American Porter Edmund Fitzgerald Porter Clone

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homebrewertodd said:
Sorry for the dumb question, but could someone tell me how to convert the aau's to oz's for the hops? Not sure how to do this, and I really want to try this recipe.

It's simple, take the aau's of your hops (which is give per ounce) and add until you get to the aau's of the beer. Example is your hops were 4.5 aau and the recipe called for 9 aau, that means you would need 2 ounces.
 
New brewer question...If I only have capacity for a 5 gallon batch, could I make this recipe even though its formulated for 5.25 gallons? I assume it would raise the og, and concentrate the flavors a bit making it different from the original, but would it still make an acceptable beer?
 
Jkenward said:
New brewer question...If I only have capacity for a 5 gallon batch, could I make this recipe even though its formulated for 5.25 gallons? I assume it would raise the og, and concentrate the flavors a bit making it different from the original, but would it still make an acceptable beer?

Most fermentors are 6 gallons, however secondary fermentors can be 5....the reason why fermenters are 6 is that their is a air gap needed during primary fermentation....my point in all of this, is that if you have a 5 gallon fermentor, then you can only brew 4 to 4.25 gallons at a time.
So yes you could make this recipe, just divide quantities by the number of gallons, then multiply by the number of gallons you plan to brew....example: beer recipe calls for 10 pounds of two row for a 5 gallon batch, that is 2lbs per gallon...I want to make 4 gallons, so that equals 8.
 
SD-SLIM said:
Most fermentors are 6 gallons, however secondary fermentors can be 5....the reason why fermenters are 6 is that their is a air gap needed during primary fermentation....my point in all of this, is that if you have a 5 gallon fermentor, then you can only brew 4 to 4.25 gallons at a time.
So yes you could make this recipe, just divide quantities by the number of gallons, then multiply by the number of gallons you plan to brew....example: beer recipe calls for 10 pounds of two row for a 5 gallon batch, that is 2lbs per gallon...I want to make 4 gallons, so that equals 8.

Well, I do have a 6 gallon bucket fermentor and a 5 gallon carboy. Does a 6 gallon bucket have enough head for a 5.25 g in primary? I suppose I could use a gallon jug for an extra secondary ...or skip the secondary altogether. Thoughts?
 
Jkenward said:
Well, I do have a 6 gallon bucket fermentor and a 5 gallon carboy. Does a 6 gallon bucket have enough head for a 5.25 g in primary? I suppose I could use a gallon jug for an extra secondary ...or skip the secondary altogether. Thoughts?

6 gallon bucket will work fine for 5.25. In regards to a secondary...I only use them when age a beer or when the recipe calls for fresh fruit...other than that I never use a secondary and always have amazingly clear beers....the science behind not using a secondary is this: beer starts fermenting within 24 hours of adding yeast, depending on the type of beer/yeast it will go in to a vigorous fermentation that may last anywhere from 2 days to 11 days...after that is complete, the yeast will start eating by products from the vigorous fermentation, and while very little noticeable action can be seen, the yeast are still working...after a total of three weeks you have amazingly clear beer....now if you remove your beer from the yeast, you are limiting the yeast cells that will actually clean up the beer. The older books called for secondary fermentation, but even John Palmer has backed away from that now.
 
I have this in the keg right now. I haven't done a side by side yet but I'm pretty sure mine won't match the original due to a number of reasons (grain wasn't fresh because I waited too long to brew, I didn't hit SG figure, I messed with hop schedule a bit). It's definitely lighter in color than it should be. Nevertheless I am happy with this brew and I expect it to go fast this week while celebrating the holidays with family and friends. It has a very nice roasty, malty flavor but it's not overpowering. Can't wait to share it. Cheers.
 
After letting it sit and carb up properly, this is really good. Definitely will be in the regular winter rotation. Still some left in the keg but I shared a lot with family and friends over Christmas. I hope to do a side by side with the original yet and I'll post a pic this week.
 
After letting it sit and carb up properly, this is really good. Definitely will be in the regular winter rotation. Still some left in the keg but I shared a lot with family and friends over Christmas. I hope to do a side by side with the original yet and I'll post a pic this week.

Glad it turned out good!
 
Here it is side by side. Color is pretty similar. The head on the original comes out a caramel color while mine has more of a pale head. In terms of taste, mine is definitely malt forward while the original has more hoppiness to it. This part, however, is likely due to me messing with the recipe versus the OP's recipe. I'm guessing he's nearly spot on since I scaled it back about 15-20%. In any event thanks for sharing the recipe and for letting me share my version. SWMBO is really enjoying it too.



image-2754617871.jpg
 
I've been sick all week but I just had a sip of SWMBO's draft. This beer just keeps improving. The flavors are developing and there's more depth to it. Thanks again for the recipe, I love this one.
 
