DRB Smoked Porter 090409

I had originally planned on making this earlier in the year, but the store I went to didn't have any Rauch Malt at the time, so I waited until it came in stock. This is a pretty close example to Alaska Smoked Porter. A well balanced Porter, with a very mellow smoke flavor in the background.

Robust Smoked Porter (Got the recipe from Brewing Classic Styles, and tweaked it according to what I had available)

Fermentables:
8.5 lb. Maris Otter
3 lb. Smoked Rauch Malt
1 lb. Crystal 40
1 lb. Crystal 80
.75 lb. Chocolate Malt
.50 lb. Black Malt

Hops:
Kent Golding 4.5% - 1.30 oz. 60 min.
Willamette 4.8% - .75 oz. 30 min.
Willamette 4.8% - .75 oz. 15 min.
Kent Golding 4.5% - .5 oz. Turn off
Willamette 4.8% - .40 oz. Turn off

Yeast:
WLP001 - Cal Ale (yeast cake from the IPA)

Fermented for a few weeks - FG: 1.012 - 7.9%

The taste is wonderful. I had originally planned on kegging this batch, but instead I think I'm going to bottle the whole 5 gallons. I've heard these smoked porters are better a year later, so I'm going to put a bunch up for a year and crack them out next fall to see how good they age.