Brewday - Beast of Burden Brown Porter II

My motive for a new brown porter came from the successes, and the failures, of my last batch. The first incarnation of the Beast of Burden was interesting and very drinkable for a darker beer, but it lacked complexity and body, likely a symptom of the malt extract in its recipe. This time I would brew an all-grain version in an effort to make up for some of these shortcomings.

My inspiration for this beer, other than my love of dark session beers, was the porters of the 18th century. During this age brown malt came into general use in London which led to the spread of many brown ales and eventually the birth of porters. Brown malt is quite old-fashioned, and fell into obscurity after the invention of black patent, which allowed brewers to achieve the dark colour necessary for porters far more cheaply. It gives beer a wonderful toasted character and can be used in quantity to achieve a complexity of flavour that a smaller amount of darker malt wont be able to. To this I would add biscuit malt to add some nutty flavour and steel-cut oats that I had toasted prior to brewing, for better mouth-feel and to expand on the theme of a deeply toasty, brown porter. Finally I would mash it quite hot, around 70 degrees Celsius, in order to give the beer some of the body that I felt was lacking in the last batch.

I'll write again once this beer is ready and hopefully will do a taste comparison between this batch and the first Beast of Burden Brown Porter. (If there's any left by then that is)



Geek Info


Method
All-grain

Malt
3.5 lbs. British 2-row
3.5 lbs. Brown malt
3.5 lbs. Biscuit malt
1 lb. Steel-cut oats (toasted for 1hr 15min at 350 F)
2 oz. Chocolate malt

Hops
2 oz. Fuggles (pellets)                        60 mins - 9.6 HBU
0.5 oz. East Kent Goldings (pellets)   20 mins
0.5 oz. East Kent Goldings (pellets)   5 mins

Yeast
Wyeast 1028 London Ale

OG: 1.044
Target FG: 1.013
Target abv: 4.2%