SBB Porter

Started 19th September 2015

Robust Porter Version 2.

Version 1 was great but I have no Fuggles hops and no liquid yeast, so will use S-04 yeast.

Recipe

Ingredients:

Recipe	Measure
Pale Malt (EBC 4 or less)	8100g 82%
Crystal Malt	980g 10%
Chocolate Malt	484g 5%
Rolled Oats (Quaker)	290g 3%
Northdown (90 Min)	50g
Goldings Hops (Last 10 Min)	32g
Protofloc (Last 10 minutes)	1 Tab
Yeast	S-04
Mash Liquor	24.4 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
Batch Volume	40 Litres
Fermentation Temperature	18C
IBU	29
Expected OG	1054
Actual OG	1055
Expected FG	1016
Actual FG

Water Treatment:

As this brew is a darker Porter style, we do not need to reduce the CaC03 levels quite so much as you would with a light beer. For a porter the levels should be between 100-150, so we will aim for 125. Calcium levels should be between 100-120ppm

Recipe	Measure
CaCo3 Adjustments
Calcium Carbonate (CAC03) Anglian - Measured with Salifert Kit	175 ppm
Calcium Carbonate Required	125 ppm
Adjustment Necessary	50 ppm
CRS per Litre Required	3ml per 10L
Total CRS to add to Mash - 24.4L	7 ml
Total CRS to add to Top Up - 9.8L	3 ml
Total CRS to add to Batch Sparge - 23.4L	7 ml
*Chlorine Treatment*
Campden Tablets (half in mash, half in sparge)	1 tablet
Calcium Adjustment (using brupaks calculation)
Calcium in Water (Cac03 X 0.4)	70 ppm
Calcium Required	110 ppm
Adjustment	40 ppm
Gypsum	1 tsp

To calculate the water required for the batch sparge, I am using Jims Calculator, see Here. This calculator needs adjusting to your own equipment and on my first attempt I ended up with 5L more than planned, so some further adjustments are required.

The following parameters were used for the water volume calculations:

Batch Volume = 40L
Boil Loss = 10%
loss to hops = 2L
Total Grain Bill = 9.774 Kg
Mash Tun Dead Volume = 1L
Liquor to Grain Ratio = 2.5Kg

This results in the following water requirements:

Water Required for Mash = 24.4L
Water Required for Top Up = 9.8L
Water Required for Second Batch Sparge = 23.4L

Mashing:

24.4L measured out into HLT the night before brew day. Also brought mash tun and grain into house to ensure they were not too chilled.
The water Hardness was measure with a Salifert kit and is showing around 175 Caco3 ppm. As this is a darker beer the target cac03 level is between 100 and 150 depending on what books you read. I am aiming for around 120ppm, so have added CRS/AMS to reduce this to the correct amount (roughly 3ml per 10Ml liquor). 1/2 Campden tablet was also added.
Water heated to 78c
Mash Tun was filled with a few litres of warm water to warm it up a little.
24.5L added to Tun and grain doughed in.
Temperature settled at 67C, so the timer was set for 1 Hour 30 Minutes.
Finishing Mash Temp was just under 66C, which is perfect.

Sparging:

Top up of 9.8L added at 85C and stirred well. This was left for 15 minutes before draining.
HLT topped up to the 23.4L Mark and set to 79C.
Mash tun was fully drained and re-filled from HLT.
Drained wort was added to the bolier and the boiler switched on.
A good stir and then leave for 15 Minutes.
Final batch drained and added to the boiler.

Boiling:

Pre-boil SG was measured at 12 Brix, which is SG1048.
After 1 Hour 15 min, the wort chiller was put into the boil.
Final 10 minutes, Goldings added and protofloc.
Flame out at 1 Hour 30 Min and Immersion Chiller switched on.
Took about 1 hour to reduce temperature to below 30C.
SG after boil was 13.5 Brix which equates to 1055, which is 1 point over my expected OG based on 75% efficiency.

Fermentation:

Final volume into the Fermenter was 41L. Adjusting for this increase in volume, gives me an efficiency of 78%
Temperature was at 24C, so S-04 was sprinkled on top of the wort.
19/09 - 17:00 - Yeast stirred into wort.
Heating and cooling was switched on controlled via my STC1000 and a heat pad plus Maxi Chiller.
20/09 - 09:30 - Fermentation has started and Krausen has formed. Temperature has settled at 18.4C.
20/09 - 18:00 - Krausen is now at least 2" thick, so going well.
21/09 - 16:00 - The Krausen has already subsided a little but still indicates that fermentation is going well. The Temperature is stable at 18.3C.
23/09 - 16:00 - Fermentation already looks to have finished. I have not checked final gravity yet and I suspect that the brew is still fermenting slowly. I will move to secondary fermenters at the weekend and fit an airlock to allow the beer to clear for a couple of weeks.
24/09 - SG is now down to 1018 and all Krausen has dropped. There are still a few bubbles rising so fermentation is still slowly approaching the estimated FG of 1016.
27/09 - Move to secondary's and fitted an airlock. The beer will now be left for 2 weeks to fully clear.
Beer kegged on 11/10/15 - looks very clear

Tasting Notes:

While racking off to the secondary fermenter's I stole a crafty taster to see how the brew was doing. The higher attenuation of S-04 over WLP002 is evident as the beer is dryer, retaining less sweetness. The use of challenger hops has also given a more distinct bitter taste, which was also not evident with the Fuggles. It is still a nice tasting beer and will probably soften in taste a little when conditioned. However, I think that the Fuggles / WLP002 version of this brew, was a nicer beer but we will leave final judgment until it has conditioned for a couple of weeks.