# Porter Recipe



## Dan Pratt (22/2/15)

Hi,

Looking for some feedback on my first attempt at a Robust Porter.

Recently tried the Heretic Shallow Grave and also the local Porter from Little Brewing Company and both were great examples of the style. By no means do I want to clone these but have put together what I think is a good start for a porter. ( read about 20+ recipes online )


*Pratty's Porter*

OG - 1.054
FG - 1.015
ABV - 5.2%
IBU - 32
EBC - 67
Vol - 20lt
Eff - 70%

*Malts*

73% Pale Malt - Briess 2 Row
10% Munich
8% Medium Crystal (60L)
6% Chocolate Malt
3% Black Patent

*Hops*

BIttering @ 60mins = 27Ibu - can someone please advise best bittering for this style I have the following hops:


Chinook, Warrior, Summit, Millennium, Cascade, Centennial etc etc

Flavor Hops @ 5mins = 5ibu - planning to use cascade

*Yeast*

WLP023 - Burton Yeast - cos whitelabs says its excellent for porters and stouts.

Let me know what you think for this recipe, open to using any yeast and adjusting the malt bill if you have developed your own recipe and want to share some insights.

Dan


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## Ducatiboy stu (22/2/15)

Cararoma and Carafa III go very well in Porters. 

Go easy on the patent malt. It is VERY powerful. Leaves a nice ashy flavour but use to much and it will taste like charcoal. I use about 50gms in a Port/Stout for 22ltrs


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## Dan Pratt (22/2/15)

Thanks DS. Might swap out 2% of the patent for carafa3. 

What would you use for bittering or is it not relevant because of the malt bill?


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## Mardoo (22/2/15)

You can also put up to half the black patent in the boil, whole and unmilled. That gives some dark, deep fruits in addition to color. This is an old English technique, well documented in BYO and ShutUpAboutBarclayPerkins.com, among others. 

FWIW I myself don't find the Black Patent to be ashy. Roast Barley yes, but not the Patent. Yob and I just did a RIS with 10% Patent that no one has yet found ashy. I guess it would depend on the maltster and how far they let the Patent go during the roasting. We used the Simpsons Black Patent Malt.


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## Ducatiboy stu (22/2/15)

All the black patent malt I have used gives an ash flavour. Its basically charcoal

Stolen from wikipeadia


Black malt[SIZE=small][edit][/SIZE]
Black malt, also called *patent malt* or *black patent malt*, is barley malt that has been kilned to the point of carbonizing, around 200 °C. The term "patent malt" comes from its invention in England in 1817, late enough that the inventor of the process for its manufacture, Daniel Wheeler, was awarded a patent. Black malt provides the color and some of the flavor in black porter, contributing an acrid, ashy undertone to the taste. In small quantities, black malt can also be used to darken beer to a desired color, sometimes as a substitute for caramel color. Due to its high kilning temperature, it contains no enzymes. ASBC 500-600/EBC >1300.


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## Ducatiboy stu (22/2/15)

Mardoo said:


> FWIW I myself don't find the Black Patent to be ashy. Roast Barley yes, but not the Patent. Yob and I just did a RIS with 10% Patent that no one has yet found ashy. I guess it would depend on the maltster and how far they let the Patent go during the roasting. We used the Simpsons Black Patent Malt.


Are you sure it was black patent malt...10% is a shitload of patent malt....be like drinking pure charcoal


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## mje1980 (22/2/15)

Keep the burton cool for the first 48hrs. Under 20. It can get quite estery above. Great yeast, love it but can be fussy.


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## Ducatiboy stu (22/2/15)

Pratty1 said:


> .
> 
> What would you use for bittering or is it not relevant because of the malt bill?


Anything English..or POR


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## stewy (22/2/15)

Looks like a great recipe to me. You need black patent in a robust porter as it imparts the ashy/roasty flavour that's synonymous with the style. Up to about 200grams in a 20L batch is a good amount in my experience


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## Mardoo (22/2/15)

Yep Stu, totally sure.


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## Ducatiboy stu (22/2/15)

Thats more than you would use for Xtal or Roast Barley.......are you sure it was Black Patent Malt...just seems way to extreme...by a fair way


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## Mardoo (22/2/15)

Had a brief chat with Stu by PM so as not to derail this thread too much. 

