Help with a Porter recipe

[lfc_ozzie]

Hey Guys,

Im looking at making a porter once my current FV has finished dry hoping a pale ale and is free to use, i have been playing around in Beersmith and so far have come up with the following recipe, just looking for some advice as this will be my first porter. The only porter i noticed in the style guide was a baltic porter, so its probably more along those guidelines, but i was after a more english porter!

Ok here goes,

Ing.
200g Carafa Special II (using this to achieve a nice deep dark colour)
200g Carahell (Apparently this aids head retention and gives a nice malty flavour)
1.5kg Dark DME
1.5kg Light DME
300g Wheat DME (again to help head retention)
20g N.Brewer@60
15g N.Brewer@20
15g N.Brewer@5
1/2 Whirlfloc tab @10
Yeast Nutrient @10
Wyeast 1028 London Ale

Est info
SG 1.064 FG 1.015
37 IBU's
6.5% ABV
54 EBC
Bitterness Ratio 0.575

Boil Vol 13L (only have a 15L pot at the moment)
Total batch size 19L

1. I already have these grains on hand and they have been cracked so would like to use them before they go stale etc.
2. Does this recipe seem ok for a porter?
3. I was thinking of adding 300g of carafa instead to make it even darker.
4. I was thinking of dry hopping it but not sure what with, i was only after a light dry hopping. So far i was thinking Williamette or just more N.Brewer.
5. Now Beersmith is saying i will need to make a starter with two packs for the intended OG, but the pack says it is fine to dump in 1 packet into OG up-to 1.060, i could adjust the malt bill to lower the OG to that range. As i have never made a starter

This will be my first time steeping grains, i have read that its best to steep at 68'C for at least 30mins in about 3-4L per 500g is this correct?

I should probably list my intended steps,

1. Steep grains for 30mins @ 67'C in 3.5L water
2. Drain grains and rinse with 1.5L warm water
3. Discar grains and top up pot to 13L
4. Add 1.25kg of Dark DME to achieve a pre-boil gravity of 1.040
5. Bring to a boil and add first hop addition, commence 60m boil
6. Add second hop addition @20
7. Add 1/2 tab whirl floc and yeast nutrient @10
8. Add last hop addition @ 5
9. At flame out add reaming DME (1.5kg Light DME, 250g Dark DME & 300g Wheat DME) I find it helps bring the temperature down a little which helps me out as i can only cool in a sink/bathtub
10. Hopefully cool the 11-12L remaining down to 30'C within 30m allowing the Temp to drop to about 23-25'C once i have topped up, as i ferment in a tub with cold water/ice bricks the temp comes down to around 19-22'C within another few hours once yeast is usually pitched, have never pitched above 25'C

Ok so does all this seem ok, hopefully i haven't forgot something!, sorry to rant on a bit!!! :unsure:

 

[carniebrew]

You could give some thought to upping your dark DME a little, and replacing the light DME with a can of Coopers wheat LME....at ~60% wheat/40% barley that gives you a good serve of wheat in there for that head retention and everything else it imparts. Depends what you have on hand already I guess?

With that list of ingredients you're pretty much spot on in the range of a "Robust Porter", (in terms of ibu/ebc anyway) if that's what you're after? You might need more chocolate malt/roasted malt flavour to hit that style...the Carafa Special II will give you the colour, but because it's dehusked my understanding is it won't give you the strong roasted flavour. I used Carafa Special 1 in a recent dunkel and Special 3 in an amber ale I bottled yesterday, and they don't have any 'roasted' flavour, just great dark colour. That being said, I'm not sure how much roasted flavour the dark DME gives you, I haven't used it myself in a home brew...but did use it a long while back in a "Newcastle Brown" style beer I did at UBrewIT....that had both dark LME and Chocolate malt steeped grain, and was very roasty. You may well get away with just the Carafa Special 2 and light Crystal with that dark DME.

 

[lfc_ozzie]

I prefer not to use too much wheat malt as I'm not a huge fan of the taste of wheat beers. I like the idea of reducing the Light DME in place of Dark, i usually try to ration my dark incase i need to darken a recipe a little but i probably should just use that instead of the light.

I guess i could order some choc malt, black malt or something similar to add a little roasted note as i still have about a week till i can start this, i guess i would only need about 200g at the most. If i add Black malt it will move the colour to 91.8 EBC which by the looks of things will make it about as black as a stout, i guess i could adjust and use 100g each of the black and carafa which will bring the EBC down to 72.6 which would be closer to a baltic porter

 

[jammer]

Would defo use some chocolate malt. 60% wheat?? In a porter?? Dunno about that, carnie.
Plain old rolled oats is what I use. 300g in 19l. Great body and head retention.

