Base Porter recipe to build on

[Nizmoose]

Hey guys so I haven't brewed a porter yet but would love to try and so I did some reading and research and have got a really drafty recipe together and would like some advice. Firstly the type of porter I'm going for is something where the coffee and chocolate notes shine through, slight roast notes also good but more about the chocolate and coffee and little bitterness (but enough to balance the beer) I don't just want a sugarbomb sweetness wise I do want balance. So heres my draft so far, the link is to the recipe on brewtoad which gives a good overview:
https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/base-porter-7

Brown Porter:
10L into fermenter
All-grain
BIAB


Grain:
- 2kg / 86% Ale Malt (2L)
- 150g / 6% Dark Chocolate (400L)
- 150g / 6% CaraAroma (130L)
Note: both chocolate and CaraAroma cold steeped overnight before brewday.

Hops:
- 25g Fuggle 5%AA @60mins
- 10g EKG 5%AA @0mins

Yeast:
English Ale Yeast WLP002

Vital Statistics:
OG: 1.055
FG:1.018
IBU:27
ABV:4.8%
SRM:/EBC:28/55
IBU/OG: 0.5 (Balanced)

 

[keifer33]

I would definitely be including some Brown Malt as it's a pretty key ingredient in my opinion.

 

[Nizmoose]

Okay thanks for that, what does it bring to the table and how much percentage wise would you include?

 

[warra48]

Definitely agree with the Brown Malt.

Here's a cracker which is sort of my dark house brew. Never fails me.

 

[Nizmoose]

Definitely agree with the Brown Malt.

Here's a cracker which is sort of my dark house brew. Never fails me.

Brown Porter.JPG

Cheers warra what sort of character does that have? Is it heavy on the chocolate / coffee or more of the roast?

 

[Nizmoose]

It's probably important to mention I'm really trying to nut out a fairly simple base which I can tweak and add intricacies to after a first attempt.

 

[keifer33]

It's more on the coffee side of things. Here is a good write up and also includes a few recipes for comparison.

http://byo.com/porter/item/1751-brown-malt

 

[kevo]

Listen to this

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Brown-Porter-The-Jamil-Show-10-22-07

 

[warra48]

My recipe is fairly well balanced between coffee and chocolate, with subtle roast character, but nothing like a Stout.
Mash at 67 or 68ºC, and you'll be fine.

 

[warra48]

Listen to this

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Brown-Porter-The-Jamil-Show-10-22-07

I developed my recipe after listening to this. Well worth a listen.

 

[JasonP]

Hey guys so I haven't brewed a porter yet but would love to try and so I did some reading and research and have got a really drafty recipe together and would like some advice. Firstly the type of porter I'm going for is something where the coffee and chocolate notes shine through, slight roast notes also good but more about the chocolate and coffee and little bitterness (but enough to balance the beer) I don't just want a sugarbomb sweetness wise I do want balance. So heres my draft so far, the link is to the recipe on brewtoad which gives a good overview:
https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/base-porter-7
Brown Porter:
10L into fermenter
All-grain
BIAB
Grain:
- 2kg / 86% Ale Malt (2L)
- 150g / 6% Dark Chocolate (400L)
- 150g / 6% CaraAroma (130L)
Note: both chocolate and CaraAroma cold steeped overnight before brewday.
Hops:
- 25g Fuggle 5%AA @60mins
- 10g EKG 5%AA @0mins
Yeast:
English Ale Yeast WLP002
Vital Statistics:
OG: 1.055
FG:1.018
IBU:27
ABV:4.8%
SRM:/EBC:28/55
IBU/OG: 0.5 (Balanced)

Looks ok but you'll want fg lower than that.

 

[Nizmoose]

It's more on the coffee side of things. Here is a good write up and also includes a few recipes for comparison.

http://byo.com/porter/item/1751-brown-malt

Thanks for this had a read and it was helpful thanks again!

Listen to this

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Brown-Porter-The-Jamil-Show-10-22-07

Cheers will give this a listen soon!

My recipe is fairly well balanced between coffee and chocolate, with subtle roast character, but nothing like a Stout.
Mash at 67 or 68ºC, and you'll be fine.

Okay awesome that's what I'm after

Looks ok but you'll want fg lower than that.

Thanks for the advice, so less chocolate and CaraAroma for more pale Malt?

 

[JasonP]

Thanks for this had a read and it was helpful thanks again!
Cheers will give this a listen soon!
Okay awesome that's what I'm after

Thanks for the advice, so less chocolate and CaraAroma for more pale Malt?

