Rob's Smoke & Wood II - Smoked Imperial Porter

Today I'm brewing the second edition of my Smoked Imperial Porter. Last year this beer won a gold medal, so I'm hoping this version does as well. I made some minor changes to the grain bill including Crisp Maris Otter, Briess Cherry Wood Smoked Malt, and Crisp Pale Chocolate Malt. I'll also be using a different wood (maybe cherry) for aging. This is a 3 gallon batch today.

Here's the recipe as I'm making it today:

4.8# Crisp Maris Otter

1.2# Crisp Dark Munich (20L)

0.75# Crisp Brown Malt

0.75# Briess Cherry Wood Smoked Malt

0.75# Weyermann Rauch Malt

0.75# Crisp Crystal 77L

0.45# Crisp Pale Chocolate Malt (350L)
16.8g Magnum (60 min)
8.4g EKG (10 min)
US-05

0.25 Whirlfloc

0.25t Yeast nutrient

1" per gallon HoneyComb Barrel Alternative

Mash at 154F for 60 minutes, 90 minute boil, ferment at 60F

Same water profile as last time, Beersmith London.

Brewing Notes
No issues.  Gravity came in at 1.077 with a bit over 3 gallons.

Update 7/11/2016
I decided to go with hard maple for the wood on this beer. Per Black Swan's description, hard maple has the following characteristics:

Maple candy, light spice-nutmeg, cinnamon, syrup, bread/bakery, cream hint of cocoa

Update 7/26/2016
I pulled a sample two days ago and I think it's close, but still needs a little more time on the wood. Smoke character is nice but subtle; definitely does not dominate.  I'm going to check it again tomorrow and see how it's doing.

Update 8/4/2016
This beer went into the keg today.

Update 9/6/2016
This beer took gold for the second year in a row for Smoked and Wood-aged beer at 2016 Beehive Brew-off. In fact, my homebrew club ZZHOPS, swept the category. Dallas Barlow and Mike Johnson took second with their Barrel Project and Jerry McPhie took third with his Belgian Gold Oak.