keg in the 35F kegerator should serve as a diacetyl rest.

2

Thanks for posting this.  I’m anxious to try it.

Steve

3

I formulated based on what I have on hand.  It wouldn’t need the wheat malt, but I added it because I have tons, and it is foam positive for the head.  No real need for two types of base malt but I think it will work well.  And you could use 2 lbs of caramel 40 rather than 1 lb each of 60 and 20, etc.  Of course you know that the ingredient amounts will vary depending on your brewhouse efficiency.  I improved my efficiency considerably once Martin’s newer versions of Bru’n Water came out.  And, I am mashing a bit warm because I want some body.  I’ll be coming close to his Black Malty water profile.

4

I edited my recipe above to follow Jamil’s Black Widow Porter hopping schedule, which I trust more than what I had previously using cascade for aroma and no fuggles.  It’s just safer.  I had originally thought it would be interesting to try something other than fuggles, since I have read some posts of people who detest that hop in porters.  Still, I don’t think it’s a hop that offends my tastebuds.

5

Just on first glance there a lot of different thing going on in the grain bill. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I wonder how much you need the wheat and aromatic with the other flavors going on.  Also, why are you bittering with a lower alpha Golding hop? Do you have something higher in alpha to bitter with? Finally I like the flavor/aroma hops, but not for the chocolate/fruity half of the beer. I am not a big fan of fruit beer with a strong hop flavor. Not sure how you can remedy this since if you take the hops out, the non-fruit beer will suffer.

6

I am using up the last of a pound of Goldings I have in the freezer.  I have read that many British brewers traditionally hopped stouts/porters with low alpha hops, so it doesn’t concern me much.  I felt that 37 IBUs was a decent middle ground for splitting the beer.  That said, my tastebuds are twisted from lots of IPA!!!  I agree that it’s a bit high in alpha acids for the fruit/chocolate half of the beer.

I hope that the wheat and aromatic don’t muddy up the flavors.  I will consider removing the aromatic.  Due to the fruit, I want to leave the wheat in since fruit (and chocolate?) can be a head killer.I’ve seen plenty of porter recipes with the same dark malts plus a small wheat malt addition.

7

Well, after mashing too hot (~157.5)  :-[, the beer still came down to 1.018 after a week - close enough.  It is a bit hoppy for treating half the batch with fruit, but I still went ahead with that.  After all, porter in the 1700’s was around 60 IBUs or up to even 150 IBUs, so 38 IBUs isn’t over the top.  Otherwise the recipe tasted very nice.

Anyway, yesterday I added the fruit and chocolate, 10 lbs of my thawed cherries (mix of sweet and tart), that I first pitted + ~8 oz. of “Tart is Smart” montmorency 100% cherry juice concentrate + 8 oz. Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa.  I put it altogether in a pot and pasteurized at ~160F for 20 minutes.  This wasn’t too hard since I have a quick read thermocouple digital thermometer for numerous quick checks.  I stirred a lot with a clean plastic spatula (gets into the corner where the pot wall meets the base) to keep the temp uniform throughout the batch.  I poured that into a sanitized 6.5 gal bucket and then chilled that in a cold water bath until below 70F.  There was one gallon of it.  Next, I racked 5 gallons of the 1-week old porter on top, and added some anti-foam drops just in case!  I don’t think I sucked up enough of the yeast cake when transferring.  After 24 hrs there was still minimal pressure out the airlock, so I just added another packet of US-05 and it is doing well now.

Man, my kitchen smelled great with the cherry chocolate goodness!  After 10 - 11 days I will cold condition for a day or 2 and then rack to a keg, with a small sock of sanitized cheesecloth or similar clamped over one end during racking to keep fruit sediment out of the keg.

Oh, I also checked again and in case you don’t know, the diacetyl rest for a porter is done solely by leaving the beer an extra couple days in the fermenter before kegging or bottling.

And, I found that toasting the flaked oats went well at 325F, stirring every 6 minutes until done.  I used a hotel pan that had a lot of surface area to make it go a bit quicker.  It took about 30 minutes, while the strike water was heating.

8

This beer turned out very well - both varieties.

The straight porter is smooth and creamy for a robust porter due to the oats and if anything, could have had a bit more roasty character (for the 11 gallon batch I could have added .25 - .40 lb more of the black patent malt).  Still I got what I was shooting for and it is not overhopped - very balanced I feel.  In fact, due to it’s smoothness and great creamy head on co2, I don’t think I’ll hook it up to beer gas, since that would strip more roast and hop character from the beer.  And I really like the good body and mouthfeel of the beer.

The chocolate cherry process worked very well.  At first I was afraid that I overdid the cherry character, but after having gotten a few glasses into the keg, this is not the case (well maybe just a little bit).  However, the chocolate notes are a bit reserved.  I taste it more as a lingering taste rather than up front.  I think that I should have stirred after racking onto the cherry/chocolate mixture, to distribute the chocolate flavor more.  With the additional added packet of US-05 after the fruit/chocolate addition, it fermented completely dry and after 10 days I cold conditioned for +48 hrs and then kegged.  The head is there, a little reduced, and not very long-lasting due to fruit, as should be expected - all the more reason to add the wheat malt and oats to the recipe.