Stout / Porter

[stringy]

I brewed this recipe a while back and really enjoyed it, however I'm not really sure if its a stout or a dark porter or somewhere in between!

For 5 Gallons:
5kg Marris Otter
300g Crystal Malt
300g Roast Barley
170g Special B
25g Target 60mins
20g Target 20mins
20g Goldings 10mins

It ended up with an O.G of 1.061 and a F.G of 1.018.
It was a bit of an experiment/ using up some left over ingredients.

I'm looking to brew something similar, but perhaps a bit more like a stout.
Anyone got any suggestions on how this could be more stout-ish??
Also I'm a bit confused by all of the style guidelines in Beersmith, anyone know what category Marstons Oyster Stout would fall under, that's a really enjoyable brew and I wouldn't mind brewing something a bit more like that!

[oblivious]

Hi

It looks more like a stout with roasted barley that a porter or at least that my take on the difference’s between stouts and porters. You could try adding other roasted malts such as black patent or chocolate, 300g of chocolate malt would work nicely in that brew and may be bump up your crystal to 500g. You could also try mashing in 500g-1kg of oats or flaked barley to get additional mouth feel and taste.

Looks good already!

[PieOPah]

AFAIK the difference between a stout and a porter is that the stout uses Roasted Barley where the porter doesn't. I could be wrong in that but I do seem to recall reading that somewhere recently.

[Frothy]

May I ask - what is "special B"?
Do you have an IBU for the recipe? - styles are often classified by % & IBU

Frothy

[Garth]

Frothy, special B is a caramel type of malt from Belgium, I presume that's what the B stands for, but I've never used it.

[oblivious]

Very nice in dark beers, I have some in my imperial porter

[mysterio]

Yeah Special B is basically a very dark version of crystal malt with a toffee/raisin flavour.

I think the porter/stout distinction is quite hard to put a finger on. Neither has to have roasted barley but stouts tend to have it more than porters. Also if a brewery offers both a porter and a stout, the stout will be the stronger, more bitter of the two (hence 'stout porter' being the original name for stout).

I think Marstons Oyster Stout would be called a dry stout but i'm not sure. You would probably want to go for a lower gravity (1.044 ish?) so that it finishes drier, a highly attenuative yeast and maybe a touch more roasted barley.

[Garth]

anyone know what category Marstons Oyster Stout would fall under, that's a really enjoyable brew and I wouldn't mind brewing something a bit more like that!

Stringy, I found this recipe for you, it's for Adnams Oyster Stout but it won't be a million miles away. You'll have to convert the percentages into kg and g, and use your computer program to get the right amount of fuggles to get the 33 IBU.

Adnams Oyster Stout
IBU 33 Colour 200
OG 1048

Pale 70%
Crystal 10%
Chocolate 10%
Roast Barley 10%

Fuggles

Add oyster essence during the boil if desired
Anchovies could be interesting instead (bleurgh!!!)

[stringy]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I reckon I'm going to keep the recipe pretty much the same, but might add some chocolate malt.
Cheers for the recipe Garth, looks good.
The IBU for the recipe is 44. From what I remember that was quite a nice level of bitterness for this brew. Reckon I'll be brewing next week. Will let you know how I get on and what recipe I end up with!!!