Plum Porter advice sought.

[Redimpz]

I am planning on brewing a plum porter. I have ordered some plum flavouring from amazon and adding it to a basic porter.
my question is, when is the best time to add the flavouring?
1. at the start of the fermentation.
2. about four days in, after the ferment has calmed down a bit.
3. at the end of the ferment.

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

I am doing the exact same thing, just pitched this morning!

Wait until your beer has finished and dropped bright.

Then draw off a known amount of the porter and eye drop some of the flavouring in until you know how much you want to add.

Then mix on the flavouring into your bottling bucket when you batch prime.

Alternatively you can use real fruit, which is more involved but gets better results

[Redimpz]

I've gone for the flavouring option. If it's good enough for Titanic it's good enough for me. Main issue now is getting it on, could be pushing it for Christmas.
Have you added any other flavours such as spice to your brew? I was wondering if there were anything that enhanced the plum.
With regard to the ammounts, I read on one sellers site that the dosage was 1ml to 1l of liquid and that the flavouring is sold in 25ml bottles, having said that, the strength will probably differ from one supplier to another.
Hope your brew turns out well. Have you thought about posting the recipe?
Thank for the reply.
Dave

[BrannigansLove]

I'd second that request for the recipe, and some advice on what flavour to use, and from where. Cheers in advance.

[GeeThom]

I am planning a "plum" porter but not sure whether to add plums or not.
My recipe will be a basic sort of porter grain bill with one exception, Special B malt which is supposed to give plum and/or blackcurrant dark fruit type flavours.
To back this up I plan to use a mix of Bramling Cross and Endeavour hops again both suggestions of dark fruit and hopefully plum ( little bit of citrus also?)

For Yeast I am trying Mangrove Jack UK Dark ale yeast which supposedly gives full dark fruit flavours.

I have never used any of the above hops or special B malt and MJ yeast but hope to get a lovely fruity porter without adding plums. I suppose even deep blackcurrant would be good for a Christmas porter.

Does anyone have any experience of all or some of these used together and how much flavour they will give?

Reposted in Recipe section

[BrannigansLove]

Bramling cross works great in dark beers. Special B gives more of a raisin flavour though.

[Redimpz]

Currently got it fermenting. I went for first gold for bittering with a 15min addition of fuggles and bramling cross. This was followed by a 5min addition of bramling cross.
the malt was mostly pale with chocolate, red crystal, crystal, oats, and carafa 3.
yeast used is nottingham.
I've got 30ml of plum flavouring, which gives off a plum smell even though it is sealed and in a plastic bag, very tempting to use the lot and see how it rolls.

[JamesF]

I'd strongly advise making sure that the temperature isn't too much over 30C before you put your plums in. Not sure you'll find many drinkers for it afterwards, mind

James

[DethApostle]

I brewed a Plum Porter ages ago using real fruit for the flavour.
It turned out a little on the sour side and was nothing at like Titanic's version but it was very drinkable indeed!
If I was to re-brew it (which I probably will in 2016) i'll be going down the Plum extract route, and as somebody else said will use a pipette and a glass of Porter to get the levels right.

DA

[PhilB]

Hi Redimpz

I've got 30ml of plum flavouring, which gives off a plum smell even though it is sealed and in a plastic bag

... sounds like good stuff ... what type of flavouring is it and where do you get it from?

Cheers, PhilB

[Redimpz]

It's Mirabelle Plum, from Amazon, came in 3 x 10ml bottles. I've not used it yet mind.
Titanic use flavouring in their plum porter. They also make a cherry beer which is not bad at all, it is also a dark beer.

[PhilB]

Hi Redimpz

Thanks for the info ... I think I can see the stuff you mean, is it the ones that are also suitable for "vaping" with? I hadn't considered those, but I see they do identify them as "Food Grade Flavor" ... I'll be interested to see what you feel you get from that once you add it into the beer.

I have a sweet stout in my FV at the moment (1x Cooper's Original, 1kg DME (half dark, half medium) and 350g lactose sugar), to which I've added 1kg of frozen-thawed-and-liquidised blackberries ... but I'm wondering how I might make it taste more of blackberry if that 1kg wasn't enough, you see

Oh, and I do love a Titanic Plum Porter too ... hopefully you'll have nailed this, good luck

Cheers, PhilB