Porter, Part II

[craigb15]

I posted last night (in the recipe section) about a porter that i made a few weeks ago. I reckon it was one of the best brews that i've made in ages. So, I thought i'd try to repeat it with a twist or two, hopefully improving upon what was already a great brew.

 

The first brew was:

1 x tin of coopers sparkling ale (i used this yeast)

1 x tin of coopers dark malt extract

500g Dry Malt Extract

20g of Styrian Goldings (added on day one)

10g of Cascade (added near the end of fermentation)

 

I've repeated that, but this time I added a little bit of vanilla extract (about 4 capfuls of Dr Oetker vanilla essence). But here's the plan for priming:

 

I prime the first 5litres with either muscovado sugar or molasses. Then I bulk-prime the rest of the batch with either dextrose or caster sugar, going on to bottle the next 10litres. Then I tip some coffee into the fermenter before bottling the last 5litres.

 

This way, i reckon, I should get three different types of porter from the one batch: one 'regular' porter, one primed with molasses/muscovado, and one with a hint of coffee.

 

Here's what i was wondering...

First off, has anyone used muscovado or molasses for priming? If so, how did it taste and how much should you use?

 

Secondly, what are peoples preferences when bulk priming: caster sugar or dextrose? Does it really make much of a difference?

 

And lastly, has anyone tried putting a little coffee into any of their brews? If so, how did it go and how much did you use? I'm only gonna be adding it to 5litres of the stuff, so i doubt that i'll need much of it.

 

Thanks... and good luck brewing...

 

Craig

 

 

[CaribooSpeed]

Dextrose for priming.

 

Good for you for experimenting to the max!

[craigb15]

Thanks, I'll probably end up using dextrose. But I suppose that I was wondering whether or not it would make much of a difference compared to regular white sugar, given that I was only using it for priming.

 

Also, has anyone got any thoughts on how much coffee to use, and how it might turn out in the beer? I was wondering if it might make it taste a little too bitter?

 

I reckon i've got somewhere with the molasses: according to good old wikipedia, molasses is 78.3% fermentable, so I reckon i just use 21.7% more of it when priming. How it might affect the taste is anyone's guess...

 

any input on any of this would be very welcome

 

thanks

Craig

[Hairy]

Here is a recent thread on coffee in a stout. It may help.

 

Coffee in Stout

 

Good luck with experimenting. Let us know how it all goes.