Porter Hop Suggestion

[beerguide]

Next weekend I'll be brewing a Porter (23 ltr) which I'm going to split into two experimental batches once they hit secondary.

Half will be a chocolate porter by adding cocoa powder and some vanilla beans to secondary, whilst the other half will have bourbon soaked oak chips added to secondary. I was thinking about a third split for coffee, but I dropped my third fermenter and now it has a split in it Oh well, another time I guess.

I'm not sure what hops to use, I've read I should use a high AA hop for bittering and add to the boil around 45mins, and then a low AA hop around 20 mins for flavour/aroma.

I was thinking of using Green Bullet for bittering and Goldings for the 20min addition - 20 grams of each.

What are peoples thoughts, given the additional flavours that will eventually be added to secondary. I've been warned that cocoa can add bitterness and I should be careful about not over hopping.

I'll be all-graining, but thought its still relevant to ask here as I'd imagine hop use is fairly cross methodology.

Thanks in advance!

 

[AndrewQLD]

I love using Fuggles for a Porter, the earthy aroma and flavour really compliment the Chocy/coffee of the dark grains.
60 minute and 15 minute additions.

Andrew

 

[Muggus]

Any sort of English hops are ideal, Goldings, Fuggles, etc. There's generally more of a focus on maltiness than hopiness when I comes to porters, so the hops shouldn't be all too prominant, particularly if you're thinking of adding other flavouring elements to your brew.

 

[warrenlw63]

Willamette and Northdown are mighty yummy too. :icon_drunk:

Warren -

 

[BoilerBoy]

Challenger for bittering and Styrian Goldings at 20min, nothing after.

BB

 

[goatherder]

EK Goldings all the way. There should be some hop aroma and flavour, give a moderate addition at 15 and even flameout if you feel like it.

 

[masculator002]

I am looking at doing one with brewers gold, green bullet and willamette. As for the coffee version I have an espresso maker and make a 23 litre brew with 5 to 6 shots of fresh ground and esspresso'd coffee (around 300 mls), I add this from the time everything goes into the fermenter. comes out very nice but find that the coffee flavours are only very distinct at certain temperatures i.e. around 8 degrees.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

There's a guy called Denny Conn who seems to have impressed one or two people with his Porter recipe. I've tried a couple of people's interpretations and it's all good. Perhaps there are some ideas in his recipe:

http://www.brew365.com/beer_dennys_bourbon...illa_porter.php

 

[beerguide]

Thanks everyone for the feedback - I understand hops shouldn't be a prominent flavour which is why I asked the question I wasn't sure what would match up to the style.
I'm reading through the Denny link now.. sounds quite nice.

I would have replied earlier but my pc blew a power supply over the weekend, so I'm replying at work

 

[masculator002]

you could try beertools.com they have a very handy style calculator which tells you pretty much exactly what you will get from a particular brew i.e. ibu's, colour and how close what you are aiming at brewing matches the style you are aiming for. also they give flavour descriptions of the hops you are looking at using somewhat similar to what ross at craftbrewer does. These are 2 points of reference I use quite a bit.

 

[drsmurto]

I put amarillo in my last porter h34r: :chug:

 

[glennheinzel]

I second the good DrSmurto's use of Amarillo as I used it in my last porter too.

 

[beers]

Sticklebract

 

[glennheinzel]

Just to add a bit more depth to my last answer (I hate not being able to edit*), I used the following hop schedule-
Amarillo 60 min 27.3 IBU's
EKG 20 min 6.3 IBU's

*Edit! (I love edit) Of course I should've been more thorough in my response in the first place rather than blaming the lack of editing capability.

 

[Barry]

Good Day
I use northern brewer at 60 mins and EKG last 15 mins.

 

[Steve]

Good Day
I use northern brewer at 60 mins and EKG last 15 mins.

Im currently drinking one with Northern Brewer at 60 mins....nothing else. Very nice it is too.
Cheers
Steve

 

[beerguide]

Is Northern Brewer similar to anything else, I've never used it before and a lot of people seem to be recommending it.

 

[chiller]

Perhaps, just perhaps a little reading on one of the most influential beers in history may just help determine what a Porter really is.

Now if all you want is a dark beer that tastes of Mango, grapefruit and citrus then you are on the right track but it is not a Porter. The Americans may say it is but history says otherwise.

Steve

 

[Stuster]

There's a few different ideas and links in the Style of the Week thread on Robust Porter. Link.

I like EKG as a flavour hop in porters. Most English hops work well IMO.

 

[beerguide]

Chiller, I prefer to brew similar to style not strict to style - so if its not historically accurate I'm not too fussed

Some excellent looking recipes in there Stuster - brilliant resource, thank you!