BeerSmith Forums user recipe collaboration idea.

[Scott Ickes]

I'm looking at 1.077 OG/25.2 SRM as it stands right now, brewing 5.5G on my system. I don't have qualms about that necessarily, but it just feels a little out-of-bounds. I'll scale down to get a little more in line with the rest of you, but it might be worth toning down the grist a little bit. I'm of the opinion that it should be a little darker, but it's within style as it is. Maybe I'll just drink it in the dark, or with my eyes closed... or maybe I'll just toss in a small handful of black malt

I do like the mash temp choice, however; I think that will nicely round out the maltiness of the beer. That will make my yeast choice a bit more challenging!

Any thoughts on the above concerns? I'm not going to fight it too hard, but thought I'd throw it for discussion. I think we should lock down this part of the recipe with every participant's stated or unstated (by means of no comment) approval before setting the hop dogs loose.

What is your efficiency set at?  If it's higher than 70%, maybe that explains it.  With your system, you might have to dial back the grain quantities slightly to get it to where the rest of us are at.

[cmbrougham]

Yeah, I'm at 80%. I'll definitely scale down, but even then, we're still north of the style guidelines. Don't get me wrong--I don't care so much about being in, out, or upside-down of the guidelines, 'cuz it's beer one way or another--but if that was part of the recipe designing exercise, it would be good to dial down the measurements a bit. Scaling down does have other tangible effects, such as lightening the beer color a few degrees. I can boost those darker malts back up a bit, but since they are very flavorful additions as well, that will start fundamentally changing the beer.

So again--not a big deal--but I thought I'd toss it out there to chew on.

[Brewmex41]

I dont mind that its not to style, however, I'm not opposed to steeping 3oz of unmilled black patent or midnight wheat malt for color only.

[Scott Ickes]

Keep tossing those ideas back and forth.  I'm learning more with each post. I for one, like the OG where it is.  It's not like anybody will know that drinks your beer that it was 2 points high on the style.

[all grain]

I myself am thinking of adding 3 oz to the chocolate to get it a little darker. 

[cmbrougham]

I think I'd tweak the color a bit, too, but I don't want to alter the flavor profile too much, as I'm tasting it in my dragon brain and it's delicious already. What I would likely do is cold steep a few ounces of coarsely crushed black malt in my French press overnight, and then add the squeezings directly to the kettle. It'll add sort of an arbitrary amount of coloration, but it'll darken things up a touch with minimal flavor impact.

But I'll go either way--as it is or with minor tweaks. I'll shoot for 1.068. I'm good to go.

[bucknut]

I'm at 1.068 and 30srm and good with the malt bill, we all ready for the hops?

[cmbrougham]

How are you getting 30 SRM? Are you using pale chocolate (~200L) or chocolate (~450L) for your calculations?

[drb1215]

I'm getting 26.1 SRM using Pale Chocolate (Fawcett) at 215L (the range is 180 - 250L, so I picked a number in the middle).

[Roadrocket]

I'm OK with it so far. The brown malt sounds good and the high mash temperature should be interesting. My guess is that it'll be dryer than my usual porter recipe but that's no bad thing. I've never done a porter with no crystal before.

I'm guessing the choice of yeast will be significant to the flavour. The attenuation will make a big difference to the degree of sweetness.

I couldn't give a damn if my beers are in style as long as they taste good. People were brewing 10,000 years before styles were invented and they only serve to make beer less interesting in my opinion. Nobody has any idea what porter tasted like 100 years ago. It wouldn't fit into a modern style but that doesn't mean it wasn't a porter. We do know that it was soured in huge open vats so if we tried some nowadays we'd probably spit it out.

It's all good so far and it's obvious that everybody has put a lot of thought into it. Carry on.

[all grain]

+1 to roadrocket. and all is ok for me.

[drb1215]

Are we ready to move on to the first hop addition?

Running Total
Robust Porter
10 lb Maris Otter Malt
1 lb Pale Chocolate Malt ~200L
1.5 lb German Munich Malt 9L
Mash @ 156*F /69*C Full Bodied

[Brewmex41]

Are we ready to move on to the first hop addition?

Running Total
Robust Porter
10 lb Maris Otter Malt
1 lb Pale Chocolate Malt ~200L
1.5 lb German Munich Malt 9L
Mash @ 156*F /69*C Full Bodied

Yes

[Scott Ickes]

Here is where we're at:

DRB1215                           Style of recipe to be designed.                            Chose Robust Porter
Road Rocket                      Base Grain and quantity.                                    Chose 10 lbs. of Maris Otter Malt
All Grain                            Specialty grain and quantity.                               Chose 1 lb. of Pale Chocolate Malt
Scott Ickes                       Second specialty grain and quantity.                    Chose 1.5 lbs. of Munich Malt
Brewmex41                      Third specialty grain and quantity.                        Chose 2 lbs. of Brown Malt
Grathan                            Mash Profile.                                                          Chose Mash Temp of 156F/69C for a full body beer
WinnepegFats                  First hop type, quantity and time added.
Billy Brew                         Second hop type, quantity and time added.
Bucknut                           Third hop type, quantity and time added.
CMBrougham                   Yeast selection.

Sir Chef WinnepegFats:  You're up!  what is your first hop variety, quantity and time to be added. 

Just so you know, your hop doesn't have to be the early bittering hop if you don't want it to be.  You may choose the hop addition that you most want to be a part of the recipe.

[bucknut]

How are you getting 30 SRM? Are you using pale chocolate (~200L) or chocolate (~450L) for your calculations?

didn't have a 200 chocolate malt in BS, so i was using the 350#  but I just changed it to 200 so my srm # is now 24.