Day 3: Edmund Fitzgerald clone

[Scott H]

Bryan hasn't started a thread for this beer yet, so I'm going to get this going 'cause I want to talk about this beer!

So Bryan posted to the Introduce Yourself thread a few days ago that his beer might not be ready yet, and that he got a flat pour. Mine came out great. I got some foam right out of the bottle that very quickly settled down, and the carbonation level is medium, which is right on for the style IMO. This beer is one smooth criminal... very nice deep roasted flavor. I've had Edmund Fitzgerald before but it was long enough ago that I can't really compare, but this is a great beer. Please share the recipe, I'll be making this one!

[ricky]

I really like the flavor, though mine was indeed flat. I'm excited to see the recipe, as I'm with Scott in wanting to make this!

[brewingbryan]

WARNING!

Definitely flat. I think it'll be good, but it's taking a long time. It's been in bottles for 17 days (I believe) and at 6 percent I'm not so sure why...

[brewingbryan]

Regardless, here's the recipe! I've worked my way up to partial mash, so fermentables are spread out.


Recipe: Sunken Ship Porter
Yeast: Safebrew WB-04

Grains
3.5 pounds – 2-row
.75 pounds – Caramel 60
.5 pounds – Chocolate
.5 pounds – Roasted barley
.5 pounds - Carapils

Extract
4 pounds – dry extract dark

Hops
1 oz – Northern Brewer (60 min)
1 oz - Fuggles (30 min)

[Kyle H.]

Dec 3, 2014 19:03:44 GMT -5 Scott H said:

This beer is one smooth criminal... 

Michael Jackson or Alien Ant Farm?

[BullseyeBrewing]

Mine was flat as well. Nice smooth porter, I like it. And it definitely has to be a Jackson smooth criminal.

[arbuck87]

Hi all!
I didn't post in the "introduce yourself" section as I submitted a beer with my boyfriend Aaron. I just had the chance to read through the entire forum and am super excited.

I really liked the flavor of this beer - especially the smokiness. Ours was also flat. I kind of wish I had read through the entire forum BEFORE drinking. I may have tried to convince Aaron to hold on to it for a few more weeks.

Cheers!
Amanda

[kczar]

So today is my day off and I decided to enjoy it around noon, but no one else had posted then (guess you're all out being productive members of society) so I decided to wait until the recipe was posted before saying that I enjoyed it despite the lack of bubbles. Very solid and I was curious about the ABV? It had a bit of high gravity bite, I was curious if you got a gravity reading? The beer paired perfectly for an afternoon off work and a good book. Thanks!

[Scott H]

Dec 3, 2014 20:08:00 GMT -5 Kyle H. said:

Michael Jackson or Alien Ant Farm?

I think we can all agree that every form of Smooth Criminal is fantastic.

[Kyle H.]

I did pour it kinda high to help produce the head. I agree the carbonation is a little low for my taste. That being said the beer is fantastic!

For the yeast did you mean Safbrew WB-06 or Safale S-04? It tastse like Safale S-04 to me. This yest strain is a really high flocculating strain. I use it in my porters. I have to admit that I have never bottle conditioned with this yeast, but 17 days should produce fine carbonation. I would suggest shaking the bottles every few days to rouse the yeast. This may help with the carbonation issue.

[brewingbryan]

Dec 3, 2014 21:13:25 GMT -5 kczar said:

So today is my day off and I decided to enjoy it around noon, but no one else had posted then (guess you're all out being productive members of society) so I decided to wait until the recipe was posted before saying that I enjoyed it despite the lack of bubbles. Very solid and I was curious about the ABV? It had a bit of high gravity bite, I was curious if you got a gravity reading? The beer paired perfectly for an afternoon off work and a good book. Thanks!

I had a slight boil over during a moment of laziness on brew day, so I added a little extra table sugar to try and make up for any fermentables I might have lost.

OG was 1.065
FG was 1.019

(I do the old fashioned difference of the two x 131, so it came out to 6 percent)

[brewingbryan]

Dec 3, 2014 21:35:33 GMT -5 Kyle H. said:

I did pour it kinda high to help produce the head. I agree the carbonation is a little low for my taste. That being said the beer is fantastic!

For the yeast did you mean Safbrew WB-06 or Safale S-04? It tastse like Safale S-04 to me. This yest strain is a really high flocculating strain. I use it in my porters. I have to admit that I have never bottle conditioned with this yeast, but 17 days should produce fine carbonation. I would suggest shaking the bottles every few days to rouse the yeast. This may help with the carbonation issue.

Thanks for the catch on that, Kyle! It is, Safale 04.

[donovan]

Really enjoyed this beer. Wish I had another 11 bottles of this to enjoy. Very well done. Mine was not flat at all, carbonation was perfect.

Fair warning, since we're talking about carbonation, #13 is going to be under-carbonated as well. It's gotten better, but we just did not add enough corn sugar at bottling. Was shooting for lower carbonation, but went a little too far I think.

[derrickristina]

Bubble issues or not, it was a very good brew. Lucky for me I had some earlier in the night so I had something to compare it to.

[deansquishman]

Ok ---so now I have to try the Edmund Fitzgerald which is one I have not tried from Great Lakes---Overall this tasted like a nice smoky porter---I recently tried to make a batch of smoky porter and had an extra film of funk in the secondary that grew over over the top of the liquid and added extra strange sour beer flavors which I'm hoping some basement aging will work to make better---this beer poured flat but had a good flavor with a bit of a boozy back taste---I am encouraged to keep on trying with this recipe after tasting this one