It’s a good time of the year to start making bigger beers as well as darker beers. If you decide to make a big beer it will be ready some time next year around this time. So it’s one of those pay me now or pay me later things. Trust me when I say, a home brew that has aged for that long is extremely good and extremely rewarding to drink. But not every one can wait for that long, so then it leads us to just darker beers.
If you were looking at making darker beers, they are perfect for this time of year as well. Darker beers warm you up when it starts getting a bit colder outside. This one is a smoked porter, and it is really smokey. I’ve found that people either love or hate them, there really is no middle ground. In general though, when I drink them I’ll have one at the end of the beer session. I can’t drink more than 2 or 3, while they are refreshing they just aren’t something I find myself sipping on all night long. So this recipe is going to be smokey, dark and has robust flavors. What’s nice about this one is that it has Chinook hops in it for the bittering, this will shine and won’t be washed out by the smoked malt. It really adds a nice balance to the beer. If that sounds like something that you want to do or make try making this smokey porter.
Ingredients
1.5 lbs German Smoked Malt
12 oz 60L Crystal Malt
8 oz Chocolate Malt
7 oz Black Malt
4 lbs Light LME
4 lbs Light DME
1 oz Chinook Hops (60 min)
1/2 oz Willamette (15 min)
WLP 001
Specifications
OG: 1.064
FG: 1.015
IBU: 42
SRM: 93
ABV: 6.2%
Directions
- Heat 2.5 gallons of water up to 150 degrees
- Steep grains for 30 minutes
- Take grains out
- Add malt extract and bring to boil
- In beginning of boil add Chinook hops
- Boil for 45 minutes
- Add Willamette hops
- Boil for 15 minutes
- End boil, fill to 5 gallons pitch yeast
Primary for 2 weeks then bottle.
If you were thinking about doing an all-grain version of this, I would use M.O for a nice balance. Also don’t forget to look at the beer calendar to try to stay on track!
Related Post:
Jay's Brewing Blog 
December 4, 2012 at 11:16 pm
Before I started brewing, I had no idea there was such a thing as a beer made with smoked grains. I don’t know if I’d like drinking one on its own, but I’d definitely be willing to brew a mini one gallon batch and try them for cooking. Smoked porter chili or slow cooked pork might be good with a beer like this.
December 4, 2012 at 11:46 pm
Ya that sounds pretty good! Check out your local beer store and see if they sell, “Rauchbier”. That would be an example of a smoked beer. They normally have some smoked porters also. They are fun though. Something for sipping in my opinion.
January 5, 2013 at 10:30 pm
This looks a lot like the smoked porter I just brewed for my first-ever homebrew, which turned out surprisingly well. I used cherry-smoked malt and basically inverted your chocolate to smoked ratio: 1 lb. Chocolate and 10 oz. Smoked. Also, I used Special-B instead of a lower L Crystal and a little less Black Patent. I read somewhere that Chinook could impart a slight smokey character when used as an aroma hop, so I tossed in .25 oz at T-2 min. and used .5 oz. each of Nugget and Hallertau for bittering. Yeast was Wyeast London ESB Ale 1968. Ended up with OG: 1.062; FG: 1.020; SRM: 40; IBU: 25; and ABV: 5.5%. In hindsight, though, I think I like your idea of using Chinook for bittering and Willamette for aroma. It’s got a nice herbal, chocolaty flavor that I like, but the piney chinook sort of seems out of place. Thanks for the post.
January 7, 2013 at 1:15 pm
I’m glad it turned out well. Smoke porters have there place for sure. I usually tell people that it’s a love em’ or hate em’ type of beer. Normally they are so different it’s hard to find a middle ground on them though. Super glad to hear yours turned out well though!