 

[lfc_ozzie]

Would defo use some chocolate malt. 60% wheat?? In a porter?? Dunno about that, carnie.
Plain old rolled oats is what I use. 300g in 19l. Great body and head retention.

What kind of rolled oats do you use? and how/when do you add them?

 

[warra48]

I have brewed a coupe of batches of this one in the last 2 or 3 months.
It's a Brown Porter, and an absolute cracker. Will do it again.

Brown Porter

Boil Size: 35.00 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 25.00 l

OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 47.1 EBC
Estimated IBU: 27.7 IBUs
Mashed 60 minutes at 66ºC
Boil Time: 60 Minutes


3935.0 g Pale Malt, Ale (IMC) (3.9 EBC) Grain 7 79.2 %
411.0 g Brown Malt (Simpsons) (295.5 EBC) Grain 8 8.3 %
230.0 g Crystal Malt - Light (120.0 EBC) Grain 9 4.6 %
210.0 g Chocolate Wheat (Weyermann) (817.5 EBC) Grain 10 4.2 %
182.0 g Crystal Medium (150.0 EBC) Grain 11 3.7 %
47.0 g Willamette [4.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 12 23.5 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 13 -
23.0 g Willamette [4.90 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 14 4.2 IBUs
5.00 g Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) Other 15 -
1.0 pkg Denny's Favorite 50 (Wyeast Labs #1450) Yeast 16 -

The Brown Malt adds a great extra dimension to the flavour and aroma, dark chocolate/coffee.

 

[Rowy]

I'd flick the Nth Brewer and try and use some Northdown or EKG. I would definetly use some chocolate. If your worried about it being a bit acrid use half normal chocolate and half pale chocolate. As said by a previous poster the carafa special will only provide the colour. I'd personally ditch the wheat as well.

 

[carniebrew]

Would defo use some chocolate malt. 60% wheat?? In a porter?? Dunno about that, carnie.
Plain old rolled oats is what I use. 300g in 19l. Great body and head retention.

No, not 60% of the total bill...I mean a TC can of 'wheat' malt is only 60% wheat. Combined with a couple of kg of dark malt the wheat component would be down around 25%. If that's considered too much then fair enough, just presenting an alternative way to get wheat into the bill. A little like how a DSGA has a can of light malt and a can of wheat malt in the extract recipe. I personally don't find the use of wheat extract at that kind of ratio contributes to the flavour much at all...obviously 'wheat beer' flavour (if you mean weizen's) is much more about the yeast than the grain bill.

 

[jammer]

What kind of rolled oats do you use? and how/when do you add them?

I brew all grain... So I just chuck em straight in the mash with everything else, or steep in your case.
Plain ol rolled oats. Straight off the shelf at wooly's. the kind you make porridge or muesli out of.
I've always used fuggles for an English style porter. But, you know, that's just me.
Fairly sure I posted the recipe on db.
Under chocolate porter. Just hold back on so much choc malt and the nibs if you want it more malty...

 

[lfc_ozzie]

Thanks for all your helps guys, just ordered some choc pale malt to put in my brew, do you think 1 pack of wyeast will be sufficient?

Also on a side note was just reading a article in the latest BYO about dark largers and they mentioned that the baltic porter is one apparently unless i read it wrong

 

[carniebrew]

BJCP says the Baltic Porter style is "Generally a lager yeast, cold fermented if using an ale yeast".

 

[jammer]

Thanks for all your helps guys, just ordered some choc pale malt to put in my brew, do you think 1 pack of wyeast will be sufficient?

Also on a side note was just reading a article in the latest BYO about dark largers and they mentioned that the baltic porter is one apparently unless i read it wrong

1028 is liquid, right??
One viall will work, but you'll defo need to do a starter....

 

[lfc_ozzie]

1028 is liquid, right??
One viall will work, but you'll defo need to do a starter....

Can you make a starter without a flask and stir plate as i don't have either of these, say just using a jar or something?