No need to adjust malt bill to attenuate to lower gravity. Mash around 66/67 and pitch enough yeast and should be ok. I too like brown malt in porters but your malt bill is fine.

 

[Nizmoose]

No need to adjust malt bill to attenuate to lower gravity. Mash around 66/67 and pitch enough yeast and should be ok. I too like brown malt in porters but your malt bill is fine.

Okay cheers I've changed the grain bill slightly to include some brown malt, changes in figures from the original recipes will be bold:

Grain:
- 2kg / 86% Ale Malt (2L)
- 100g / 4% Dark Chocolate (400L)
- 100g / 4% CaraAroma (130L)
- 100g / 4% Brown Malt (60L)
Note: both chocolate and CaraAroma cold steeped overnight before brewday.

Hops:
- 25g Fuggle 5%AA @60mins
- 10g EKG 5%AA @0mins

Yeast:
English Ale Yeast WLP002

Vital Statistics:
OG: 1.055
FG:1.018
IBU:27
ABV:4.8%
SRM:/EBC:28/55
IBU/OG: 0.5 (Balanced)

 

[Nizmoose]

Listen to this

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil-Show/Brown-Porter-The-Jamil-Show-10-22-07

Gave this a listen last night and it was very helpful although Jamil (who I havent listened to much of) definitely seems like a bit of an up himself dick lol, anyway good advice nonetheless and I have made some further changes to the recipe.

1. Changed the Dark Chocolate to Pale Chocolate to swing away from really acrid roast to more chocolate
2. Switched to Dry English Ale Liquid Yeast to bring the FG down to 1.013
3. Changed all specialty malt quantities to 150g to bring the colour up
4. Brought the Pale Malt down t0 1.8kg or 80% in order to brng the OG down to 1.053

Pretty happy with it now and this will probably be the final recipe I use on the day. I like drafting recipes several times and think in many cases I've avoided making very average beers to learn lessons from by learning them before I make it. Hopefully I've created an acceptable recipe for a chocolatey coffee-ish porter thats well balanced. Cheers for all the help guys, any more suggestions and/or advice is greatly apprecieated! Cheers

 

[Chris7]

How did this one end up Nizmoose?

 

[Nizmoose]

Yet to brew! Unfortunately I've been fairly busy and got a grain order for my pacific ale horribly wrong so ordering ingredients for both the pacific ale and the porter tomorrow, brew day for the porter will hopefully be next week some time!

 

[Chris7]

Ah that's a shame. I look forward to hearing how it goes. My next brew is going to be a porter, just waiting on PID etc for the brewery before going ahead with it.

 

[Nizmoose]

Ah that's a shame. I look forward to hearing how it goes. My next brew is going to be a porter, just waiting on PID etc for the brewery before going ahead with it.

Oh very nice! This will be my first dark beer I've made on purpose (see grain order mistake above) so I'm looking forward to seeing how it tastes, I haven't had many dark beers before so I'm not quite sure what to expect but hoping its good. I'll definitely update this thread once its brewed and again once it is tasted! Let us know how yours goes as well!

 

[Nizmoose]

How did this one end up Nizmoose?

Okay Chris brew day was today and it seemed to go well! It was a BIAB with a half arsed 2L sparge (I literally just poured some 30C water over the grains as they drained into a bucket). So my recipe was as follows just as a reminder:

-1.8kg Ale Malt
-150g Chocolate Malt
-150g CaraAroma
-150g Brown Malt

-25g Fuggle @60mins
-10g EKG @ 0 mins
-Nottingham yeast
-10L into the fermenter

Heres my granny spec mash setup lol


Heres the delicious wort, looks awesome


Heres what Im fermenting in, to anyone reading is this okay with the lid on like this? its a pretty good seal but I'm assuming co2 will get out? If not I better drill a hole quick smart lol

In my next post later tonight I'll upload a photo of my sheet with all my numbers on it but so far so good!

 

[Nizmoose]

Here's the sheet with all my numbers. Ended up with a mash efficiency of 85.96% which is my best effort so far I think.

 

[Chris7]

Ah good stuff, mate. Look forward to hearing how the end result tastes. Also congrats on the efficiency, that's awesome.
Still waiting on my PID etc. before I can get my brew on, has been in Sydney for a week now. Guessing it's just held up in customs.

 

[technobabble66]

Old school pen and paper. Respect!
Congrats on almost busting 86% eff.
Let us know how the tastings go.

Ps: don't drill a hole in the lid. Toss the lid and use gladwrap. Much, much easier. I, too, was a lid-wielding skeptic once.

 

[technobabble66]

Just saw your earlier post. Recipe looks like it'll be a rip snorter. Particularly after a few months in the bottle.

