Smoked Porter - Recipe

I combined 2.5 gallons of a strong stout and 2.5 gallons of smoked malt to make this beer.  I got 2 different 5 gallon batches with only a little extra effort.  See here for the full Strong Stout recipe. I mashed the smoked malt separately testing the 'brew in a bag' method.  It doesn't help that I didn't have the right kind of bag, but I think I got enough out of it.

For 2.5 Gallons (Then combined):
Fermentables:
  5# Briess Cherrywood smoked malt

Hops:
 1/2oz Northern Brewer (60 min)

Yeast:
  1 packet Nottingham dry ale yeast

Combine with 2.5 Gallons of Strong Stout wort.

Notes:
 Brewed: 10/7/12

 Mashed  @ ~152F for 60 minutes at 2qt/#
   Collected 3.5gals @9brix (1.036sg)
   Final (After combining): 4.8gals @14brix (1.056sg)
  After cooling, I took a gravity reading and got closer to 1.050. 

Looks like I got poor efficiency from the smoked malt.  The small bag made it difficult to stir the mash well.  At least the high gravity of the strong stout helped balance that. 1.050 will probably yield around 5% ABV, so its not too bad.  I will have to top it off 1-2 quarts to make up for the short volume, but it wont affect it by too much.
I did notice that the smokiness of the malt was very mild.  I am hoping 5# was enough to give it some good smoke character.

Update 11/25/12 Tasting

Strong Stout/Porter - Recipe

This recipe was for a combined brewing day.  I have been experimenting with different ways to get more than one beer in a short brew day.  For this, I made ~7.5 gallons of a strong stout and 2.5 gallons of smoked beer.  This recipe is for 7.5 gallons of stout.  See here for the smoked half.

For 7.5 Gallons:
Fermentables:
   15# Rahr 2-row
   1# Caramel 80
   1# English Chocolate Malt
   1# Flaked Oats
   1# Flaked Barley (I had ordered 2# barley, but was shipped 1 barley, 1 oats)
   8oz Black Patent Malt
   8oz English Roast Barley

Hops:
 2oz Northern Brewer (60 min)

Other:
 1 Whirlfloc tablet
 1 Vanilla bean (at flame-out)

Yeast:
  2 packs of S-04 dry ale yeast.

Notes:
 Brewed: 10/7/12 Start 7:45am

 Mashed  @ ~152F for 60 minutes at 1.5qt/#
   First running: 4.25gals @20.8brix (1.087sg)
   Second running: 5gals @11brix (1.044sg)
   Pre-boil 9.25gals @15brix
   Final: 7.5gals @18brix (1.074sg)
  After cooling, I took a gravity reading and got closer to 1.070. 

I probably could have gotten away with 1 yeast pack, but with the high OG, I decided to over pitch rather than under.  I'm sure it helped because the next day, I had blow off - Unexpected with 2 gallons of head space I leave in the pail.
Another thing I noticed with this beer.  Skimming the wort really helped avoid boilover.  I started with 9+ gallons in a 10 gallon pot.  I have skimmed before, but I could see this was really going to need it.  After taking off the top layer of foam, the rest of the boil went flawlessly.

2012 Cider (Wilkens)

 Its apple season again and time to make some hard cider.  For this batch, I decided to go more fresh & natural.  5 Gallons of local fresh apple cider, wine yeast (Montrachet) and a little nutrient.  No added sugar, no pectic enzymes.

Started on 9/30/12
OG=1.048

It is bubbling away nicely and smells of sweet apples.  I will leave it in primary until the yeast drops, then a few months in secondary.  I still haven't
kegged Apfelwein IV, which has been aging since last
November.  Time to get to work!