# Rye porter recipe feedback



## contrarian (7/7/15)

Am looking to do a rye porter this weekend but not having made one before thought I'd put it out for discussion. Had a look at the one in the recipe database but was missing half the ingredients. I could always source them but I have a shed full of grain so would prefer to use what's in stock!

Maris Otter 56%
Munich 2 16%
Rye 16%
Dark crystal 8%
Chocolate 4%

Target OG 1.065
Estimated FG 1.015

Northdown hops to 35IBU

I also have roasted barley so could sub all or a % of the chocolate for that.


----------



## seamad (7/7/15)

depending on your brew system you may want to add some rice hulls to that, makes a world of difference.


----------



## contrarian (7/7/15)

I BIAB so shouldn't have any issues there.


----------



## Velu (7/7/15)

I would be careful of adding too much roast barley if you go down that route, the rye will dry it out a little and the roast barley will do the same


----------



## seamad (7/7/15)

contrarian said:


> I BIAB so shouldn't have any issues there.


I used to BIAB in a crown urn with concealed element and the only burnt batch I got was with a roggen, was more rye though. I'd stick with the choc and no RB, only a personal preference.


----------



## contrarian (7/7/15)

Thanks, will give that a go! 

Was the burnt batch from step mashing or during the boil?

I have a 70L craftbrewer pot at a has burner and have never had any issues.


----------



## seamad (7/7/15)

You'll have no problems with that set up, the crud/protein build up on the element can cause prob's in the boil with the crown urn and xs rye'wheat.


----------



## sponge (7/7/15)

I always like choc, no RB, and a touch of brown malt for most porter bases.

That's a pretty general summary though. Your recipe looks the goods Mick.


----------



## contrarian (7/7/15)

Planning on brewing this for stoutfest sponge so you might get to try it.

Don't have any brown malt but thought I'd try to keep the grain bill fairly simple rather than using 17 different malts and not knowing what any of them did to the overall flavour!


----------



## antiphile (7/7/15)

Good topic, Contrarian. I like porter, and I like rye (gotta blame _indica_ for encuraging that), but I never thought about combining them. Did a quick beersmith search and there's lots of variation on recipes. This one struck me because (a) it has some similarities to yours; and (b) 'cos it has refreshingly honest self-criticism in the notes. I don't know if there's any hints there about traps to avoid.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Belgian Rye Porter
Brewer: Darren Greer
Asst Brewer:
Style: Robust Porter
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0) 10-17-13
Took gravity reading at1.013. Sample has a mellow roasty aroma, no hop aroma. Flavor taste like a very weak chocolate coffee with just a very slight hint of alcohol warming. Body seems to be on the light/medium side.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 29.87 l
Post Boil Volume: 25.59 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 20.82 l 
Bottling Volume: 17.98 l
Estimated OG: 1.063 SG
Estimated Color: 50.6 EBC
Estimated IBU: 30.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 88.6 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU 
2.00 tsp Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent 1 - 
4.54 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) US (3.9 EBC) Grain 2 76.9 % 
0.91 kg Rye, Flaked (3.9 EBC) Grain 3 15.4 % 
0.34 kg Chocolate Malt (689.5 EBC) Grain 4 5.8 % 
0.11 kg Black (Patent) Malt (985.0 EBC) Grain 5 1.9 % 
21.26 g Northern Brewer [9.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 21.3 IBUs 
21.26 g Willamette [5.30 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 8.7 IBUs 
1.0 pkg Belgian Ale (White Labs #WLP550) [35.49 Yeast 8 - 
3.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Other 9 - 


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 5.90 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time 
Mash In Add 15.76 l of water at 76.5 C 67.8 C 90 min 

Sparge: Fly sparge with 20.39 l water at 75.6 C
Notes:
------
10-12-13
Did not get a good conversion. Missed OG by 6 points. Used Briess malts from LHBS. Pitched at 78 deg at 1:30 PM, transferred to water bath where water temp is 68 deg. No activity at 7:30 PM, still 68 deg.

10-13-13
7:15 AM. Water temp is 66.6 deg. Good activity in airlock. Continuos bubbles
11:45 AM. Water temp is 67.1 deg. Krausen is now in airlock.
10:00 PM. Water temp is 70.8 deg. Still vigorous activity in airlock.

10-14-13
6:30AM. Water temp is 68.7 deg. Activity still good but can tell it has slowed overnight.
4:35 PM. Water temp is 70.8 deg. Activity still good.

10-15-13
6:45 AM. Water temp is 68.8 deg. Activity has slowed way down.
4:40 PM. Water temp is 69.8 deg. Very slow but still bubbling in airlock.

10-16-13
6:40 AM. Water temp is 67.3 deg. Activity is 1 bubble every 15-20 secs.

Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com


----------



## contrarian (7/7/15)

I did a decent amount of research into basic porter recipes and with minor variations there seems to be a lot of similarities in the basic grist. I don't have any black patent which seems to be a common ingredient so am working around that deficiency.

I also have some oak that I might be tempted to add late in fermentation but will see how we go with that one. Normally I ponder these sort of things weeks, make a firm decision and then change it on the spur of the moment after a couple of beers!


