Urgent hop advice for a porter...please!

[dshar]

So chaps, water is heating up for a porter.
Going to use brown, caramalt, malted oats, wheat, mo malt

I thought i had some fuggles in the freezer, but seems i used them up!

So choice is between,

Saaz
Bobek and cascade....

Im thinking mainly saaz right? Others are too citrusy for a porter?
Any comments and advice very welcome... I have a n hour or so till the boil!

Cheers

[Matt12398]

I would expect very little in the way of aroma in a porter with hops in around the 90 or 60 minute mark so shouldn't make much difference.

[Dave S]

So chaps, water is heating up for a porter.
Going to use brown, caramalt, malted oats, wheat, mo malt

I thought i had some fuggles in the freezer, but seems i used them up!

So choice is between,

Saaz
Bobek and cascade....

Im thinking mainly saaz right? Others are too citrusy for a porter?
Any comments and advice very welcome... I have a n hour or so till the boil!

Cheers

Bobek are a type of Styrian Golding which I believe were derived from the Fuggle. So maybe go with them.

[Clibit]

I would've used the highest alpha hops of the three for 60 mins, presumably cascade, and Bobek for the last 15 mins or so. But you would get good results whatever you used. And it's good to bend the rules anyway, I feel. If you live by rules.

Bobek was actually bred from Northern Brewer. It's not the original Styrian Golding.

[dshar]

Went for saaz n the end, for the full 60mins with no late additions.
Take the point that for bittering, not much difference which to use.

As for bending the rules, did a fair bit of that with this brew. Was very last minute so didnt have the right ingredients.
4.5kg MO, 1k brown, 800g caramalt, 400g malted oats, 200g wheat malt

Didnt have any chocolate, so used more brown, so colour wise its a bit on the light side for the style. Also interested to see how so much brown works out with its distinctive taste...

Will see soon enough, nicely bubbling and foaming away. Notty always delivers...

(Would post a picture up but cant figure out with the ipad!)

[Dave S]

Bobek was actually bred from Northern Brewer. It's not the original Styrian Golding.

I knew there was a difference, didn't know what it was. Northern Brewer is also a good choice for Porter. He's done it now anyway.

[dshar]

so chaps, I brewed this porter about six weeks ago and bottled about a month ago.
masshed at 67C for 90mins then sparged (poured water over teh BIAB) at 75C.
efficiency was pretty terrible at 55%, but i didnt dilute as much to get the right gravities (OG 1.050, FG 1.013)/abv (4.9%).

so drinking my second glass of this now, and tbh, im not all that impressed...

first of all, I brewed this at short notice and didnt have all the ingredients i needed.
no chocolate malt, so quite a light colour, to compensate i used quite a lot of brown malt
taste wise, i find it too sweet and has a bit of a funny taste. cant quite put my finger on it, but its not quite right.
i guess the sweetness is since it was ibu~21 and quite a malty brew?

not much to go on, i know, but any thoughts would be appreciated. whatever it was, i dont want to repeat same mistake in future!

cheers

2014 09 06 Light Portster (Brown Porter)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.050 (°P): 12.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.013 (°P): 3.3
Alcohol (ABV): 4.91 %
Colour (SRM): 17.8 (EBC): 35.1
Bitterness (IBU): 21.6 (Average)

66.18% Maris Otter Malt
14.71% Brown Malt
10.29% Caramalt
5.88% Flaked Oats
2.94% Wheat Malt

2.6 g/L Saaz (3.1% Alpha) @ 70 Minutes (Boil)
Single step Infusion at 66°C for 90 Minutes. Boil for 60 Minutes

[Clibit]

My thoughts are that the funny taste is probably the brown malt. It's an acquired taste especially early on, but it will mellow with time. Also, I don't really go for sweetness, and 10% caramalt would be a bit high for my taste, but others would be happy with that. 10% is pretty typical for a porter I think. A bit of black malt might have balanced it.

And I like more hoppiness in my ales, regardless of style. I like the American dark ale styles with a more pronounced hop presence, but not too much. Typically a 60 min and a 15 min addition, to about 35 - 40 ibus. It's all a matter of taste.

[beerlion]

I agree with Clibit, increase the IBUs. It doesn't have to be laoded with late hops, but I think you need more bitterness to balance the malts.

And maybe make sure that you have all the ingredients that you need before starting!

[oakwell]

My thoughts are that the funny taste is probably the brown malt. It's an acquired taste especially early on, but it will mellow with time. Also, I don't really go for sweetness, and 10% caramalt would be a bit high for my taste, but others would be happy with that. 10% is pretty typical for a porter I think. A bit of black malt might have balanced it.

And I like more hoppiness in my ales, regardless of style. I like the American dark ale styles with a more pronounced hop presence, but not too much. Typically a 60 min and a 15 min addition, to about 35 - 40 ibus. It's all a matter of taste.

for me that's a lot of brown malt. i once brewed a porter recipe which specified 79% pale malt, 16% brown malt and 5% black malt. after 3 months in the bottle it had what I'd describe as a strange, unpleasant coffee like flavour which I didn't like. fortunately my brewing assistant did so it didn't go to waste. I did notice though that after 6 months in the bottle it was much improved but the experience put me off brown malt for a while. i now have more in stock so i'll use it again but probably reduce the amount to something like 5% and see how that goes.

[MTW]

Chocolate malt is a must-have in a porter, for me, and the strongest to come through to my taste.

[dshar]

Cheers for all the advice fellas
Ye, few points learned on this one...
I think the special taste is from the brown malt. After a third of a glass, it starts to grow on you.
I think the main failing here is the low ibus's. schoolboy error really ...
Missing choclate doesnt help either.
All is not lost tho, wont have to go down the pan since my lovely brewing assistant likes the sweet brew!

[oakwell]

here's an interesting interview on Beersmith and with Gordon Strong regarding the Porter style; might give you a few ideas

http://beersmith.com/blog/2011/11/10/po ... odcast-26/

[boingy]

The Ringwood XXXX porter recipe in Graham's book is one my most brewed and loved beers and it's also very unfussy about hop selection. I've brewed it with all sorts of hops and it always turns out well. Recommended!

And, yes, I agree on the brown malt. Two things I learned about a year ago:
1. Don't overdo the amber malt.
2. Definitely, definitely don't overdo the brown malt.

[dshar]

Cheers for all the tips, learnt a lot with this one, brew #6.
Still drinkable so not a complete disaster, and the missus likes the sweetness.

As an experiment tonight, i boiled up a a hop tea with some bobek and added a couple of teaspoons to the beer,
Certainly sorted out the bitterness, but not the best tasting beer ever! we'll leave that as an experiment...