how much choc. & black should I use?

rudebrews · 10-13-2009, 01:14 AM

So I've got some ingredients hanging around that I want to combine into an extract porter of some sort. I've only brewed from kits before so sort of in the dark when it comes to recipe formulation and I'm looking for a little advice. Here are the ingredients I have to work with:

8 lbs. amber lme

1 oz. fuggles pellets

1 oz kent goldings pellets

1 lb. precrushed chocolate grain

1 lb. precrushed debittered black malt

1 packet wyeast london ale

Any great ideas? I know I want to use the full 8 pounds of amber lme for sure since that is not getting any younger, but as far as how much chocolate or debittered black malt to throw in with it I'm not so sure. I'm looking for something roasty and dark but hopefully not too astringent or overly hoppy. Fuller's london porter comes to mind as a commercial example. So yeah any advice on deciding how much of the grains to use would be much appreciated.Tempted to throw caution to the wind and just chuck the whole 2 pounds and see what happens but have heard that too much black malt in particular can really ruin a brew.

flyangler18 · 10-13-2009, 01:20 AM

I'd stick with around 8 oz of both chocolate and the debittered black malt, along with the LME. Bitter with Fuggles and save the EKG for another day.

rudebrews · 10-13-2009, 06:58 AM

Muchos gracias. Any experience with saving grains for later brews? Do they keep pretty well or do they lose a little something?

**schweaty** · 10-13-2009, 12:57 PM

Personally I'm not a fan of black malt and would instead use roasted barley as 3-10% of your grain bill. I did an imperial stout and the roasted barley was 5.6% of the total grain bill and it was enough to satisfy my likings. I've used black malt before and I just don't care for it very much.

Just put the grain in a ziplock bag or some other airtight container and they will keep well.

flyangler18 · 10-13-2009, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyangler18

I'd stick with around 8 oz of both chocolate and the debittered black malt, along with the LME. Bitter with Fuggles and save the EKG for another day.

On a second look (and after checking the Fuller's website), you can omit the black malt and bump the chocolate up an ounce or two. London Porter is brown malt, crystal and chocolate, if you're after something along those lines.