Plum Porter

[jonnyt]

The other day whilst at a local Castle Rock pub one of the guest ales was a Plum Porter something like 5.6% ABV

It was absolutely moorish so the whole barrel went very quickly. You really got the taste of the plums coming through at the end.

As anybody else drank anything similar or more importantly got a tried and tested recipe for this?

[seymour]

Sounds excellent. I've made plum wine, and I've been planning a porter similar to your description with damsons or sloes for years. I intend to brew a nice, complex, but true-to-style porter, then add a plum puree to the secondary fermentor.

I've mentioned this before, but I did so with figs once, which developed a lambic pellicle. Not knowing what I was looking at, I assumed it was infected and dumped it. It was probably delicious, but if you specifically want to avoid a wild secondary fermentation then you should give the fruit puree a quick boil.

[zgoda]

I know of few fellow brewers here who drop smoked plums into boil. Usually around 400 gms per 20 litre batch.

[seymour]

I know of few fellow brewers here who drop smoked plums into boil. Usually around 400 gms per 20 litre batch.

Yum! Nice suggestion, zgoda.

I've heard if you wait long enough for the plum flesh to ferment and the alcohol to dissolve everything down to the pits (which are closely related to almonds), it starts developing a really cool amaretto flavor too.

[Nofolkandchance]

Titanic Brewery do a Plum Porter. Had a few pints of this at Chrismas at Wetherspoons. Very nice indeed!

[jonnyt]

That jogged my memory it was from Titantic

[SamT]

That jogged my memory it was from Titantic

Have a word with them on twitter for some recipe clues, they seem friendly enough ...

[jonnyt]

Unfortunately from my view it's very much a case of Twitter Ye Not

[Swoonara]

I did plum & honey porter before Christmas. It was a bit of a user-upper hence the diverse grist!
I added 1kg plums to secondary. The plum flavour came out very well, but it was a bit astringent and dry. I'll ditch the honey next time, and use medium crystal and caramalt.

One point to note - the flavour changed dramatically while the plums were in there. After a couple of days it was revolting, and after 1 week it was much better. I would have left it in longer if I hadn't needed it in time for Christmas.

Code: Select all

Honey Plum Porter

Fermentable	Colour	lb: oz	Grams	Ratio
Lager Malt	2.5 EBC	 3 lbs. 10.8 oz	1670 grams	29.3%
Pale Malt	5 EBC	 4 lbs. 7.3 oz	2020 grams	35.5%
Wheat Malt	3.5 EBC	 1 lbs. 0.0 oz	455 grams	8%
Crystal Malt, Pale	60 EBC	 1 lbs. 1.7 oz	500 grams	8.8%
Munich Malt	20 EBC	 0 lbs. 7.0 oz	200 grams	3.5%
Chocolate Malt	1050 EBC	 0 lbs. 7.0 oz	200 grams	3.5%
Carafa Special I	800 EBC	 0 lbs. 5.3 oz	150 grams	2.6%
Honey	0 EBC	 1 lbs. 1.6 oz	500 grams	8.8% (added near the end of primary)

 
Hop Variety	Type	Alpha	Time	lb: oz	grams	Ratio
Golding	Whole	6.8 %	15 mins	 0 lbs. 1.1 oz	30 grams	30%
Golding	Whole	6.8 %	0 mins	 0 lbs. 1.1 oz	30 grams	30%
Challenger	Whole	6.5 %	90 mins	 0 lbs. 1.4 oz	40 grams	40%

 
Final Volume:	25	Litres
Original Gravity:	1.055	
Final Gravity:	1.012	
Alcohol Content:	5.5%	ABV
Total Liquor:	35.7	Litres
Mash Liquor:	13	Litres
Mash Efficiency:	77	%
Bitterness:	34	EBU
Colour:	117	EBC