Cookie Monster Porter

cookie_monster.md

Cookie Monster (12.31.2012)

Style: Porter

Description

This is a robust porter that should carry a full body and a nice creamy head. It has a smooth mouth feel and the taste of an oatmeal raisin cookie.

Ingredients:

• 1lb raisins

• 1lb flaked oats

• 3lbs light dry malt

• 3lbs extra light dry malt

• 1lb 4oz caramel/crystal malt 40L

• 12 oz chocolate malt (US)

• 4 oz black patent malt

• 4 oz roasted barley

• 2 oz Willamette

• WY1968, WY1028, or WY1275

• 1/2 tsp fresh ground cinnamon

Procedure:

Mash for 60 minutes. Mash in at 152-156 and mash out at around 168 to stop activity. During the mash heat a side pan with enough water to submerge the raisins and heat to 180 degrees to soften and pasteurize. Boil for 60 minutes. 1/2 oz hops at 10 mins, 1/2 oz hops at 30 mins, 1 oz hops at 60 minutes. At 40 minutes dump the raisin puree and water into the boil. During the boil put the raisins in the blender and make a puree. Place the raisin puree back in the side pan and put the heat back on, bringing the water back to 180 degrees. Let it rest after that, keeping the temperature above 160 degrees. Make sure to strain the wort well during transfer to the primary device to pull out most of the raisin bits. The raisins will raise the gravity but the amount and type you use makes a difference, so it's hard to predict what it will be.

Final details

OG 1.061 Base (without raisins)
OG ???? with raisins
FG 1.015 Base (without raisins)
FG ???? with raisins
Primary Fermentation 1 week
Secondary Fermentation 1 week

I think I may try this. Can you confirm if my interpretation of boil timings is correct?:

1oz Willamette Bittering - boil for 60 minutes
Raisin Puree - boil for 40 minutes (already boiled in sidepan first for 60 minutes before pureed)
1/2oz Willamette Flavoring - boil for 30 minutes
1/2oz Willamette Aroma - boil for 10 minutes

Also curious how/when you add your cinnamon.
My first spiced ale put it all in at the last 5 minutes of the boil. It turned out OK but the taste came out stronger than the smell.
My next ale I added it to the secondary vessel so the primary blow-off didn't let aromatics escape. I also tried lowering sediment by using a couple sticks for my cinnamon in the secondary instead of powder and that worked pretty well but was just taking a wild guess on the amount and hoping it turned out OK. It was fine.

I've heard higher flavor extraction (and higher ABV) can be achieved by letting it soak in a shot of vodka [covered] ahead of time and then just pouring the vodka into the secondary but never tried it.

A small amount of vanilla might be a nice touch too but I've run into many in BJCP where its use destroyed the head. Never tried vanilla yet myself in a brew but this would be a fun one to try it on.

Here's some clarification

The timing for hops is when to add them to the boil. So 1/2 10 minutes in (or first wort if you're feeling adventurous), 1/2 30 minutes in, and 1 at flame out. This was one of the changes I made this time around. I haven't used Willamette hops before, but I wanted something more aromatic and fruity than centennial, so this was a try.

The raising puree instructions are messed up. I'll update those. So what I did was did the pasteurization and let them sit in the water until the boil started. I pureed the raisins and poured the water into the wort to get any residual sugars. With 20 minutes left in the boil I dumped the puree into the boil. Other than the seeds, it pretty much mixed in. When I strained at the end it was mostly just hops and seeds, and a little it of raisin pulp.

For the cinnamon, I add it during the transfer to secondary. I have tried a lot of different methods, but this captures the essence the best for me. The only downside is that it usually takes about a week of cold conditioning to mellow out, but then it's fine. As for soaking cinnamon sticks in a neutral spirit, I haven't done it for beer before. I use that method for flavoring cider from time to time and it does extract quite well. I have usually stayed away from vanilla because it seems like nobody can agree on how to use it.

Hope this clears things up. Feel free to fork and try your own!