Batch 10: Chocolate Porter
     
 
 
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Original
Gravity
Final
Gravity
Alcohol
By Volume
Mash
Efficiency
Primary Secondary Bottles
1.054 1.013 5.3 % ? 4 days 11 days 13 days

 

rewed on Saturday, September 27th, 2003
This recipe is a modified robust porter recipe that I have brewed in the past. The addition of a heaping 1/2 cup of cocoa powder during the last 5 minutes of the boil will hopefully create a nice chocolate flavor. It certainly had a great aroma after adding it to the boil. The chocolate I used was Chatfield's unsweetened and alkaline free cocoa powder. I replaced the stopper and tubing on my 3 gallon Rubbermaid mash tun with a permanent bottling spigot. Another 3 gallon cooler was used as the hot liquor tank which worked great. It was a much better setup than my previous method of ladling hot water onto the top of the grain bed. Below is the recipe, the hops were kept low to hopefully bring out more of the chocolate flavor.

Partial Mash
5.00 gal Batch Size
3.53 gal Boil Size

 

Amount Item Price
3.25 lb Light Liquid Malt Extract (8 L) $4.88
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 (4.00 %) at 60 min $0.48
0.50 oz Fuggles Hops (4.00 %) at 2 min $0.48
0.50 cup Cocoa Powder at 5.0 min $120.00
1.00 tsp Irish Moss at 30.0 min $0.10
1 pkgs White Labs Irish Ale (WLP004) $4.95
    $20.58

 

Time Step
10:40 AM Sanitized equipment
  Heated 2 gal strike water to 170 F, preheated mash tun
11:20 AM Doughed in at 162 F, mashed at 152 F
  Heated 2.5 gal sparge water to 181 F, preheated hot liquor tank
12:20 PM Lautered 3.5 gal of wort, no SG measurement
  Boiled, added hops on schedule
  Cooled to 72 F
  Fermented for 4 days, no OG measurement (Estimate: 1.054 OG)
  Cleaned equipment

 

acked to Secondary on Wednesday, October 1st, 2003
After 4 days in the primary fermentor the Chocolate Porter was transferred to secondary for 2 weeks. There was lots of chocolate sediment on the bottom of the primary. I'm wondering if the cocoa powder was fully dissolved in the wort, maybe a longer boil time would be beneficial. Only after it's tasted will I know if method for adding chocolate was correct.

 

ottled on Sunday, October 12th, 2003
After 11 days in the secondary fermentor the Chocolate Porter was bottled with 5 oz corn sugar (dextrose). Hydrometer samples were taken from the fermentor with a new turkey baster, which worked well.

Measurements:
1.012 @ 72 F = 1.013 FG
5.3% ABV

 

asted on Saturday, October 25th, 2003
This beer only has a mild chocolate flavor, but tastes great. Only a little stronger than this porter recipe without the chocolate added. The carbonation was not as strong as I would like but it's definitely drinkable. A couple more weeks in the bottle and it will be perfect. Now it's a couple weeks later and this beer is tasting great! I think I will try adding more cocoa powder next time.