New Porter Recipe

[Dave S]

I'm thinking of brewing a Porter in a couple of brews time, and was thinking along the lines of:

4.5 kg MO
250 gm Dark Crystal
120 gm Black Malt
100 gm Choc Malt

Equal quantities of Bullion and Northern Brewer to give around 30-35 IBU's

This should work out to around 1046 OG

Can't remember that I've made a Porter before, usually go for Guinness-esque brews. Would anyone care to comment on this, balance-wise, hop-wise etc. Also never used Bullion or NB before either.

[Jocky]

Personally I would dump the black malt and instead add some brown malt (4-5%), as well as significantly increasing the crystal and chocolate malts.

You've got the right level of IBU there, but I can't comment on the hops. The only thing I would suggest is some late additions - maybe goldings/fuggles/wgv sort of thing at around 2-2.5 g/l.

[Barley Water]

I agree with Jocky, the black malt is going to be too much roast for a brown porter. I also agree that brown malt is needed to get the right flavor, try a Fuller's London Porter, that really neat taste is the brown malt. What you are looking for in a really good example is a beer with light roast and underneath that there should be pretty strong caramel/sweetness from the crystal malt, it's a multilayered deal if you do it right. The yeast can also help make the beer special, WLP02 will give you slight diacetyl notes which play off the crystal malts really well. Clearly, I have spent more time thinking about this than is healthy but then I really like porter.

[Dave S]

Thanks chaps. It gives me something to mull over. In the meantime I have a Draught Bass and IPA of my own design to get on with.

[Dave S]

So if I was to modify that grain bill to:

4.0 kg MO
500 gm Dark Crystal
200 gm Brown Malt
200 gm Choc Malt

How would you consider that? It sounds nice to me .

[Paddy Bubbles]

This is a porter recipe I did last October. Fantastic roasted flavour which is balanced by the crystal malt. It's based on a Jamil Zainasheff recipe. Would highly recommend it.

Code: Select all

Category: Robust Porter
Recipe Type: Partial Mash
Batch Size: 19 L
Volume Boiled: 12 L
Total Grain/Extract: 4.09 kg
Total Hops: 72.0 g

Ingredients

    1 kg Maris Otter Pale
    0.45 kg Crystal 40
    0.17 kg Amber Malt
    0.34 kg Chocolate Malt
    0.225 kg Black Malt
    1.1 kg Dry Light Extract
    1 kg Dry Light Extract
    30 g Northern Brewer (Whole, 8.00 %AA) boiled 60 min.
    21 g East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 6 %AA) boiled 15 min.
    21 g East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 6 %AA) boiled 1 min.
    0.5 ea. Whirlfloc Tablets (15 mins)
    Yeast: Fermentis Safale US-05

Original Gravity: 1.065 (1.048 – 1.065)
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.012 – 1.016)
Color: 29.63 °SRM (22.00 – 35.00 °SRM)
Bitterness: 37.9 IBU (25.00 – 50.00 IBU)
ABV: 6.6 % (4.80 – 6.50 %)

[Dave S]

This is a porter recipe I did last October. Fantastic roasted falvour which is balanced by the crystal malt. It's based on a Jamil Zainasheff recipe. Would highly recommend it.

Code: Select all

Category: Robust Porter
Recipe Type: Partial Mash
Batch Size: 19 L
Volume Boiled: 12 L
Total Grain/Extract: 4.09 kg
Total Hops: 72.0 g

Ingredients

    1 kg Maris Otter Pale
    0.45 kg Crystal 40
    0.17 kg Amber Malt
    0.34 kg Chocolate Malt
    0.225 kg Black Malt
    1.1 kg Dry Light Extract
    1 kg Dry Light Extract
    30 g Northern Brewer (Whole, 8.00 %AA) boiled 60 min.
    21 g East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 6 %AA) boiled 15 min.
    21 g East Kent Goldings (Pellets, 6 %AA) boiled 1 min.
    0.5 ea. Whirlfloc Tablets (15 mins)
    Yeast: Fermentis Safale US-05

Original Gravity: 1.065 (1.048 – 1.065)
Terminal Gravity: 1.015 (1.012 – 1.016)
Color: 29.63 °SRM (22.00 – 35.00 °SRM)
Bitterness: 37.9 IBU (25.00 – 50.00 IBU)
ABV: 6.6 % (4.80 – 6.50 %)

Thanks Paddy - more options

[seymour]

So if I was to modify that grain bill to:

4.0 kg MO
500 gm Dark Crystal
200 gm Brown Malt
200 gm Choc Malt

How would you consider that? It sounds nice to me .

Looks pretty good. I'd probably flip-flop the quantities of Brown and Crystal, though. Some Crystal Malt is nice, particularly in modernized Porter as we know it. But Brown Malt oughta be the dominant flavour contributor.

[Paddy Bubbles]

Thanks Paddy - more options

Always good to have options!

According to Jamil, this recipe works because of the 2:3 ratio between the darker and lighter roasted malts. It really works well.

Jamil uses a lb of Munich but I've used amber malt in my recipe and changed the hopping too. The bitterness/gravity is spot-on though.

[Jocky]

.

[Jocky]

So if I was to modify that grain bill to:

4.0 kg MO
500 gm Dark Crystal
200 gm Brown Malt
200 gm Choc Malt

How would you consider that? It sounds nice to me .

Looks pretty good. I'd probably flip-flop the quantities of Brown and Crystal, though. Some Crystal Malt is nice, particularly in modernized Porter as we know it. But Brown Malt oughta be the dominant flavour contributor.

I'm not so sure. I think that sounds nice too, I guess my only worry is that it's dark crystal, so you may end up with a bit too much of a roasty edge on it.

Brew it and see! You're not going to end up with anything undrinkable.

[Dave S]

Right, I'll make a decision based on all your useful comments and anything else I can find out and let you know how it turns out. Won't be for another month or two anyway.

[seymour]

...my only worry is that it's dark crystal, so you may end up with a bit too much of a roasty edge on it. Brew it and see! You're not going to end up with anything undrinkable.

Shouldn't be a problem. Keep in mind: historical Porter was brewed of 100% brown malt. From that perspective, quibbling over 4% versus 10% brown malt and 4% versus 10% dark crystal (which is somewhat akin to brown malt anyway) is kinda silly.

As you say, any of the aforementioned combinations will make a nice brown beer. Brew whatever you want, call it whatever you want. Cheers!

[Barley Water]

Of course, if you want more of a Robust Porter you can drive the gravity up to about 1.065 and then you can use some black malt because the more agressive flavor is welcome in that style. Currently I have on tap a loose clone of Edmund Fitzgerald Porter which is really good.

[Jocky]

Of course, if you want more of a Robust Porter you can drive the gravity up to about 1.065 and then you can use some black malt because the more agressive flavor is welcome in that style.

In that style? You mean a Stout (porter)?