Clearly there are some major differences in Black Malt, as in all malts. I found a quoted Lovibond range for BM of 415 to 650 Lovibond - a huge range. Perhaps choose your percentage rate in the recipe based on how the BM you get tastes. Always good to taste the malt first


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## Dan Pratt (22/2/15)

Thanks for the input brewers, that wonderful part of this craft is the differences we all have with our experience with the raw ingredients :super:

Going to start with 100g of Black Patent which will be 2% and work from there when version 2 hits the list.

Just wondering a couple of things:


would it be worth using Maris Otter as the base malt over 2 row?
Should the water have chalk to boost the hardness? Current tap water is 58ppm bicarbonate.


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## Ducatiboy stu (22/2/15)

I dont think you would notice that much of a difference either way using MO or whataver, its going to get hidden behind all that roast grain goodness.

See if you can get some Caraaroma. Gives it a more raisin depth and a great deep red colour


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## Spiesy (22/2/15)

Ducatiboy stu said:


> I dont think you would notice that much of a difference either way using MO or whataver, its going to get hidden behind all that roast grain goodness.
> 
> See if you can get some Caraaroma. Gives it a more raisin depth and a great deep red colour


Simpsons Crystal Dark will bring the raisins and dark fruits also, and it's English, which is where this style originates (if that's of any concern, possibly not). Prob not as full on as Caraaroma though, more sweetness.


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## Yob (22/2/15)

Ducatiboy stu said:


> just seems way to extreme


thats us man... the most 

No ash here on my palate either, nor anyone Ive given samples too.


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## Dan Pratt (23/2/15)

Ducatiboy stu said:


> I dont think you would notice that much of a difference either way using MO or whataver, its going to get hidden behind all that roast grain goodness.
> 
> See if you can get some Caraaroma. Gives it a more raisin depth and a great deep red colour


Ok cool, staying with the 2 Row. 

As for the caraaroma....hmmmm, maybe on the next one. Ive used that on my amber ales at 9,6&3% on different batches and it as its name suggests....give atrong malt aroma. Probably less over powering with the choc and patent malt.


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## manticle (23/2/15)

I think yes maris definitely makes a difference. Used to make porters and stouts with jw ale and they were great. Switched to maris and it was a step up. Definite difference.

No to chalk. Chalk is relatively insoluble, ineffective and tastes like chalk. Cold steep and add to last 10 of mash is what I do, some other possibilities like slaked lime exist (see brunwater for more explanation of that one).


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## meathead (23/2/15)

Yep 100 grams black tops
Maris Otter awesome
Cascade would be fine for bittering


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## Dan Pratt (25/2/15)

manticle said:


> I think yes maris definitely makes a difference. Used to make porters and stouts with jw ale and they were great. Switched to maris and it was a step up. Definite difference.
> 
> No to chalk. Chalk is relatively insoluble, ineffective and tastes like chalk. Cold steep and add to last 10 of mash is what I do, some other possibilities like slaked lime exist (see brunwater for more explanation of that one).


Manticle,

are you suggesting to use the chalk at the last 10mins of the mash cycle eg mash out or during the 67c rest phase?


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## lael (27/2/15)

Manticle is a huge proponent of coldsteeping dark grains overnight in the fridge, then add the mix to the last ten mins of the mash. Extracts colour, flavour without the bitterness. I took his advice for some porters and would also recommend it.


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## seamad (27/2/15)

No chalk at all. If you were using it to adjust pH from the use of Dark grains ( and it doesn't work that well anyway ) then you can avoid the pH problems by not adding the dark grains to the mash at all, or during the end of your mashing/vorlauf technique. There are several methods for doing this, covered in the excellent book by Gordon Strong. For my tastes, when using Carafa II special and chocolate grains I find an overnight cold steep ( 1 : 4 grain : water ) and adding the liquid to the last 10 minutes of the boil works well. Some add the liquid direct to the fermenter, some add the grain during vorlauf, different dark grains taste different with the diff methods.
The added bonus is that the taste is very smooth, no harshness at all that you can get from doing a full mash with the dark grains.


