AG#2 Fullers London Porter

[Hobbins]

AG#2. Fullers London Porter (GW Book)

So onto AG#2 going from an American Pale Ale to a nice dark porter. This recipe was taken from Brew Your Own British Ales by Graham Walker and adapted for my 30L BIAB boiler using the calculator from the Aussie BIAB forum.
AG#1. BIAB. Fullers London Porter

OVERVIEW

Style: London Porter (1880’s recipe)
Name: Fullers London Porter
Yeast: Danstar Windsor
Original Gravity: 1.053
Total IBU’s: 30.8
Efficiency at End of Boil: 75%
Mash Length (mins): 90
Boil Length (mins): 90

VOLUMES/TEMPS

Vessel Volume: 30L
Water Required: 26.33L
Mash Temperature: 66C
Volume at End of Boil: 19.2L
Volume into Fermenter: 16.2L
Brew Length: 15L
Total Grain Bill:

GRAINS – COLOURS – PERCENTAGES AND/OR WEIGHT

Grain 1: Pale Ale Malt, Maris Otter – 5 EBC – 3,196g
Grain 2: Crystal Malt - 125 EBC - 504g
Grain 3: Brown Malt – 135 EBC - 412g
Grain 4: Chocolate Malt – 900 EBC – 84g

HOPS

Hop 1: Fuggles – 3.9AA% - 42.5g - Start of boil
Hop 2: Fuggles – 3.9AA% - 14.4g - 10 mins from end min


ADJUNCTS/MINERALS/FININGS

Finings: ½ teaspoon of protofloc 10 mins from end of boil

Decided to go for a brew after work as I had the house to myself for the evening. Cleaning and sanitising started at 17.45. I rehydrated the Danstar Windsor yeast in 100ml of cooled boiled water at 33C with teaspoon of light DME. This set off nicely and filled the pyrex jug with frothy yeasty goodness by the time it came to pitching.

The boiler went on at 18.14 with 26.33L of water in. I was worried with the amount of grist going in the boiler would be overflowing. The BIAB calculator said that the total volume with the grains in the boiler would be 29.1L and it was bang on!

The boiler was up to strike temp quickly and I hadn’t weighed the grains yet so it went off and back on and hit strike temp 69C at 19.00. Then the lovely grains went in

By 19.06 I had doughed in and the temp had dropped to 64C I had forgotten to measure grain temp before dumping them in so heat applied back up to 66C, mash started at 19.08. With a few stirs

Stirred 19.38 Temp 65C (heat up to 66C)

Stirred 20.08 Temp 66C

Uncovered 20.38 Temp 66C

Mash out – raise temps to 78C by 20.45 I then left to settle for 20 mins and took the grains out and it looked like this

Yum

Pre boil gravity 1.042

I didn’t sparge this time as I’m trying to alter things each brew as I’m learning the craft and I want to see what the results are.

Heat on 21.11

Boil started 21.20

First hops in start of boil 21.20

Estimated Volume at the start of boil 24L

Second Hops (10 mins from end) 1/2 level teaspoon of protofloc and immersion cooler in 22.40

Boil end, cooler on 22.50

Estimated volume at end of boil 19.75L

Cooled down to 22C 23.16

Original Gravity 1.052, this was one point under target so not bad, perhaps a sparge would have helped, or an overnight mash?

Left to Settle for 20 mins

In fermenter and yeast pitched 23.58

The whole brew went very well apart from one aspect. I’m using a stainless steel braid for a hop filter in the bottom of the boiler. My first brew the wort took an age to drain out. This brew it stopped after a litre. I added ½ a teaspoon of protofloc at 10 mins before the end of the boil even thought the recipe didn’t call for it. Would this account for the blockage?

I had to gently rub the braid with a long handed spoon to move the hops away and allow the wort through, this also allowed a lot of the cold break material into the fermenter. The yeast took off overnight and it bubbling away nicely now so there’s no much I can do about it but will this have an effect on the brew?

Any recommendations for a better hop strainer as I want to try and avoid this happening again?

 

[phettebs]

Nice job! London porter is a great beer.

I pretty much always end up with some amount of hop/break material in the FV. With my setup, it's unavoidable. I've done the double drop method. I've chilled the wort, pre-pitching so everything settles out and then transfer to a new FV. Mostly though, I just leave it in there with no noticeable effect. It all settles out post fermentation and there are no off flavours that I can detect. Others may disagree. The real issue comes in if you want to harvest the yeast from the bottom of the FV when the beer is done. The trub is full of all that other **** now and not just yeast.

My vote is to not worry about it. Be as careful as you can but it's not the end of the world getting some of it into your FV.

Baz

 

[Hobbins]

Glad to hear that. I'll leave it to it's own devices. I can harvest the yeast from a bottle once its been bottled. I'm trying to keep all the yeasts I'm using to save money. Got some equipment to make some slants so I'll give that a go.

Still looking for alternative filters though as it's a pain when it blocks.

 

[Fireblade]

I'd be very interested to hear how this turned out - I'm getting ready to try a distinctly similar brew tomorrow.
My original plan was a mulberry porter (I've got a couple of bags of them in the freezer), but for now I'm still working out the recipe...!