Hey everyone, I plan on brewing my first all grain brew soon and had some questions. I want to brew a smoked porter and I wanted to know, how do you know if you need an acid or protein rest, and what would be the optimal temperatures for brewing a darker beer such as a porter. Cheers!
If you using well modified grains as a base malt (ie US two-row) a simple sacchrification infusion will do the trick. I would not advise a protein rest on a porter, you will lose many of the proteins that give the beer some body, mouthfeel, and head retention. There is no correct temperature for a style, it's kind of up to you as to what body you want the beer to have. If you are looking for something a little dryer, you may want to mash between 149-151. Something a little heavier and a bit sweeter? Maybe 154-156. 152-153 for something in the middle. For a dark beer like a porter you'll eventually want to think about water chemistry - but as this is your first all-grain, I wouldn't go there yet. Have fun.
I usually shoot for about 154-155 for a porter (have one in primary right now, one of my fav beers to brew) because I like a somewhat sweet and chewy beer. I agree with mattbk, no need for any rests, just a single infusion will do.
If you're starting off into all grain no need for a rest, single infusion is fine. Focus on doing the best single infusion mash/sparge, I'm sure you'll be happy with the results. I would go ~154 for 60 minutes. Higher than that and it may be a tad too sweet in a smoked brew. I wouldnt worry about the water yet either.
Thanks for the help. I am wondering how much water to use for mashing and then sparing. I am making a 5 gallon batch. I figured I would do a kit for my first all grain. http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/peat-smoked-porter-all-grain-kit.html So just wondering amounts of water to use?
I use beersmith software, but there are alot of online tools on the web that will help you....here's one http://www.brewcalcs.com/
Typical mash rates are 1.2 to 1.5 quarts of water per lb of grain. An easy way to sparge your first batch is to batch sparge. Mash with the above water. Measure the amount of wort you collect from the first runnings. Add enough 168 deg F sparge water to tun to collect between 6-6.5 gallons of total wort pre-boil (this should yield about 5-5.5 gallons post-boil); allow to rest ~ 15 minutes prior to draining. ie) 10 lbs of grain mash with 12 - 15 quarts of water collect post mash 2.5 gallons of wort (measure this if possible) batch sparge with 3.5-4 gallons of water, drain and collect everything for boil Hope this helps.