Hi. Sorry for the question. I'm going to do the extract version. My question is, am I steeping the specialty grains before the boil? Thanks.
 
homebrewertodd said:
Hi. Sorry for the question. I'm going to do the extract version. My question is, am I steeping the specialty grains before the boil? Thanks.

Yes...you will bring the water to 150-160, add the grains and hold for 30 minutes...bring to boil, do hop schedule.
 
That's what I was thinking, but had to confirm. I love Edmund Fitzgerald porter and can't wait to try this one out.
 
Just killed the keg of this tonight. Man it was good. I will definitely be brewing it again, probably in the fall. Thanks for sharing.
 
Helly said:
Just killed the keg of this tonight. Man it was good. I will definitely be brewing it again, probably in the fall. Thanks for sharing.

I think I'm brewing some of this today...just to have ready for a cold day!
 
This turned out very well. I like brews with fewer ingredients, not a laundry list. The EF recipe is a great starting point. I made slight changes based on what I had on hand. My target was a below 5.0% ABV black porter with a very malty character.

It is not quite an EF clone so I named it "The Little, Brown Porter" after the textbook "Little, Brown Handbook" of English writing styles All the malt was organic and from Valley Malt, the first new malt house on the east coast in 100 years.

The Little, Brown Porter recipe on Brewer's Friend

Notes:
Very satisfactory. Black as night, a little dry, toast and coffee and chocolate are in there very mildly. Malty and a tiny bit of hops bite. The head was correctly low and tan but dissipated too quickly for my liking.

Changes for next time:
Try mashing at a higher temp (156-158 F) for more malt flavor, add 2 to 4 oz Cara-pils for head retention.


Process: BIAB
All-grain recipe, 5.25 gallons

Original Gravity = 1.048
Final Gravity = 1.013
ABV = 4.5%
IBU = 51
SRM = 31
Size = 5.25 gallon

ALL GRAIN RECIPE:

9 lb American - Pale 2-Row (Valley Malt)
2 lb American - Caramel / Crystal 60L (Valley Malt)
2 oz American - Chocolate (Valley Malt)
8 oz American - Black Barley (Valley Malt)

Mash at 153 F for 60 min

Bring to Boil and add:
1 oz Centennial 60 min
1 oz Willamette 30 min
1 oz Fuggles 15 min

Cool and pitch yeast
1 packet dry yeast Safale-05

Ferment 14 days at 65F nominal basement temperature

Bottle with 3 oz table sugar, condition 14 days minimum.
 
6lb of Pale Malt extract to sub Pale Malt, keep the rest of the grain the same and place in a grain bag...hope this helps.

Thanks for posting the recipe. I'm going to try this out for one of my next batches. Quick question regarding extract - is it 6 lbs. of LME or DME? I'm using dry extract, so I want to make the proper conversion if necessary..

Also, would it make a difference if I do a 3 gallon partial boil, and then top off the fermenter with water to reach 5.25 gals?
 
PaulBiya said:
Thanks for posting the recipe. I'm going to try this out for one of my next batches. Quick question regarding extract - is it 6 lbs. of LME or DME? I'm using dry extract, so I want to make the proper conversion if necessary..

Also, would it make a difference if I do a 3 gallon partial boil, and then top off the fermenter with water to reach 5.25 gals?

Liquid
 
PaulBiya said:
Thanks for posting the recipe. I'm going to try this out for one of my next batches. Quick question regarding extract - is it 6 lbs. of LME or DME? I'm using dry extract, so I want to make the proper conversion if necessary..

Also, would it make a difference if I do a 3 gallon partial boil, and then top off the fermenter with water to reach 5.25 gals?

And you can top off with water, but the flavors don't get a chance to blend with the liquid by doing it this way.
 
brewed this one two days ago, missed the og by about .005. got 1.055. i dont think thats going to affect it too much. cant wait to get me some of this!
 
homebrewertodd said:
brewed this one two days ago, missed the og by about .005. got 1.055. i dont think thats going to affect it too much. cant wait to get me some of this!

It should be fine, hope you enjoy the beer!
 
Hey SD-SLIM,

I tried to get as close as possible to the ingredients listed on both the bottle and website. Any suggestions and thoughts on this recipe would be GREATLY appreciated.

5.5g Batch using Brewer's Friend Recipe Calculator
OG 1.062 (Bottle states 15 Plato)
IBU 37.06 (Bottle 37)
SRM 37 (not specified)
ABV 5.82% (Bottle 5.8%)

9# Pale 2 Row
1# Crystal 75
.5# Chocolate Malt
.5# Roasted Barley
.75# Brown Sugar (not specified anywhere but bumped the OG up to 1.062 after using the previous 4 ingredients)

.75 oz Northern Brewer @ 60 minutes
.5 oz Williamette @ 30
.5 oz Cascade @ 30

Fermentis US-04 or 05?

I know its an old thread but I'm taking a shot anyway. Thanks again!
 
I'm getting ready to brew this again. It was so good last year around Christmas. I think I'm gonna go for a 10 gallon batch this time. From what I remember I used safale 04 and it worked great. My 2 cents.
 
