Coffee Wheat Porter

I cannot sing enough praises for Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing. I have brewed the wheat porter a few times, and it is everything I look for in a stout! And it is now in my rotation: to be brewed 4 or 5 times a year.

This time, inspired by the Brewing Network's interview with Terrapin Brewery's Brian "Spike" Bukowski, I decided to add some coffee to my wheat porter. I followed Spike's advice and bought his blend of coffee from Jittery Joe's. I soaked an ounce and a half of ground coffee in water, in the fridge, three days before kegging, then added it just before I sealed the keg.

This is why people should homebrew. This beer rocks. Sure, the porter is a bit thin, but it is a great beer. I'm definitely doing this again!

Wheat Porter 2

On September 14, I brewed Dick's Elixir Wheat Porter again. This time, I intend to add some coffee at kegging.

The last time I made this was also my second all-grain batch in five years or so. I made some mistakes, but still wound up with a pretty good beer. I used a bit less water in my mash. I added about a third of the water, mixed in a third of the grains, added another third of the water, stirred in another third of the grains. I came close to my mash temperature, only five degrees low. I heated up another 6 gallons of water to sparge with. When it came time to sparge, the plug on one end of my sparge arm was missing, and so I had to batch sparge. For the first time.

I mash in a 5 gallon mash tun from Williams brewing. I have had it for nine years or so. While it's served me well, I haven't had too much luck this go round. Basically it is, when full, a three foot column of grain and water that is impossible to stir! So with my problems, my FG was 1048, about 30 points low, but close to what I got last time.

So now I have to find a bigger mash tun, and am leaning towards a rectangular cooler. Thanks to Hurrican Ike evacuees, our Wal-Mart only has the 40 quart cubes. I'm afraid the cube shaped ones will have the same problem as my mash tun. I want a rectangular 48 quart, so I can get the grain spread out rather than in a 3 foot high column.

If that doesn't help, I may be selling off my brewing equipment!

Wheat Porter Tasting Notes

A few weeks ago, I brewed Randy Mosher's wheat porter from Radical Brewing. Last night, I felt a need for something dark and smooth, so I tapped the wheat porter keg.

Oh

My

Gosh!

This is silky and creamy, kinda like chocolate milk. I would have like more alcohol, but what do I know about mashing?

I may have to fill the tub and bathe with this.

Dick's Elixir Wheat Porter Session notes

My last all-grain batch went off a little. I didn't have enough sparge water.

This time, the exact opposite. I added 3 gallons of 130° F water to get the grains to 116° for 20 minutes. The mash was soupy.

Next, I added 2 gallons of 200° water to get it to 146° (6 degrees below my target, although it did eventually rise to 151°.). I had a mash tun full of water. It looked like a huge pint glass of stout--black liguid and a tan foam.

Then I took ProMash's advice sparged with 7 gallons of 170° water and collected eight or nine gallons of wort. I boiled for two hours trying to evaporate down to 6 gallons, but didn't make it. I wound up pouring 1 gallon or so onto the ground because it wouldn't fit into the fermenter. This got me an OG of 1042 instead of 1073.

How did I wind up in such a state of affairs? I consulted two brewing sources and made one error during the sparge.

First, I consulted The Master, who said I should use 1.2 quarts per pound of grain at 130° to get my protein rest at 122°. Then I should add half a quart per pound or 200° water to raise my temp by 15°. I did some quick math and learned that would put about 5 gallons of water into my mash tun. I also consulted The Guru, who said I should use 2 quarts per pound of water!

Then, during the sparge, for some reason, I decided that I had to use all the sparge water instead of just sparging until I collected 7 gallons!

The other night, I listened to The Session on The Brewing Network for July 23, 2006, The Honesty and All Grain Show, and have learned I can do it with as little as a quart per pound.

Or I could just brew extract.

Or I could just go to the fucking liquor store.

Second all-grain batch - Wheat Porter

Since I did so well with the first all-grain batch, I thought I would try a second batch. I consulted Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing, and stole this recipe:

Dick's Elixir Wheat Porter

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (GAL): 5.00 Wort Size (GAL): 6.00
Total Grain (LBS): 14.38
Anticipated OG: 1.076 Plato: 18.40
Anticipated SRM: 26.2
Anticipated IBU: 23.1
System Efficiency: 75 (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Gravity SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
34.8 5.00 lbs. Wheat Malt America 1.038 2
27.8 4.00 lbs. Munich Malt Great Britain 1.037 6
20.9 3.00 lbs. Lager Malt(6-row) Canada 1.031 1
10.4 1.50 lbs. Crystal 60L America 1.034 60
3.5 0.50 lbs. Flaked Oats America 1.033 2
2.6 0.38 lbs. Carafa Chocolate Malt Germany 1.030 525

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.25 oz. Nugget Whole 13.00 15.0 90 min.
0.75 oz. Nugget Whole 13.00 8.2 10 min.

Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP004 Irish Stout
Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Type: Multi Step

Qts Water Per LBS Grain: 1.50 Total Qts: 21.56

Notes
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Toast flaked oats at 300F until a light golden brown an smell like cookies.

According to Randy Mosher, this should have a chocolate milkshake flavor with texture.