Chocolate Rye Porter #2

I brewed this a few months ago, and after some feedback from friends and judges I made some minor changes. I am making this for the Emerald Cost Beer Festival in September. I switched from Malted Rye to Flaked Rye and upped that to 2 lbs and added in some Special "B" and Roasted Barley. You can see more of the changes below. Also I am going to up the mash in temp from 150 to 156 in hopes to get a bit more mouthfeel from the beer.

Chocolate Rye Porter

Malt:

8 lbs: Marris Otter

1.5 lbs: Flaked Rye

.75 lbs: Chocolate Rye

.5 lbs: Cara-Pils

2 oz: Belgian Special "B"

.2 oz: Roasted Barley

Hops:

.38 oz: Warrior 15.4AA @ 60 min

1.0 oz: Willamette 4.6AA @ 15 min

1.0 oz: WIllamette 4.6AA @ 5 min

.5 oz Centennial 7.4AA @ 0min

Yeast:

Safale S-04 English Ale Yeast

Target OG: 1.061

Target FG: 1.016

Target IBU: 34

Mash Temp: 154

Mash Volume: 3.59 gals

Mash Rest Time: 90 min

Mash Out Temp: 170 (210)

Mash Out Volume: 1.30 gals

Mash Out Time: 15 min

Sparge Temp: 175 (200)

Sparge Volume: 2 gals

1st Runnings: 1.066 (1.048 @146deg)

Final Runnings:1.062 (1.034 @ 175deg)

Mash Efficiency: 81%

Actual OG:1.068

Actual FG: 1.012

ABV: 7.7%

Apparent Attenuation: 81.5%

Hopville Recipe

Update 7.3.2009: Brewday is done and it went perfectly. I hit my mash temp on the nose. Once again I over shot my gravity because my efficiency was around 81%. I don't know why I have been getting some outstanding efficiency and I dont know why or how that is happening. Yeast is added so we will see in a few weeks if the new recipe is going to work.

Update 7.12.2009: Started cold crashing the beer, then moving to the keg. Beer finished at 1.014, which was a bit lower than I wanted but its still fine. Beer is also a bit more alcoholic than the last as well. So I would call this "Imperial" at 7.4% ABV. Ill get this nice and cold for about another week or so then rack over to the keg and then lager till September.

Update 8.13.2008: Kegged up Porter and it seems really clean. Nice and spicy from the rye. I can't wait for this one to start flowing in a week or so.

Tasting notes:
Appearance: Dark brown to almost black. Clear as far as I can tell, maybe a slight ruby highlight when held up to the light

Smell: Interesting smell given off by this beer. I had a hard time pinning it down until a friend said smoky maple syrup. I would have to agree, even with no smoked malt in the beer it comes off kind of smoky.

Taste: 1st sip is a smoky bacon flavor almost Rauch Bier like, but then that goes away and a nice roasty/spicy flavor emerges. I think the chocolate rye really gives off a nice flavor here. My palate was really ruined after drinking this beer do to the roastiness of the beer. I might need to cut back some for next time. Finishing you get a slight bubble gum note but then quickly goes away.

Mouthfeel: Great mouth feel and carbonation. No alcohol burn, which is surprising since its kind of high ABV for a porter.