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## Dan Pratt (27/2/15)

well i mashed in this arvo and will see what flavour and bitterness the malts bring to the table and then adjust from there. With my black IPA i add the dark malts at mashout and the smoothness of those compliment the hop profile. forgot to take some happy snap cos the phone was on charge.

anyway I'm about to lauter the mash and should be boiling by 830 

Thanks for the input.


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## manticle (27/2/15)

As above, no chalk.


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## Dan Pratt (27/2/15)

No chalk added.


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## Dan Pratt (2/3/15)

Brew night went great, hit the target gravity and volume into the FV. The colour is great, not opaque as planned yet its very black with a slight ruby highlight. :super:

Got the Burton yeast pitched saturday morning and she is fermenting nicely at 19c

Here is the final recipe ( no water adjustements )

OG - 1.054
FG - 1.012 ( mashed @ 67c 40mins )
IBU - 35
EBC - 68
BH Eff - 73%
Mash Eff - 93%
Vol - 20Lt

74% Briess 2 Row
10% Munich
8% Medium Crystal (60L)
6% Chocolate Malt
2% Black Patent

Chinook @ 60m - 30ibu
Cascade @ 5m - 5Ibu

Whitelabs Burton Ale 023 Yeast @ 19c picthed after adding 60seconds of pure O2.

Misc - Yeast [email protected] 15m, Whirlfloc @ 10m.


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## lael (2/3/15)

When did you end up adding the dark malts?

Let us know how it turns out!


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## Dan Pratt (2/3/15)

lael said:


> When did you end up adding the dark malts?
> 
> Let us know how it turns out!


They went in with the mash.

I make an annual oatmeal stout that uses the dark malts in the mash and its to style, but this is the first time using black patent which is why I used only 2% and that may have a more defined flavour which could lead to a mash out addition. The Black IPA I make uses the dark malts for mash out only and you get a nice smooth flavour from doing it that way so I understand the practice. Its likely I will make another one sometime this year so I thought for a first porter I thought to keep it straight forward and then flex it a little for the next version.


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## Dan Pratt (14/3/15)

Had a sample last night after carbonating it lower than I usually do for my ales and Ipa's.

Dark black with ruby highlights, nice brown head with dark malt roasted aroma. For a first Porter its bloody tasty, may try it with another yeast strain, the Burton isn't really the player of this beer, the malts are and its balanced with the chinook bittering hops.


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## Dan Pratt (2/5/15)

I will be making a 2nd Porter after the success of the first one and for the NSW case swap in June. :beerbang:

Some changes to the recipe:

Marris Otter for the Base Malt ( previously Breiss 2 Row )
Light Crystal Malt ( previously medium Crystal )
Black Malt 3% ( increased from 2% )
Adding Chocolate Malt & Black malt for mashout only ( it was recommended and I do that with BIPA's)
Mash temp @ 68c ( previous was 67c )
lowered abv to 4.8% ( was 5.2% )
Will be using the same yeast - Burton Ale 023 and hops will again be Chinook @ 60mins and Cascade @ 5mins.

Recipe is:

OG - 1.051
FG - 1.015
ABV - 4.8%
IBU - 32
EBC - 60
Vol - 20lt

73% Maris Otter
10% Munich
8% Light Crystal (35L)
6% Chocolate Malt @ Mash out
3% Black Patent @ Mash out

55c/10m, 68c/40m, 72c/20m, 76c/30m

Chinook @ 60m - 27ibu
Cascade @ 5m - 5ibu

Burton Ale Yeast @ 18c


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## Spiesy (2/5/15)

American style Porter?


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## Dan Pratt (2/5/15)

Spiesy said:


> American style Porter?


Robust, I only have US hops.

Is that what your wondering?


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## Matt (2/5/15)

The Truth About Black Patent Malt


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## wide eyed and legless (3/5/15)

+ 1 For the Black Douglas clone.


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## Spiesy (3/5/15)

Pratty1 said:


> Robust, I only have US hops.
> 
> Is that what your wondering?


Yes indeed.


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## Dan Pratt (3/5/15)

Spiesy said:


> Yes indeed.


I just had a re-read of the BJCP guidelines and it refers to using either US or UK variety's for the style. 

Personally I prefer the US ones having used UK variety for my oatmeal stout (next one will be US)plus I use them obsessively for my ales and stocks of high alpha bittering hops are readily available.


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