mild porter help

WheaYaAt · 10-28-2008, 07:55 PM

ok i'm gonna brew two beers this weekend and have to order the stuff so i wanted to also ask about a mild porter. i came up with this. i would like a thick mild porter in the 4-5 abv range. ant help would be muck appreciated. it's for my pop. oh yeah it's a 2.5 gallon batch.

DME
2lbs light (or extra light ????)
.25 chocolate
.25 british crystal 60L
.12 black patent (maybe skip it huh?)
.50 molasses (too much?)

(OG seems to be around 1.049)

hops
fuggles
kent goldings (ibus somewhere near 25)

yeast
wlp 002 english ale yeast

does that sound kinda light for a porter???? thanks ! God Bless

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Professor Frink · 10-28-2008, 08:00 PM

Looks pretty good to me, but the OG is pretty high for a mild. I would skip the molasses if it were me though.

WheaYaAt · 10-29-2008, 04:47 AM

can anyone help me on makin this brew alittle more thick and creamy. light porter but thick and creamy ?

phissionkorps · 10-29-2008, 04:53 AM

Maltodextrin, lactose.

Bob · 10-29-2008, 12:07 PM

+1 to milk sugar.

Were I you, I'd drop the molasses entirely, keep the rest of the grist just as it is, and add a quarter pound (no more!) of lactose. That much molasses (16% of all fermentables) is waaaaaaaay too much. If you want some molasses flavor in the finished beer, use molasses as your priming sugar.

You can use one ounce of Fuggles at 5%AA to have a nice hops profile in this beer. Add a half-ounce for the boil (60 minutes), a quarter-ounce at 20 minutes for flavor, and the rest at flameout for aroma. That gives you right around your target IBU and gives a nice, gentle flavor/aroma profile.

Cheers!

Bob

WheaYaAt · 10-29-2008, 03:23 PM

yes thank you! i thought that molasses would ferment out almost completely? (like honey) well you know what happened to the man who though? i meant to put .25 lb. i forgot to split it. it's 2.5 batch. but as far as the lactose i have used it in a brown i did. i found it was a little to sweet. then again i added 3oz to the boil and 2.5oz at bottling. i was eager to use the molasses to get alittle of that taste behind the porter. like a finishing taste. could i add a little to the boil or straight to the primary? i will look more in to priming maybe with molasses. have you ever used it for priming? thanks again all

Bob · 10-29-2008, 04:51 PM

Molasses is simply the yuck left over from processing cane sugar. Traces of molasses are what makes brown sugars like Demerara, Turbinado and ... er ... brown sugar, well, brown.

That sentence got completely out of control, didn't it?

Anyway, molasses is not completely fermentable. The impurities will leave flavors. I recently made an historical porter recipe which got some of its color from a large amount of 'essentia bina', which is homemade molasses, in the boil. The beer is, shall I say, an acquired taste.

If you prime the bottles with molasses, you'll get a definite but not overpowering flavor contribution. Use the same amount you'd use of cane sugar for priming.

Bob

WDC · 10-29-2008, 04:57 PM

The molasses will ferment out completely but the smell/flavor won't attenuate at all. I threw 1lb into one of my first batches and the only reason it's being drunk is Brewer's Penance.

I might try again with less than a cup in the whole batch which would come out pretty close to the amount you would need for priming.