Brown Porter Recipe Throwdown

Two recipes for a brown porter, both alike in dignity. For a wedding present for my friend and her fiancee I plan on making them a brown porter accented with cinnamon. Her first name is Cinnamon and his last name is Porter. Ha ha, get it? Moving on.

I'm torn between two recipes I've been working with. The first one is more in the style of a traditional brown porter with nearly 40% of the malt bill going to brown malt. I like this one for its no-nonsense loyalty to brown malt.

The second one uses a more nuanced combination of specialty grains, with brown malt only contributing about 20% of the grain bill. I like this one too because it should be a more complex flavor, plus the extra special roast and biscuit malts should add a toastiness that I believe would compliment the cinnamon well.

My plan as of now is to do a two gallon batch of each and then pick a winner. The wedding is not until July, so I have plenty of time, but I want my fellow homebrewers to weigh in. Hell, if one recipe wins out big over the other, I may just up and dump the other recipe.

Lastly, if anyone wants to give comments or recommend adjustments to the recipes, I'm all ears. I'm still new at this and any advice is good advice.

Recipe 1:
Final volume: 2 gal
OG: 1.047
IBU: 33

2-row: 2 lb (51%)
Brown malt: 1.5 lb (38%)
Special roast: 3 oz (5%)
Crystal 60 L: 2 oz (3%)
Chocolate malt: 2 oz (3%)

Fuggles: 0.5 oz @ 60m
EK Goldings: 0.25 oz @ 60m
1/4 cinnamon stick @ 5m
1/4 cinnamon stick @ secondary

Recipe 2:
Final volume: 2 gal
OG: 1.049
IBU: 31

2-row: 2.25 lb (56%)
Brown malt: 12 oz (19%)
Biscuit: 5 oz (8%)
Special roast: 5 oz (8%)
Crystal 60: 3 oz (5%)
Chocolate: 3 oz (5%)

Fuggles: 0.5 oz @ 60m
EK Goldings: 0.25 oz @ 60m
1/4 cinnamon stick @ 5m
1/4 cinnamon stick @ secondary.

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, have at it.

I think your percentages are a bit off on recipe #1.

That out of the way, since you have time, why not brew up both? Give away the worse one, and keep the better one for yourself! Haha, or, you could be a sport and do the opposite, considering it's for a wedding and all. If you must choose, I like recipe #1 better. Give it a good English yeast and let the yeast and cinnamon shine through without the more complex grainbill of #2. Given good quality ingredients, oftentimes less is more. I like simple recipes, so that my bias is clear. You may differ, but that's what I'd do.

GuldTuborg said:

I think your percentages are a bit off on recipe #1.

Click to expand...

Good catch. It should have read 38%. Fixed.