Advent #15 - "Wheat, Me Worry?" Porter

[mumblecrunch]

The original recipe is "Dick's Elixir Wheat Porter" from Randy Mosher's book "Radical Brewing" (great book, highly recommended). It is slightly modified from the original based on available ingredients and recommendations in the notes.

Specs:

• Batch Size: 18.93 l
• Boil Time: 90 min
• Efficiency: 70.00 %
• Est Original Gravity: 1.076 SG
• Est Final Gravity: 1.024 SG
• Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.9 %
• Bitterness: 25.5 IBUs
• Est Color: 26.5 SRM

Grist:

• White Wheat Malt 34.6%
• Munich Malt 27.7%
• Pale Malt (6-row) 20.8%
• Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L 10.4%
• Oats, Flaked 3.5% - Toasted at 300°F until smelling like cookies (~1h in my case)
• Carafa Special II 3.1%

Hops:

• Northern Brewer [10.60 %] - Boil 90.0 min 16.4 IBUs
• Northern Brewer [10.60 %] - Boil 10.0 min 5.6 IBUs
• Hallertauer [6.70 %] - Boil 10.0 min 2.3 IBUs
• Tettnang [3.60 %] - Boil 10.0 min 1.2 IBUs

Misc:

• 1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins)

Yeast:

• English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) 1.5L Starter (stepped up twice)

Mash Steps:

• Protein Rest 52.0 C 30 min
• Saccharification 66.5 C 60 min

Actuals:

• Brewed October 19, 2014
• Measured Original Gravity: 1.072 SG
• Measured Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
• Actual Alcohol by Vol: 7.7 %

Obviously it dried out way more than intended, possibly because fermentation went a little insane on the second day and shot up to 25°C for a couple of hours before i could get the bucket into a swamp cooler. Samplings haven't revealed any untoward ester production but it's definitely a touch boozy. I suspect I'd find it overly sweet at the recommended FG of 1.024 so if I were to make it again I might shoot for a slightly lower OG and a FG more like 1.018.

Edit: grist edited to reflect that the Pale Malt is actually (*gasp*) the much-maligned 6-row. According to what I've read this is intended to provide the extra diastatic power necessary to convert that much wheat. According to other reading I've done, modern 2-row has higher DP than it would have when this recipe was formulated (based on clues I'm guessing some time in the early 80s) and there's some question as to how much it matters anyway at this scale, but I went with 6-row to be safe.

[CartoonCod]

Shouldn't wheat malt convert itself? I think you would need the extra DP if you used non-malted wheat such as flaked wheat.

[mumblecrunch]

Shouldn't wheat malt convert itself? I think you would need the extra DP if you used non-malted wheat such as flaked wheat.

Yeah, I got confused. At the head of Chapter 11 of Radical Brewing (in which this recipe appears), there's a bit about the American Adjunct Mash Procedure and the following quote:

“This mash will work with recipes of up to about 60-percent unmalted adjuncts, which can be corn, rice, wheat, oats, rye, or anything else, the remainder being barley malt. At higher adjunct levels (40 percent and over), you should consider using some—or all—six-row malt, as it has higher enzyme levels than two-row.”

I think I took that out of context as the reason the Wheat Porter was formulated with 6-row instead of 2-row. But the recipe for the Wheat Porter doesn't call for using this procedure, just a standard mash @152°F with an optional protein rest @122-131°F. And it's definitely wheat malt the recipe calls for. The recipe actually says "six-row lager malt" and the ingredients list elsewhere in the book lists a "two-row lager malt" as well, so it was definitely by design, I just don't know what the design was

[GuingesRock]

There are so many flavours in this that hit you from all angles and change dramatically and startlingly as you drink it. I don't have enough experience to comment. It keeps reaching out from the nearby coffee table and grabbing at my curiosity, such that my glass is almost empty. I need to hear someone with experience comment. There's a little too much of something in it for me, maybe it's the crystal, but that's just a prejudice of mine.

Thanks Aaron.

