Vanilla Porter, advice?

[HopsMan]

Hey guys, trying to brew a larger vanilla porter. I have done one batch so far, and was moderately pleased with the turnout, but have a few things I would like to change.

The initial recipe is:

Type: All Grain
Date: 2/12/2011
Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.50 gal
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (6+gal) and Igloo/Gott Cooler (5 Gal)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 0.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00


Mash or Steep Grains

Ingredients for Mashing Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 75.86 %
1.50 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 10.34 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 6.90 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3.45 %
0.50 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3.45 %


Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 18.13 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F

Sparge with 4.96 gal of 168.0 F water.

Boil Ingredients Boil Amount Item Type
60 min 1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops
20 min 0.50 oz Nugget [13.00 %] (20 min) Hops
10 min 0.50 oz Nugget [13.00 %] (10 min) Hops
10 min 0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)


I was going for something with a little more body, little less roast/burnt flavor in the aftertaste, and a little "sweeter".

I've decided to cut back the black patent to about 6oz, as I think the 1.5 lbs was waaaay too much, increase the chocolate to 1#, and add in some flaked barley, not sure how much, for body. I'm not overly sure on the Crystal Malt and Munich Malt either, I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to either of those, or the rest of the Malts, for that matter!

Any advice/help/butchering appreciated!

 

[Oldsock]

If you want less "burnt" character I would swap out most of the black patent (good start lowering it from 1.5 lbs) for Carafa Special II. Carafa Special is dehusked, so it has a much smoother, less acrid character than black patent.

Munich adds a bready/malty flavor, but it is really a base malt (not a specialty malt). I'd either swap out 2-3 lbs of the pale for more Munich, or just drop it.

Caramel/crystal malt adds sweetness. I would suggest something darker than 10L to get more caramelized flavors, 10L doesn't add much besides sweetness. Maybe a mix of medium and dark (say something in the 40-60L range and another closer to 80-90L). 1 lb is a good amount.

For vanilla I really like a bean or two added to secondary. The alcohol helps to extract the flavors of the bean which tend to be a bit more complex than what you get from extract.

Good luck.

 

[tnbrewer371]

i agree with oldsock on the suggestions for the grain bill, as far as the vanilla, I did a bourbon vanilla RIS a few months ago and at bottling the vanilla level was perfect from the two beans i steeped for a month in some woodford reserve, ( i mean you could do this in just enough cheap vodka in a mason jar, just enough to cover your chopped and scraped vanilly beans). I had originally planned to up the vanilla character at bottling time with some organic vanilla extract but i totally forgot on bottling day, oh well the sample i tried straight out of the fermentor was amazing!!! let us know the final grain bill and what you ultimately decide to do, 2 grocery store vanilla beans soaked for a month, than secondary/bulk conditioned with the beer for a month seemed to be a nice schedule for mine. just my .02