Black Panther Porter 40L Brewing Journal

Started 29th October 2022

A tried and tested recipe that produces a very smooth Porter.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Recipe	Measure
Brew Length	40L
Pale Malt (EBC 6)	8200g
Crystal Malt (EBC 150)	1000g
Chocolate Malt (EBC 950)	350g
Rolled Oats	500g
Fuggles (Start of Boil)	100g
East Kent Goldings Pellets (Last 10 Min)	47g
Yeast (Using Starter)	WLP002
Mash Liquor	25 Litres
Strike Heat	72C
Mash Temperature	66C
Mash Time	1 Hour 30 Minutes
Sparge Temperature	77C
Mash Efficiency (estimated)	75%
Boil Time	1 Hour 30 Minutes
Fermentation Temperature	18C
Expected OG	1054
Actual OG	1050
Expected FG	1012
Actual FG	1010

Water Treatment:

Recipe	Measure
CaCo3 Adjustments
Calcium Carbonate CAC03	120 ppm
Calcium Carbonate Required	120 ppm
Adjustment Necessary	0 ppm
CRS per Litre Required
Total CRS to add to Mash (25L)
Total CRS to add to Sparge water (10+25L)
*Chlorine Treatment*
Campden Tablets (half in mash, half in sparge)	1 tablet
Calcium Adjustment (using brupaks calculation)
Calcium in Water	100 ppm
Calcium Required	110 ppm
Adjustment	10 ppm
DLS (using GW Calc it suggests adding none)	1 Tsp

Water Schedule:

This brew is the first with a new new larger HLT and will be will be fly sparged, water scheduled as follows:

Mash = 25L + 1/2 Campden Tab
Sparge = 35L + 1/2 Campden Tab
Total water volume = 60L

Mashing:

Using SS Brewtech infussion mash tun.

Mash Tun cleaned an Tun pre warmed
HLT set for 78C
Water treated with 1/2 Campden tab.
25L of water added to the mash tun, which settled to 71.8C
Doughed in + 1 tsp of gypsum
Temperature dropped to 64C. which is a little low but OK.
Mash settled at 64C
Mash will now be left alone for 1.5 hours.
10 minutes left on the clock and mash tun thermometer is showing as 63.9C

Sparging

Vorlauf recirc run for 5 minutes.
35L of sparge water was heated to 80C and treated.
HLT valve opened and sparge water allowed to flow until 1" above grain.
Sight glass was marked with tape so that the Mash Tun lid could remin in place during sparge.
Pumped wort into boiler and adjusted speed to keep level in mash tun.
Stopped sparging when waster run out and pumped all remining wort into boiler.

Boiling

The Boiler was switched on as soon as first few litres of wort had drained from Mash Tun.
100g of Fuggles hops added at start of boil.
Last 15 minutes. Immersion coil inserted to ensure sterilised.
Last 10 minutes 47g EKG and protofloc added.
Post boil gravity = 12.3 brix, 1050.
Recirc was intermittently swsitched on during chilling to ensure no hot/cold spots formed.

Fermentation:

A 1.8L yeast starter of WLP002 was started 2 days before and refrigerated the evening prior to brew day. Most of liquid was poured off of the yeast and some of the wort added to acclimatise the yeast.
29/10/22 16:00 Yeast pitched at 23C
30/10/22 Fermenting well with thick krausen. Temperature stable at 18c.
31/10/22 Krausen has thinned a little but still going strong.
01/11/22 Krausen still covers wort so fermenting well.
03/11/22 Just a few bubbles remain on surface. Brix reading was 6.8 which is 1014sg.
05/11/22 Final Gravity reading 1010. Chiller switched on to cold crash

Tasting Notes:

Another great Porter! The hop and malt flavours are well balanced, there is a slightly more bitter tatse than I was aiming for so teh next brew may need a reduction in the bittering hops but this is a minor point. Mouth feel and head retention are good and the colour is dark but not black. Looking at the beer in the light, it is crystal clear. East drinking and very moorish.