The Lurker Chocolate Peanut Butter Coffee Porter

With coffee as the required ingredient for the next homebrew competition, I started doing some research and thinking about the type of beer I wanted to make and how to add the coffee.  I like the taste of coffee when it's not overly bitter, but I rarely drink it because I don't like caffeine.  In the spirit of the competition, I first thought I wanted to brew something without dark malts and really showcase the coffee without the intrusion  of roasted malt flavor.  After trying some different commercial examples (Mikkeller Spontankoppi, Ballast Point Victory At Sea, Kona Pipeline Porter, Haandbryggeriet Coffee Porter among others) I pretty much embraced something that was already intuitively known: darker beers lend themselves better to coffee additions.  In the end, I chose to brew something that incorporated other ingredients I've been wanting to use for a while, in addition to the coffee.

During San Diego Beer Week last November, I had a chance to try Karl Strauss' Peanut Butter Cup Porter and was amazed at how much peanut butter flavor came through in the final product.  They used powdered peanut butter when making it, which keeps undesirable oil out of the beer without compromising the peanut butter flavor.  They also incorporated cocoa nibs into the brew, the rawest and strongest form of chocolate flavoring.  I decided to try the same thing on a homebrew scale, using PB2 and also including cocoa nibs.  The addition of coffee would add another (hopefully desirable) element to an already complexly flavored beer.  All three flavors should make for something pretty ridiculously decadent-more calories than any reasonable person needs to consume at any one time-so I named it The Lurker because it should stay with you for a while, no matter how much Insanity you do.

Karl Strauss' version was a Brown Porter.  I decided to brew a Robust Porter and came up with the following recipe:

The Lurker Chocolate Peanut Butter Coffee Porter

Malts and Grains 9.00 pounds American Pale Malt (2-Row) 60.4% of grist 1.80 pounds Belgian Caravienne Malt 12.1% of grist 1.20 pounds German Melanoidin Malt 8.1% of grist 0.60 pounds American Wheat Malt 4% of grist 1.20 pounds Flaked Oats 8.1% of grist 0.60 pounds American Chocolate Malt 4% of grist 0.10 pounds American Black Patent 0.7% of grist 0.40 pounds German Carafa III De-Husked Malt 2.7% of grist 14.90 pounds Total Grain Weight (Water Amounts) 100% of grist Adjuncts 1.00 pounds Lactose (Milk Sugar) 1.00 pounds PB2 1.00 pounds PB2 - Chocolate Non-Fermentables 4 oz Cacao Nibs 16 oz Cold Pressed Coffee Hops 1.00 ounces Magnum 14.2% Pellets  Type: Bittering and Aroma Use: First Wort 14.2 AAUs 0.75 ounces Fuggle 5.6% Pellets @ 20 minutes  Type: Flavor Use: Boil 4.2 AAUs 1.75 ounces Total Hop Weight 18.4 AAUs Boil Total Boil Time: 60 minutes Yeast Name: Dry English Ale Manufacturer: White Labs Product ID: WLP007 Type: Ale Flocculation: High Attenuation: 75% Temperature Range: 65–70°F Amount: 500 ml

I brewed 7.5 gallons last Wednesday.  I mashed at 152 degrees F for an hour and had a rolling 60 minute boil.  The lactose was added with about 20 minutes left in the boil and should contribute some sweetness and body.  Two gallons were used to make Dregs beers (DREGS #9 and DREGS #10), and the other 5.5 gallons was innoculated with 500 ml of WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast and placed lovingly in the fermentation chamber.  I'll be adding the cocoa nibs and PB2/PB2-Chocolate in secondary in two separate additions, allowing at least a week (maybe more) of contact time for both.  I anticipate a restarting of fermentation with the addition of the PB2.  I'm not sure how many gravity points two pounds of PB2 will contribute, but the final beer should be pretty big.  The original gravity after chilling was 1.058.

As for the coffee, I want it to take a prominent role in the flavor, but not be overly bitter.  I'm going to cold press decaffeinated French Roast coffee (not sure what brand yet) and add sixteen ounces to the bucket at bottling.  I'm hoping that the coffee flavor will shine in the final beer.