 

[jammer]

You can. A litre would do first up, any kinda vessel would do, as long as its sanitized, and you can put a bit of foil over the top. Boil up 100g of dme, with a litre of water, boil for 10 mins or so. . Let cool to around room temp, add yeast, do this about 24 hrs before pitching. Give it a bit of a shake whenever ya can. Doing this, even with out a stir plate, is better than 2 tubes without one. If you search on here for 'starters' I'm sure there is a ton of info

 

[Scottye]

I have done a great kits and bits Porter using the Coopers English Bitter can & 1kg LDM. Steeped 300g of Choc Malt (600EBC), 250g of Crystal (120EBC) and 100g of Malted Barley (120EBC). I've done it twice once with 250g Dark Brown Sugar and 14g S04 and the other 250g Demerara Sugar and Wyeast 1275 rinsed from the trub. The roasted coffee/chocolate flavour is great, hope yours turns out well.

 

[lfc_ozzie]

I might use one of my 5l demijohns to do a starter in, any reason not too apart from the amount of head space in the container?

 

[lfc_ozzie]

Ok after reading up on it i need to make at least a starter of 3.3L which means i need to mix 280g DME to get a target gravity of 1040 and pitch within 12-24 hours of making it for best use. Now comes my question what is the best way to pitch the starter? just throw it all in or try to settle the beer and yeast apart and pitch the slurry? any hints on best to do this? Also do i just substitute 3L of water i was using to top up the fermenter as the starter is 3L and does the beer in the starter going to effect my SG or anything?

 

[earle]

I have brewed a coupe of batches of this one in the last 2 or 3 months.It's a Brown Porter, and an absolute cracker. Will do it again. Brown Porter Boil Size: 35.00 lBatch Size (fermenter): 25.00 l OG: 1.044 SGEstimated Color: 47.1 EBCEstimated IBU: 27.7 IBUsMashed 60 minutes at 66ºCBoil Time: 60 Minutes 3935.0 g Pale Malt, Ale (IMC) (3.9 EBC) Grain 7 79.2 % 411.0 g Brown Malt (Simpsons) (295.5 EBC) Grain 8 8.3 % 230.0 g Crystal Malt - Light (120.0 EBC) Grain 9 4.6 % 210.0 g Chocolate Wheat (Weyermann) (817.5 EBC) Grain 10 4.2 % 182.0 g Crystal Medium (150.0 EBC) Grain 11 3.7 % 47.0 g Willamette [4.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 12 23.5 IBUs 1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 13 - 23.0 g Willamette [4.90 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 14 4.2 IBUs 5.00 g Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) Other 15 - 1.0 pkg Denny's Favorite 50 (Wyeast Labs #1450) Yeast 16 - The Brown Malt adds a great extra dimension to the flavour and aroma, dark chocolate/coffee.

I'm with warra on this one, brown malt and some choc wheat for great flavours. Even though you need to mash brown malt to extract the sugars you will get some flavour from it just by steeping.

 

[Helles]

Ok after reading up on it i need to make at least a starter of 3.3L which means i need to mix 280g DME to get a target gravity of 1040 and pitch within 12-24 hours of making it for best use. Now comes my question what is the best way to pitch the starter? just throw it all in or try to settle the beer and yeast apart and pitch the slurry? any hints on best to do this? Also do i just substitute 3L of water i was using to top up the fermenter as the starter is 3L and does the beer in the starter going to effect my SG or anything?

Best way is Crash Chill starter to seperate yeast pitch only yeast
But still doesn't hurt to add whole starterproviding you did not oxidise ( shake ) it tooo much
Starter of 1040 into wort of 1050 iwouldn't worry too much
Dilution from 1050 is probally only to 1048( just a guess)
Og of wort maybe 1050 @ 20lts a 3 lt starter will make not a great deal of difference maybe 1047 @ 23lts
Depending on what OG your after make adjustments from here

 

[RobboMC]

With Northern brewer you are pretty much making an American Porter. Nothing wrong with that if that's what you want to make. I often put Cascade in my porter. For a UK version try Goldings alone or a mix of Goldings and Fuggles. Prefereable use Fuggles first in the boil and Goldings towards the end.

There's is no moral need to add chocolate or roasted flavours to YOUR porter. No it won't be in the Robust Porter style but assuming it's not for a comp then there's no reason at all why you shouldn't make your 6.5% Brown Porter. Last year I made a 8% one without chocolate, wheat or roast. Just lot and lots of those dark ale flavours laced with Goldings. It was a lovely strong beer, out of all styles, ( perhaps could be called Double Brown ) but this is home brewing and you can write your own style if you wish and make what you like.