[Woody]

Love the label and didn't get one with mine. I know the flavour G Rock is talking about. I can only describe it as a sweet almost caramelization type flavour. I'm not sure what would cause this?? It has a good body, carbonation and everything else was good but the flavour stood out.

[Hub Brewer]

Same here. I found it was a bit like molasses. Enjoyed it otherwise. Thanks for sharing Aaron.

[CartoonCod]

I'm going by memory since I drank it a few hours ago. I found it had a phenolic and estery character up front. When I first smelled it I thought it might have been fermented with belgian yeast, then I read your post and noticed that the fermentation temps went up to 25 degC. That would probably do it. Overall it was still nice to drink, and I'm glad I got to try a wheat porter. The malt profile was still quit nice and I noticed it had decent wheat character.

[jtmwhyte]

It definitely tastes Belgian to me as well. It has the same slightly unpleasant taste of my RIS from a couple of years ago.

[know1]

Really enjoyed this. Nice and warm and roasty with great caramel flavor and body. I enjoyed the belgian-esque yeast flavors on it too.

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

It was a bit sweet for me, but really enjoyable otherwise. I thought it all worked well together and although I couldn't drink a lot at a single sitting, I could drink this regularly.

[GuingesRock]

The malt profile was still quit nice and I noticed it had decent wheat character.

Adam, what is that wheat character like please, can you or someone describe it for me, there was a sort of peppery thing at the end for me. I also wondered if that was a Belgian thing, but then I sort of remembered that with some of my wheat beers and wondered if that was from the wheat.

[RubberToe]

Aaron, the maltines of this beer was really good. I liked how it finished "low" too.

I think it could benefit quite a bit from good fermentation temp control though. It tasted a bit boozey / hot to me.

-Rob

[CartoonCod]

It's kind of a grainy character, but I'm lost for words at the moment on how to describe it. I leant about it by trying different wheat beers and finding the common ground.

[RubberToe]

You may also get grainy character from 6-row IIRC. I was going to use 6-row and wheat in the American Wheat I didn't make.

[LiverDance]

It was an interesting beer for sure, lots going on

[akr71]

It reminded me more of a dunkelweizen than a porter, perhaps because of the high fermentation temp and the munich and carafa malts. I'm used to some roastiness in my porter.

All in all, this beer grew on me and I would drink it again. Thanks Aaron

[chicanuck]

It reminded me more of a dunkelweizen than a porter, perhaps because of the high fermentation temp and the munich and carafa malts. I'm used to some roastiness in my porter.

All in all, this beer grew on me and I would drink it again. Thanks Aaron

I would agree on the Dunkelweizen comparison, a bigger ABV sample. I am quite enjoying this beer, it is sweet and a little boozy but finishes pretty smooth, thank you for sharing.

[jmacdonald]

It was an interesting beer for sure, lots going on

+1

[GAM]

I didn't realy like this beer. The hight temp is likely the main reason. I am such a "Beer should taste like beer" guy that even vanella (one of my favorite tastes and smells) puts a weard spin on the tastes. I agree with Dave, one every now and then would be good but two in a row would be too much.

Aaron I think I'll try this as just the porter. I don't see any vanella in your recipie how much and when was it added?

Sandy

[mumblecrunch]

Aaron I think I'll try this as just the porter. I don't see any vanella in your recipie how much and when was it added?

There is no vanilla in this recipe. None. Nada. Zippo. Zilch. The recipe I made is exactly what I posted above. Any vanilla flavors were achieved through the chemistry of fermentation and interaction with your palate

[CorneliusAlphonse]

I enjoyed it but yeah I got a bit of the temperature control issues coming through from the yeast

[GAM]

Aaron I think I'll try this as just the porter. I don't see any vanella in your recipie how much and when was it added?

There is no vanilla in this recipe. None. Nada. Zippo. Zilch. The recipe I made is exactly what I posted above. Any vanilla flavors were achieved through the chemistry of fermentation and interaction with your palate

Cool. I don't know how that works but I expected vanella as an ingrediant.

Sandy