----------



## Killer Brew (7/7/15)

Did one on the weekend (partial) and used 100g of Roast Barley but only added it at the end of the mash (ie. before sparging)


----------



## contrarian (7/7/15)

That is certainly an option, I have also heard of people cold steeping the dark grains overnight rather than mashing for a smoother flavour but have never done this myself.


----------



## yankinoz (7/7/15)

Your percentage of rye looks about right. Unless the dark crystal is very dark, you have a porter that is light in colour and roast. Substitute roast barley and you get a brown stout with more roast and probably some astringency. Not a bad brew. If you want a smooth robust porter use a little Midnight Wheat or Carafa Special 3, especially if you mill fine for BIAB.

Do you plan to condition for a while? I suspect that 35 IBUs would mask the malt a bit two weeks after bottling/kegging, but would in time let the malt sing.


----------



## sponge (7/7/15)

A bit of cold steeped midnight wheat.. Delicious. It'll often find it's way into my porters and stouts.


----------



## mje1980 (7/7/15)

Wait, where's the heavily peated malt??


----------



## Reman (7/7/15)

My last porter which was very tasty was
85% pale malt
10% brown malt
5% chocolate malt
25ibu fuggles @ 60
5ibu EKG @ 15
S-04 yeast
1.055 -> 1.015
Mash at 68c


----------



## contrarian (8/7/15)

Not looking to do a bandaid porter this time around mark!

Recipe looks good reman but I don't have any brown malt, I'll put that on the list for the next grain bulk buy! I do have some amber malt, is that a decent substitute for brown malt?


----------



## sponge (8/7/15)

If you weren't so far away I'd happily give you some brown malt.. you won't be in Wollongong prior to brewing will you?

Otherwise amber would be a compromise. Not the same, but not out of place either.


----------



## contrarian (8/7/15)

Thanks Sponge, probably won't be in Wollongong before the weekend. Might just go with the recipe as planned and look at modifying for future brews. There's still plenty of winter to go for the darker beers!


----------



## mje1980 (8/7/15)

sponge said:


> If you weren't so far away I'd happily give you some brown malt.. you won't be in Wollongong prior to brewing will you?
> 
> Otherwise amber would be a compromise. Not the same, but not out of place either.


Do you put the brown malt in late in the mash sponge? I've never had much luck with brown malt. Seems to come out astringent for me. Might try some cold steeped, what do you think?

Fullers London porter is delicious, and I'm sure it has brown malt in it.


----------



## sponge (8/7/15)

I've tried brown malt both cold steeped and with main mash and haven't noticed as much of a change in astringency compared to cold steeping with roast malts. Granted, I haven't brewed the same beer with only changing how the brown malt was added for comparison so just my 2c.

Just seems to add a nice nutty-ness when I've brewed with it, but don't believe I've used much more than 5% of the grist. I don't have access to my recipes at the moment, but pretty sure I normally add brown at 5%.


----------



## seamad (8/7/15)

There's also a big difference between the English brown malts as well, the bairds is @ 130ebc and simpsons @400 (iirc), I've used 15% of the bairds in a porter, but wouldnt use that much'of the simpsons. A bit of ageing does wonders for reducing any harshness as well.


----------



## Reman (8/7/15)

You could try roasting your own brown malt, toast some Pilsner/pale malt for 60mins @ 170c.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter20-4.html

Although that may require ageing for a couple of weeks which would defeat the purpose!


----------



## contrarian (10/7/15)

Have done some home roasting before and it went ok but was more trouble than it was worth! 

Will hopefully brew this over the weekend, I'll probably stick with the original recipe I proposed.


----------



## contrarian (11/7/15)

Brewed this tonight, all went smoothly bar missing target gravity by a couple of points. Nothing serious. 

Will hopefully get it into a fermenter tomorrow and see how it pans out.


----------



## contrarian (12/7/15)

Any tips on yeast for this? I have a choice between some 1084 slurry or S04. 

If I get a chance to keg a beer I could also use part of a Thames valley yeast cake. 

Am leaning towards S04 as I have a fair bit lying around that I need to use and I want to get this going as soon as possible.


----------



## Reman (12/7/15)

I used S04 for mine and it turned out quite well, only issue is it can be slightly lazy towards the end so keep an eye on it.


----------



## taeanbrewer (12/7/15)

This topic has got me on the rye porter train. Can you inform us how it turns out?


----------



## contrarian (12/7/15)

After a chat with a mate decided that the 1084 slurry would be the way to go. It's warming up now and will probably pitch later this evening. 

Have used S04 plenty of times with good results. It can drop out a bit early at times but I've always found a gentle swirl and bumping the temp up a few degrees has always helped it finish things off. Always flocculates really well too!


----------



## contrarian (26/9/15)

This came out pretty well. Nice and smooth, a bit lighter in colour than I'd expected, more dark brown than black. 

Have now acquired some brown malt and smoked malt so am planning on re brewing subbing smoked for the rye and adding in some brown. 

This is certainly a style I am looking forward to playing around with.


----------