I can see what you mean with the lid now.
If you've kept it, just don't have the lid pushed down tight. I think I have the same bucket as a mash tun and the lid sits on well without needing to push it down - co2 will easily escape. If it was on tight/hard it'd maybe be airtight and that would become bad in the next 24hrs.
So if you keep the lid, drill a hole and lightly lay a piece of duct tape over it. Otherwise put a piece of gladwrap over it and hold it on with a couple of rubber bands.
If you've got cats, dogs or kids, maybe keep the lid for now. You definitely don't want any kittens in your fermenter. :lol:

 

[Nizmoose]

Ah good stuff, mate. Look forward to hearing how the end result tastes. Also congrats on the efficiency, that's awesome.
Still waiting on my PID etc. before I can get my brew on, has been in Sydney for a week now. Guessing it's just held up in customs.

Annoying, hopefully it turns up soon!

Just saw your earlier post. Recipe looks like it'll be a rip snorter. Particularly after a few months in the bottle.

I can see what you mean with the lid now.
If you've kept it, just don't have the lid pushed down tight. I think I have the same bucket as a mash tun and the lid sits on well without needing to push it down - co2 will easily escape. If it was on tight/hard it'd maybe be airtight and that would become bad in the next 24hrs.
So if you keep the lid, drill a hole and lightly lay a piece of duct tape over it. Otherwise put a piece of gladwrap over it and hold it on with a couple of rubber bands.
If you've got cats, dogs or kids, maybe keep the lid for now. You definitely don't want any kittens in your fermenter. :lol:

Yeah I drilled a hole and chucked a spare airlock in, haven't used an airlock since my first brew and the entertainment factor hasn't died, no kids or pets to worry about either, 21 and still at home so my room has just turned into a fermentation chamber. It's been going pretty nuts since early this morning which is good now the waiting game

 

[Samuel Adams]

Annoying, hopefully it turns up soon!

Yeah I drilled a hole and chucked a spare airlock in, haven't used an airlock since my first brew and the entertainment factor hasn't died, no kids or pets to worry about either, 21 and still at home so my room has just turned into a fermentation chamber. It's been going pretty nuts since early this morning which is good now the waiting game

21 and you're brewing a porter, well done mate !
I was chugging down Corona's & Jim Beam & cola's at that age.

Recipe looks good too, I'm researching porters and have come up with a recipe pretty close to that.
Let us know how it turns out !

 

[Nizmoose]

21 and you're brewing a porter, well done mate !
I was chugging down Corona's & Jim Beam & cola's at that age.

Recipe looks good too, I'm researching porters and have come up with a recipe pretty close to that.
Let us know how it turns out !

Haha cheers, I've been lucky enough to discover good beer fairly early which is nice, trying to convert the mates is a tough gig but I'm slowly weaning them onto galaxy bombs and Amarillo pale ales haha. I will definitely post back here with some tasting notes once it's all said and done!

 

[Reman]

Hey Niz, I would be interested in hearing how this ended up?

 

[Nizmoose]

Hey Niz, I would be interested in hearing how this ended up?

Hi Reman I am yet to try it yet as it's only two weeks in the bottle so far but there is one in the fridge I might have a try of tonight and I'll let you know!

 

[Nizmoose]

Hey Niz, I would be interested in hearing how this ended up?

Okay I'm drinking this as I type. Firstly here's a picture, I did pour a bit too vigorously but it does look good.



Now I'll start by saying I'm young and naturally not used to dark beers but this is really tasting fantastic just 2 weeks old! Aroma: there's a bit of chocolate and I can't pick up much hop but this is my first beer with fuggles and EKG so I might just be missing it either way it's a nice smelling beer. Taste: perfect for what I'm aiming for which is a base porter to build on and try different things with, it tastes like the perfect porter base clean slate for any other flavour you want to add, I'll be trying chilli, chocolate and coffee additions to future batches and I think this lends itself to any of those. It's malty, slightly roasty but definitely not heavy on the roast and easy drinking for sure, no real back end bitterness but I'm thankful for that in a porter. I wouldn't say it's sweet I'd say well balanced but Malt forward. I don't think I'd add any more roast to it but I'm not a fan of stout like roast so others may like more. I definitely want more chocolatey coffee ish flavours which I plan on getting from cacao and real coffee additions in the fermenter. Like I said I'm not a fan of dark beers almost by default due to my age and palate but this is one of the best beers I think I've made. Carbonation is bang on, aimed for 1.7 vols I think and seemed to get in the ballpark. Can't wait to taste it at 1 month in the bottle.