Some recipe construction help.

Not so much to do with the "recipe" per se, but considering the name & their write up, I'd assume that at one point they seperated an amount of wort & boiled it down until it caramelized, then added it back in. As far as the missing 3 grains, I wouldn't worry too much about them. Maybe I just lean too heavily towards the "kiss" methodology, but I feel like they listed the main ones, and you can probably hit pretty close without whatever is missing.

 

Wort caramelization and maillard reactions are actually different. Maillard reactions are due to a nucleophillic attack that amine makes specifically on reducing sugars. Caramelization on the other hand, doesn't involve amine and doesn't require the sugar involved to be a reducing sugar. It is a thermal decomposition of organic matter. A dehyrdration reaction that has the ability to reduce things to carbon. Maillard reactions are produced mostly during the malting process, with only the potential to create a very limited amount (comparatively) by boiling wort. This is because 30% humidity is ideal for Maillard reactions and the boil kettle has much more moisture than that. Caramelization on the other hand, can be created in the malt as well by a maltster, but (as you mentioned) a significant amount can also be created in a boil kettle. So based on the name "Maillards Odyssey" I wouldn't be so sure that this recipe involves separating a small amount of wort and boiling it down to caramelize it.

 

I agree. How does a brewer, in this case Bell's, have their beer stand out when mixed with eleven other top brewers? Would guess the name is a marketing tactic to catch attention, just like the boosting the gravity to "Imperial" level.

For the OP: I find good information from BYO on the recipe parameters for different styles of beer. Here's their guidelines for robust porters. Understanding these parameters is a good way to start. I wouldn't fantasize about the missing three grains . . . if you can't detect what's there when you drink it then it probably doesn't matter. If you are really into the Maillard twist, Weyeremann makes a "melanoidin malt" you could try. Supposedly this is "munich on steroids" which might be suitable for this style. Recommend drinking lots more commercial Porters for research purposes and then "design" your own brew. Good luck.

 

I would guess that the "missing" three grains are different kinds of crystal. Wish I could remember more about how that beer tasted. Just taking a wild guess, you might be looking at something like 30% 2 row, 30% munich, 10% wheat, 15% crystal of various L, small percentages of the others. If I was to try this, I would feed those numbers into some software until I got something approaching the OG and SRM I wanted, brew the beer, make some notes, and then make adjustments on the next batch. It might take a few tries, but you should be able to get pretty close. Did they list the yeast? That'd be a good thing to know. Oh, also, you can email 'em the brewers, you might get some info that way.

 

They could have used a couple of type of crystal/cara malts and a couple of different chocolate or roast barley malts. There are light colored chocolate malts and dark colored chocolate malts that give different flavors. There is a wide range of Lovibond for roasted malts. Flavors will have some variation with the color.

Have they talked about kettle caramelization in you brewing course? Any information about boil conditions that cause that would be appreciated.

 

Ultimately (as I'm sure you are aware), caramelization is due to evaporating water out of a high sugar concentrated environment via application of lots of heat.

Not too much has been discussed in class about the conditions that cause it in the kettle..... more so about the chemistry involved and how it occurs during malting. The challenge to getting them in the boil kettle is that they tend to form the best at temperatures well above boiling. 110C - 180C is the temperature range you see caramelization reactions happen. Fructose is the sugar capable of caramelizing at 110C. Glucose, sucrose, and maltotriose at 160C. Maltose at 180C........so, since maltose is the most common sugar in the boil kettle, you are limited in just how much caramelization you can get by boiling. Those temperatures are the same reason why the maltster needs to generate most caramelization reactions in a roaster rather than a kiln. Most kilns only go up to about 115C so they can only caramelize fructose. It takes a roaster (which can go up to 400C) to caramelize the other sugar types. Unlike Maillard reactions that prefer a lower moisture (but some is necessary) environment, caramelization generally needs a high moisture environment.

What was said about the kettle was that it's very difficult (if not impossible) to get any caramelization w/ steam fired kettles and that a direct fire kettle that localizes the heat is what you really need for some kettle caramelization. Also that, when striving for caramelization with direct heat, you have to be very vigilant about going too far and potentially charring / scorching the wort.

 

That matches what I have been trying to look into on the web. Commercial systems with a steam fired colandrea (sp) will not give much caramelization. Direct fired systems can have local hot spots higher than 212F with nucleate boiling conditions. If you get to film boiling then you can melt a hole in the kettle.

 

Have you read about Merlin systems at all? While there was no mention in class about whether they do or don't caramelize the wort, the description of them makes me think it's plausible that they could create some. They have a heating chamber that is a pyramid shaped steam jacket and wort is poured onto its peak, flowing down the angled (heated) sides into a collection section at base of the pyramid. By spreading the wort out thin, they produce a much more intense “flash heating” which large breweries like because they do a great job of driving off unwanted volatiles and can shorten boil times both by creating evaporation rates as high as 18% an hour!

 

GEA Huppmann has a system that uses a steam heat exchanger and a "hat" to do the same. With the pressure they are running at, I don't think it gets up to caramelization temps.

With direct fired systems, you can get hot spots. How hot is something I have been looking at. Nucleate boing gets you up into the range where fructose caramelizes. You would have to get much hotter to caramelize glucose and maltose.