Deschutes Brewery, located in Oregon, has always been one of my favorite West-Coast U.S. breweries. While their beers are not available in the East Coast, I've been lucky enough since getting into beer to have taken several trips in that area, and have got to try several of their offerings. One of these is their Black Butte Porter. A Robust Porter (BJCP classification), it's quite chocolatey and roasty, with a firm bitterness... very balanced overall. Some people find it difficult to get into "dark beers"; Black Butte is a great entry beer in this case, as it doesn't knock you out with any flavors in particular, or alcohol for that matter. Delicious!
This was also the first time I've ever really tried to alter my water profile, and the first time I've used a carbon filter. Fredericton water is treated with chlorine, like most cities. After you've brewed with chlorine-treated water for awhile, and you start to improve your tasting-abilities, however slightly, you can really start detecting the phenolic off-flavors that the chlorine leaves when it comes in contact with the grain - mediciney, band-aid.... it all actually does happen! I've been treating my water with campden tablets for the last 8 months or so, but haven't been overly happy with the results, so I finally decided to buy a countertop water filter, which should hopefully do a very competent job of removing the chlorine.
Recipe targets: (5.5 gallons, 80% efficiency): OG 1.058, FG 1.012, IBU 38, SRM 26
Grains:
1.82 kg Canadian 2-row
1.82 kg Maris Otter
500 g Wheat malt
318 g Chocolate malt (~350 L)
264 g Crystal 80 L
159 g Carapils
91 g Pale Chocolate malt
Hops:
Nugget - 24 g (11.2% AA) @ 90 min
Cascade - 17 g (2.5% AA) @ 30 min
Saaz - 11.5 g (3% AA) @ 5 min
Misc.:
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient @ 15 min
1/2 tab Irish Moss @ 5 min
Yeast: Wyeast 1968 London ESB (cultured 18/3/12, ~1 cup yeast slurry)
Water: Fredericton city water, carbon-filtered; mash water treated with 8 g of 45/55 CaCl2/Gypsum mix
- Brewed March 25th/12, with Craig and Jill. 60 minute mash with 16.5 L of strike water, mashed in at 154 F (target). Mashed out with 7.25 L of 203 F water, resulting temp a bit low at 163 F, rest for 10 more minutes. Sparged with ~3.5 gallons of 170 F water for final volume of ~7.1 gallons in the kettle (low). SG 1.046 (target 1.044). 90 minute boil.
- Chilled down to 62 F with immersion chiller. Volume low at only slightly over 5 gallons, so OG high at 1.062. Pitched yeast slurry, woken up with a 500 mL starter, and aerated by shaking for several minutes before and after. Set in room with temp at mid 60s.
26/3 - 29/3 - Slow fermentation about 18 hours after pitching, gradually more active over the day until it was bubbling almost 2 times/second. Fairly active for a couple of days, temp as high as 70 F; activity then slowed fairly quickly, temp holding at 68 F (I kept the heat on in the small room; don't want the yeast pooping out to early, which would encourage a stuck fermentation and decreased diacetyl clean-up).
1/4/12 - Took gravity reading of 1.020. Made a 250 mL starter to try to wake up the remaining 1968 slurry, then pitched about 12 hours later.
12/4/12 - FG of 1.018... I didn't really expect the FG to get down to 1.012 (that's pretty high attenuation for 1968). The 1.018 is a bit high for the style, but with the higher OG, the attenuation came out to be about 69%, about average for 1968 London ESB.
17/4/12 - Bottled with 121 g table sugar, aiming for 2.5 vol CO2 with max temp of 70 F reached.
30/5/12 - Tasting notes.
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