This is an ambitious one, but I am going to give it a try. Seemed like a good idea last night!
This brown porter will start on a base of 5kg Maris Otter, 50% of which will be added to the MT as it is.
The other 50% will under go home-roasting in 50 equal portions, each of which will become progressively darker, passing through gold, amber, deep amber, deep copper, brown and chocolate, and whatever else in between. One final portion will be taken all the way to black.
This will all involve removing portions at equal time intervals to start with, and then adjusting the timings to ensure that I get the percentage of darker malts that I want. To avoid excessive cooling, I will use two ovens (have a double oven) and alternate the removal of samples between them.
That might represent the entire grist, or I might add some dark crystal (5%).
Not decided on the yeast yet. I have WLP004 in the fridge, but also really like Nottingham for Porter.
I have other ideas that involve enriching it once it is added to the 2ry, but need to research those very carefully before going any further (involves blending a stale/soured sample of the porter back into the 2ry before leaving it to condition).
All that will then sit in 2ry for 3 weeks or so before being bottled and aged for a few months.
What I need to do first is work out what percentage of each of the stages of malt I want to run with and then work out the timings. Unfortunately, it sounds like producing Brown and Chocolate in this way significantly raises the acidity of the mash, so I may need to tinker with the water as well.
If I do this right, I could have some ready for March, but I don't know if it might end up being a bit young.
Wish me luck!
This brown porter will start on a base of 5kg Maris Otter, 50% of which will be added to the MT as it is.
The other 50% will under go home-roasting in 50 equal portions, each of which will become progressively darker, passing through gold, amber, deep amber, deep copper, brown and chocolate, and whatever else in between. One final portion will be taken all the way to black.
This will all involve removing portions at equal time intervals to start with, and then adjusting the timings to ensure that I get the percentage of darker malts that I want. To avoid excessive cooling, I will use two ovens (have a double oven) and alternate the removal of samples between them.
That might represent the entire grist, or I might add some dark crystal (5%).
Not decided on the yeast yet. I have WLP004 in the fridge, but also really like Nottingham for Porter.
I have other ideas that involve enriching it once it is added to the 2ry, but need to research those very carefully before going any further (involves blending a stale/soured sample of the porter back into the 2ry before leaving it to condition).
All that will then sit in 2ry for 3 weeks or so before being bottled and aged for a few months.
What I need to do first is work out what percentage of each of the stages of malt I want to run with and then work out the timings. Unfortunately, it sounds like producing Brown and Chocolate in this way significantly raises the acidity of the mash, so I may need to tinker with the water as well.
If I do this right, I could have some ready for March, but I don't know if it might end up being a bit young.
Wish me luck!
