I know its only been about 2 weeks since I brewed my last half-batch, but I wanted to try one more recipe. This time its going to be a very rich, very dark, molasses porter. Hopefully it will be ready for the colder months ahead.
Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: Coopers Ale Yeast
Batch Size (Gallons): 2.5
Original Gravity: 1.070
Final Gravity: TBD
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Planned Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 28-35 Days @ 68F
Planned Bottle Conditioning (# of Days & Temp): 7-14 Days @ 68F
Here is the recipe I used for this one:
- 3.75 lbs Beer Makers Hopped Liquid Lager Extract
- 8.0 oz Blackstrap Molasses
- 4.0 oz Chocolate Malt
- 2.0 oz Brown Malt
- 1.00 oz Northern Brewers Hops @ 20 Minutes (Flavour)
- 1/2 tsp of Irish Moss @ 10 Minutes (For head retention, beer clarity)
- 1/2 tsp of Yeast Nutrients @ Cold Break
I did a full boil with this batch (Approx 11L/2.5G), which basically filled my brewing pot to the brim. Because of this I had to monitor the wort for potential boil over for the entire hour of brewing. I steeped the grains for 30 minutes prior to adding the extract and molasses. At the 20 minute mark before finishing I added the hops for flavouring as I am not looking for an overly bitter brew.
The OG was exceptional high hitting 1.070 which I found very surprising. According to BeerSmith, an application used for designing beer recipes, I should have only had enough fermentable sugars to reach the low 1.060′s. Either way this is going to either going to be a very strong brew or a very sweet one. I am going to give this porter an extra week in the primary just make sure the yeast does its job completely.
If I can get about 15 pints from this batch, the cost should be about $1.30 a bottle.
This will be the last batch I run for a couple months or at least until the weather cools down and we have some decent snow. The reason for this is reaching a rapid cold-break is much easier using the freezing cold Canadian winters then refilling a sink with ice and cold water over and over.