John Bull London Porter - Vanilla Bomb

So I'm still extract brewing and my IPA is still in the fermentor, but I have second barrel so I couldn't help but lay another beer down. This time in the style of a London Porter.

I read the web page about how to kick up your extract kits to the next level so I bravely did a mini mash of 500g chocolate malt, 250g smoked and 250 carapils cause I likes it! And of course two cans of malt, john bull london porter and Muntons medium malt extract. 

My mash tun is just a medium sized pot with a towel wrapped around it but I think it did the job okay. Temp didn't drop too much. Then I boiled my wort and added 100g of lactose at the end (unfermentable for a bit of sweetness).

I've also got two vanilla pods soaking in a wee bit of Bowmores legend whisky to add in at some end stage.

This will be my fifth batch of beer and I haven't followed instructions to the letter since the first batch. It may have been more sensible to postpone experiments till I had mastered making a basic kit. But wheres the fun in that!? Also, these kits, some of them are pretty bland. They need some jazzing up. AND MORE HOPS!

4/11/12

OG 1.0575 (1.058 corrected for temp) whoops a bit high but there is bound to be some unfermentables in mix. Sitting at 22C need it to cool a bit before I add yeast.

9/11/12

SG 1.025 or 1.0275

11/11/12
SG about the same as last time, so sitting on 4.4% ABV

14/11/12
SG 1.025 or 1.0275 man my hydrometer sucks. I want a better one.

25/11/12
SG 1.0225 Bottling day! 30 bottles, 750ml

Second batch underway
500g Chocolate malt
300g Smoked Malt
200g Carapils
100g Lactose
1 John Bull Porter kit
1 bucket (1.8kg) of muntons medium malt extract
1 sachet of yeast rehydrated and proofed. (Safale s-04)
2 vanilla pods soaking in 1/2 cup of whisky till bottling day

8.12.12 OG 1.0525
13.12.12 SG 1.0200
23.12.12 SG 1.0175
27.12.12 SG 1.0175 add clearing agent