Finally Cloned Left Hand, Blackjack Porter all grain

[Falcofish]

Hello and greetings from Florida. I finally got my clone for Left hand, Blackjack porter to come out correctly, here is what i did.

8 gallon batch split into two 4 gallon batches, my mash tun efficiency is about 80%

Water profile 6 gallons RO water @ Ca+2 100ppm, Na+ 33ppm, Cl- 55ppm, SO4-2 50ppm, HCO 270ppm
rest of water is straight RO water

Grains used
11lbs 9 oz malt 2 row
3 lbs malt Crystal 60
1 lb Chocolate malt (450srm)
10oz Special b malt
9.6oz red wheat malt

60 minute steep at 152F with 24 U.S. Quarts of water
15 minute batch sparge adding 3.9 U.S. gallons at 168F
15 minute batch sparge adding 3.9 U.S. gallons at 168F

my boil kettle only hold 7.5 gallons so i split into 2 boils
.5oz German magnum 60 minute each boil
1oz east kent goldings 15 minute each boil

added to 2 6 gallon carboys
at this point my hydrometer fell and shattered so there is no O.G. reading
1 vial White labs WLP013 with 1 liter starter each carboy
Fermenting only took 8 days at 67F with a F.G. of 1.010

force carbonated at 15 psi for 5 days
poured at 8psi

Grains used
11lbs 9 oz malt 2 row
3 lbs malt Crystal 60
1 lb Chocolate malt (450srm)
10oz Special b malt
9.6oz red wheat malt

please let me know what you thing and if you try it how you like it
may the beer be with you.

[NateBrews]

Thanks for posting the information, I do like a good porter and am always game to make one. I haven't had the one from Left Hand, I am not sure if it is available around here (we have left hand stuff, but I haven't seen that one). All the other stuff I have had from them I have liked quite a lot, so it seems likely that one would also be a winner.

What do you guess the OG was? Assuming your system worked the way it usually does, I imagine you could guess pretty close.

[Falcofish]

I would guestimate around 1.055-1.060, This is a brown porter, very chocolate, nutty, sweet. after carbing the bitter from the hops is verry covered. full mouth feel, medium body. the head is very creamy. within 3 days i finished 1 of the 4 gallon kegs.

also if anyone can lead me in the right direction for a hofbrau original recipe that will be my next project.

[brewinhard]

Wow! 3 whole # of C60? That seems like a lot of crystal malt. Surprised you were able to get the beer to attenuate down to 1.010 FG with that.

[Falcofish]

Yes that was the reading on my "not certified" bulb hydrometer at about 67F +or- a few degrees. After I start experimenting with duplicating Hofbrau Original lager I will revisit this beer and add the actual O.G.

[NateBrews]

What would you think of fermenting that with WLP002/WY1968 instead? It doesn't attenuate quite as much, so maybe mashing a couple degrees lower? I only ask because I use that yeast a lot, so I tend to have a good pitch of it on hand and I am very familiar with how it likes to be treated. I'm not sure how substantial an impact the difference between those two yeast would be (I've not used the London Ale yeast in a long time).

[BDawg]

Hofbrau Original Lager is a fine example of a Helles. It is very difficult to clone these beers because there are many subtle factors that go into making them, such as proprietary yeast strains, decoction mashes, extremely simple recipes so even getting German pils malt from a different maltster can create a different flavor profile.
Yeast strain selection is probably the most important aspect for subtle styles like this one, followed by malt selection and process factors such as use of decoction (or not?).

I have not been able to find a yeast strain that is available that is depicted as being from Hofbrau. I would probably go for either the WLP830 (Weinstephan) or WLP833 (Ayinger) strain, or if you can hold out to the spring, WLP860 is depicted as a "Helles strain" (no idea where it was sourced from). A diacetyl rest is pretty much mandatory, or use Tasty's "pitch cold and ramp up slowly over the next few weeks" method.

Grain bill wise, I'd go with a majority 95-97% German Pilsner malt (such as Weyeremann's), and the rest would be melanoidan malt.

I'd hop it using noble hops. You should always work your brewing software backwards when it comes to hops. In this case, add about an oz of Tettnanger or Hallertaur (in 5 gallons) at 5 mins for flavor/aroma then adjust the total bitterness by adding enough at 60 mins to hit the style target at 20-21 IBUs .

Important: You are in Florida. Your water sucks for these styles. Start with RO and build a Munich water profile.

Finally, be patient. These beers need a lot of patience to brew correctly. Let the yeast take the time they need, and give them a good long lagering periot.

HTH-

[Falcofish]

first i must say i am currently 6 liters in this porter within 2 hours, so please take this with a grain of salt or two.
@NateBrews: i have never used WLP002/WY1968, the yeasts i used to develop this clone were wlp013,wlp023,s04,s05 with 17 batches of altering technique, grains hops and grains. with using a blind tasting at the final determination of if it was cloned.
I do encourage you to try different alterations to let us know how your study turns out, this is first science and second an art after all.

@BDawg: I appreciate your information. I will revisit it when i sober up tomorrow.

I just read that you mentioned software. I use basic algorithms that i have gathered over a long period of time to achieve my predictions. I am not as computer oriented as most of you are as far as software goes.