RECIPES: #72 BANGARANG: No Nap (Coffee Porter) & #73 Dark Dismay (Brett Porter)

I don't typically brew Porters.  Actually, I've never brewed a Porter in my 4 years of brewing.  You know, Porter, that obscure style, is it a less roasty Stout, or a more roasty Brown Ale?  But there is something wonderful about a good Porter on a cool night.  My inspiration to make this beer was from the Mad Fermentationist and his new book American Sour Beers.  In it he references a Vatted Porter made by a commercial brewery where they age a Porter with Brett and Lacto in oak tuns for some time.  I decided I was going to do the same, brew 10 gallons, and age half for funk.  My wife told me I always sour and play with Brett, do something different for once. O_o?  She suggested coffee.  So I went with it.  Half coffee, and half aged on Brett for funk.  I had gotten to enraptured in the idea that I wasn't going to miss out on it.

West Yorkshire Starter

I started with Pale Malt and Munich for a toasty and malty base, layered in British Crystal and Chocolate malt for sweetness, toffee, and cocoa.  Challenger hops for some earthy notes.  I chose to ferment it with West Yorkshire as I really enjoy the character that this yeast brings, especially to English beers.  I wanted to do an English Porter as opposed to an American to keep the hops out of the way for the Coffee and Brett.  The West Yorkshire wasn't as attenuative as I had hoped for, so I ended up with a sweeter, fuller beer, and lower ABV.  It actually worked well, and the Brett has lots to chew on over the next year.

For my Brett strains, I didn't want super funky with tons of complexity, but a little more subtle.  I went with Brett C, since this strain can throw more leather and tropical fruits.  I also added in some Orval dregs to the mix for some horsey phenols, but without any Sacc phenols to chew on and convert, I don't expect the horseyness to be high.  I stepped it up with boiled down last runnings from the mash and kept it on the stir plate for just over a week.  All that oxygen uptake did cause the Brett to throw tons of acetic acid, but it shouldn't throw much in the secondary fermentation.  I really hope it doesn't.  One thing I can't stand is brewers releasing vinegar and calling it an American Sour.
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Stats:

Gallons: 5.25

OG: 1.062

FG: 1.020 (Primary)
ABV: 5.54% (Coffee)

IBUs: 32

SRM: 27

Efficiency: 82%

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Fermentables:

15.00# Pale Malt (Weyermann) ( 65.2 %)

5.00#   Munich II (Weyermann) ( 21.7 %)

2.00#   MFB Chocolate Malt ( 8.7 %)

1.00#   British Dark Crystal - 75/85L ( 4.3 %)

Mash 10 hours @ 153*F

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Boil 60 mins

60  1.70 oz Calypso 12.80 %AA

25  1.50 oz US Challenger 7.50 %AA

WP 1.30 oz US Challenger 7.50 %AA

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Kettle Additions:

Ca 59.9 Mg 10.2 Na 19.8 SO4 44.6 Ch 38.1 Bi-Carbonate 163.4 pH 5.24

Gypsum Mash 0     tsp Boil 4/8 tsp

Epsom Salts Mash 6/8 tsp Boil 5/8 tsp

Calcium Chloride Mash 6/8 tsp Boil 1 1/8

Baking Soda Mash 3/8 tsp

Pickling Lime Mash 1 tsp

Yeast Nutrient 6 taps

Whirfloc 1 each

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Spent Grains - Dried for Baking

Fermentation:

Cooled to: 66 *F

WY 1469 West Yorkshire (1.2L / 1.8L)

68 *F 3 days

72 *F 3 days

75 *F 6 days

42 *F 6 days

AMB *F 3 days 
Brett Claus, Orval Brett Brux (Secondary)

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Notes:

New Thermowell

10/12-13  Mashed in at 8:20 at 153*F.  Dropped to 140 by 8am.  Pulled the last runnings and made a 1L starter for the Brett strains.  A little shy on gravity, but not by much.  Boiled for 60 mins.  Chilled, racked via pump, into 2 6 gallon Better Bottles, decanted starter, and pitched at 11am.  Set to 68*F, and used my brand new thermowell for the first time (it keeps temp perfectly).  Active fermentation by bed time that night.  Almost blowing off in the morning, added a few drops of foam control as a caution.  Super thick and creamy krausen.

10/16 Upped the temp to 72*F

10/19 Upped to 74*F

10/20 Gravity samples taste nice and roasty, but are at 1.022.

Brew Buddy

10/24 Dropped to 40*F.  De-gassed the samples and they read 1.020.  Higher than I wanted, but it tastes good.

10/29 Cold steeped Wandering Goat Bali Blue Moon & Ethiopia Worka (separately) for 24 hours.  Decanted for tasting the next night.

10/30 Racked via CO2 into a cleaned, sanitized, purged keg.  Tasted a small sample with the beer from the keg to compare what the coffee would bring to the beer.  Added 2 oz of Wandering Goat Ethiopian Worka coffee, whole beans, in a weighted sack to the keg and allowed to condition at room temp for 3 days.

11/2 Removed coffee beans from keg and put into fridge on CO2.

11/2 Second portion pitched with decanted Brett starter and allowed to age at ambient temps for at least 6 months.