Helly said:
I'm getting ready to brew this again. It was so good last year around Christmas. I think I'm gonna go for a 10 gallon batch this time. From what I remember I used safale 04 and it worked great. My 2 cents.

Yeah it's that time of the year again....I think after halloween, I might brew this up again!
 
Hey SD-SLIM,

I tried to get as close as possible to the ingredients listed on both the bottle and website. Any suggestions and thoughts on this recipe would be GREATLY appreciated.

5.5g Batch using Brewer's Friend Recipe Calculator
OG 1.062 (Bottle states 15 Plato)
IBU 37.06 (Bottle 37)
SRM 37 (not specified)
ABV 5.82% (Bottle 5.8%)

9# Pale 2 Row
1# Crystal 75
.5# Chocolate Malt
.5# Roasted Barley
.75# Brown Sugar (not specified anywhere but bumped the OG up to 1.062 after using the previous 4 ingredients)

.75 oz Northern Brewer @ 60 minutes
.5 oz Williamette @ 30
.5 oz Cascade @ 30

Fermentis US-04 or 05?

I know its an old thread but I'm taking a shot anyway. Thanks again!

I checked, I used Safale 04, I recommend it, that's what I'm going to do again this time.
 
NY_HomeBrew_Student said:
@Helly, Thanks for the the yeast recommendation. Any thoughts on the rest of the recipe?

I'll look it up tonight and let you know what I did. I remember scaling back the hops slightly from SD's recipe and when I tried it side/side with the original that was a noticeable difference. But I still liked my version a lot. It is a very good recipe he's posted so if you stay close you can't go wrong.
 
I'll look it up tonight and let you know what I did. I remember scaling back the hops slightly from SD's recipe and when I tried it side/side with the original that was a noticeable difference. But I still liked my version a lot. It is a very good recipe he's posted so if you stay close you can't go wrong.

Finally got a chance to look it up. Here's what I did:

0.75 oz Northern Brewer 10.6% AA 60 min
0.5 oz Fuggles 4.2% AA 40 min
0.5 oz Cascades 6.7% AA 20 min
0.5 oz Cascades 6.7% AA flameout

So I didn't do a 90 minute boil as per the original recipe and I scaled hops back a bit so take my notes with a grain of salt. I don't think you could go wrong with the OP's recipe but I wouldn't hesitate to brew this again the same way myself.
 
Brewed this again. 10 gallon batch this time. Pretty excited about it. My OG is low, efficiency was not great. The weather was awful and I was having a hard time keeping mash temp right with the wind blowing so cold. In any event I'm sure it will be beer and if it's half as good as my batch last year it will be a hit at Christmas. Slim thanks again for the recipe.
 
Helly said:
Brewed this again. 10 gallon batch this time. Pretty excited about it. My OG is low, efficiency was not great. The weather was awful and I was having a hard time keeping mash temp right with the wind blowing so cold. In any event I'm sure it will be beer and if it's half as good as my batch last year it will be a hit at Christmas. Slim thanks again for the recipe.

Your welcome....hope it turns out!
 
Helly said:
Tested it today. Might be to fg. It was about 1.015. Hydro sample tasted great. I'm really excited about this batch.

I just pulled the first two pints as a test. Yup this is a really good beer. Really glad I did 10 gallons.
 
Helly said:
I just pulled the first two pints as a test. Yup this is a really good beer. Really glad I did 10 gallons.
I'm glad you liked it...wishing I had some in the pipeline with all this cold weather!
 
We've had a bunch of this already at Christmas parties. It's been a big hit again. One of my favorite beers for sure. I took the other 5 gallons and added a vanilla bean and a half. Just tasted it last night. I think it's gonna be really good. Now I have to clear a keg for it.
 
Helly said:
We've had a bunch of this already at Christmas parties. It's been a big hit again. One of my favorite beers for sure. I took the other 5 gallons and added a vanilla bean and a half. Just tasted it last night. I think it's gonna be really good. Now I have to clear a keg for it.
thats a great problem to have!
 
Helly said:
First keg of this just kicked. I'm pumped that I have another in reserve!
Nice...I'm glad you liked the recipe, I just finished off my final keg and I wish I had made more!
 
doublehaul said:
What do u think about adding coffee to this recipe?
I think it would go great....it's just a question how you plan to introduce the coffee, most grind and mash, some double brew coffee and I have even heard of some creating an extract by soaking crushed coffee beans in vodka....not sure which one would be right.
 
I brewed Founder's Breakfast stout and added 2 oz of coarse ground coffee in a hop sack at 15 minutes left in the boil, and boiled water, cooled, put into sanitized french press, and cold steeped overnight, and then added that to the bottling bucket at bottling. It turned out OK but had a bit of stale coffee taste. I might follow the same procedure but try different coffee - or skip the bottling bucket addition.
 
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