Smoke Bomb Imperial Smoked Chipotle Porter All Grain Beer Recipe Kit

very good

Pay attention to the hints about chipotle pepper, as 36 hours with one floating across the top was more than enough heat for several of my usual suspects. May have to cut it with something else from fridge stock. In the interest of smoke, I tossed as much of the grain as possible on one side of the grill while doing some greasy burgers, worked before. Only taste so far was the sample from the OG, still early so it may marinate better in the bottle.

This brew came out great lots of flavor coffee smokey roasted peppery notes I really enjoyed it.

It needs a touch of chocolate to be perfect, and I went with the recommended 2 chipotles without seeding them and it wasn’t enough heat for me. I’m not a person who eats ghost peppers and scoffs at people, but I think maybe 3-4 peppers would have given it a little more oomph. I steeped them way longer than suggested as well. this beer would be a great base to mess with nibs cherries coffee or vanilla though, even omitting the peppers. Will definitely brew again, the smoked malt is excellent

Made this out of curiosity and since a local brewpub had a mole stout I was enjoying. I split after primary and did half per the recipe and the other half with cinnamon, vanilla, and chocolate in addition to the chipotle. Note that my gravity came in a bit high, around 1.080 (my "fault").

First, let me say that the base porter itself was a great beer. I would make the recipe again just for that. I did not get much smoke from it, though, and I sort of like smoked flavor.

I did the recommended amount of chipotle to start with per Deb's suggestion in the recipe (about 4 peppers for 0.5oz total, split in half between two kegs). I soaked this in vodka then poured it all into a muslin bag to steep. That was enough to add a little spice and flavor on the finish. It faded pretty fast so I added about 50% more a couple weeks later in the keg. That was a moderate chipotle flavor. When I sealed a growler for a friend who likes spice I added even a bit more. That was strong chipotle to the point where it started to mask the porter itself. I prefer the initial, more modest amount, but the version with a bit more was pretty good, too.

The mole half I kept on the subtle side with one dose per the instructions. After that steeped the other ingredients after soaking them in vodka too (1.5oz nibs, 1/2 vanilla bean, and 1/8 tsp cinnamon). Chocolate was strong the first week, cinnamon the second, then it all blended together nicely so that you get a mix of those flavors followed by the modest chipotle finish. This is a nice beer, too.

I would definitely brew this again. The flavors of the kit version came together nicely. I might add a little more smoked malt for my taste. An amount in the range of Stone Smoked Porter would be nice.