need help with porter recipe

hey peeps, i pretty new at brewing ( about to brew my 3rd batch) and ive only used extract kits. im wanting to do a porter next but i want to try my own recipe.... but i will admit im kind of lost a lil bit. but here is what i was thinking

6 lbs of dark liquid malt extract
.5 lbs of bitish chocolate
.5 lbs of caramel 120l
1 oz of german northern brewer hops (30 min)
.5 oz of cascade/ uk fuggle hops (2 min)
nottinghams yeast

what do u guys think? ive read on here that using a light dme is better than using dark lme and using more specialty grains to flavor it. im really interested in that but i dont know how much more grain to use to compensate?? basically i guess im needing to know if the grains seem right for a porter and if the hops are about right ( i know they may be a bit off but im not a real hop head but do realize that they may need more due to it being a darker beer). and also some kind of conversion or reccomendation on the grains if i were to use like a light dme or a munich dme.... please be gentle if its way off.... like i said this is pretty much my first recipe ever and need some advice from the pros thank u so much!!!

*EDIT*
im thinking of backing off the 120l maby go with 60l... i want a kiss of caramel but not everwhelming.... thought about adding a touch of black in there but if i do it wont be much.... really just want the main questions anwered i know it is alot of questions...thank u for your time

I also suggest going with plain light DME instead of dark. The reason I say this is because eventually if you go all-grain, you may want to convert this recipe. It's very hard to convert dark malt extract into an all-grain form. I'd look around at different recipes on the forums here and just wing it with the grains while trying to keep it somewhat similair to what others have done.

Personally, I like the grains you've got so far. The only thing I might do is add a 1/2lb or so of black patent and then maybe up the Caramel 60 closer to a lb. That's just me though. Substitute the Dark extract for plain light and you'll have a decent porter.

good deal... how much of the dme should i use instead if the lme??....6 lbs? since im doing that should i up the grain more like 1 lb of chocolate and 1lb of 60l? with maybe liike 4oz of black patent? im not big on the coffe flavors but i think it would add alot to this beer but i dont want much.... thought about adding some malto dextrin to help with mouthfeel but not much.... i hope that the hops are pretty good as well....thank u for ur time in posting and helping out!

You know, for something like this and for all the questions you have I would stick to a good solid porter recipe. Your initial recipe is fine if you do a straight substitution of pale LME for the dark. The advice you were given about converting to AG later is sound: Pale as your base malt and flavours/mouthfeel from the specialty grains.

Brew with that recipe and see how it is and if there are changes you want to make then go ahead with the second batch with the changes. I think with the patent you may be headed into a bit of extra bitterness and it may be too much with the quantity you are proposing.

Don't second guess yourself. You've got a good basic recipe. Brew it and then see how it is and go from there. It may take a bit of time but there is no harm in that if you're looking at "perfecting" something for yourself.

yes i absolutely agree in that there is no harm perfecting something yourself. i believe thats what will make it special and taste better :cross: yeah the dark LME is out now the question is dry or liquid? either way should i up the grain? maybe 1lb of 60l and .75lb of british chocolate? this will be a five gallon brew. am gonna go with either light or try to get some pale malt for the extract. i guess with the liquid it would be a straight 6lbs for 6lbs but what about for dry? do i need more of dry? im thinking that since im taking out the dark might need to bump up the grain bill just a lil bit..... thanks guys :rockin:

I've never used dry except for priming at bottling time so I'm not the person to ask about how to make the substitution. Do a quick search and you'll find the percentage to multiply by to make the proper conversion.

Should you up the grain bill? I don't know. You may be asking the wrong person again (or I may be the wrong person to answer... LOL ). I would keep it as is. I looooove simple recipes and if they work it's a bonus. This one looks just fine. I don't think a porter should be too, too dark and some red in the glass is going to look great. Your grain bill looks fine to me.

lol thanks....i try to go by the kiss principle (keep it simple stupid) in most things but i have a way to complicate things lol..... i guess the best way is just to brew the damn thing and roll with it.... and take it from there....i was just kind of hoping to maybe not have to brew it so many times before i get to where i want it to be.. know what i mean?? thats why i was asking since im taking out the dark malt and using pale for the with the same grain bill i thought i might need to bump it to make up the difference but i think i may just roll with it like it is...

I made what I call "Accidental Porter" because it was a total accident. It was an extract and it was one of the best porter's I have ever had. Here's the recipe:

6 lbs LME
10 oz Crystal
4 oz chololate
6 oz roasted barley
1 oz northern brewer @ 60 min
1 oz northern brewer @ 30 min
1 oz cascade @ 10 min
Safale US05

This was a great beer. I am switching to all grain this weekend so I am looking forward to converting this. It can only get better. I'm going to add flaked barley to the next batch for a little more body.

thanks for the quick responses.... ive been seeing that most porters have a roasted ingredient in there so i think im gonna add some in here but not much.... and work from there....try this out and see what u think

6 lbs light/pale lme
8 oz british chocolate
8 oz 120l
2 oz roasted barley/black patent
1 oz german northern brewer hops (60 min)
1 oz cascade (5 min)
nottinghams yeast

i think i may need some malto dextrin/ flaked barely for mouthfeel and head retention so i may add 2 oz of one of those just to kind of see how it goes.... i think that may be close guys?? opinions?

Sounds good but my understanding of flaked barley is that it must be mashed. So it may not do any good in an extract brew. Can anyone verify this?

i dunno about the flaked barely, but i might just add 6lbs of light/pale dme just to help with mouthfeel and kick up the abv just a smidge....

No need for flaked barley.

Check out the Bourbon Barrel Porter in my profile. It's a great base porter, so you could do that without the extras. If I did that beer again, I would up the chocolate to .75lbs for the batch. You should be able to replace the 2-row with 6lbs or so of DME and be good.

I'd highly suggest checking out some brewing software if you don't already have it. Plug my recipe into it and look at the OG. Then delete the 2-row and add enough DME in it's place to hit the same OG. No need to worry about convertion formulas this way..

i will do that good sir..... so my grain bill still looks good to you?? i want a good solid porter not overly hoppy or too much like a stout.... i added the 2oz roasted in there to give a hint and i stuck with the 120l 8 oz. then the 8 oz chocolate.... seems like it should be good. ill prolly use 6 lbs of light/pale dme...never used it before but seems to get good reviews....thanks again

Be careful with the late Cascade addition, that may clash with the flavors of the darker malts. I personally prefer Fuggle/Goldings/Willamette, but ultimately, it's your beer.

Also consider a mixture of pale and amber DME, and maybe a bit (<5%) of Black Patent Malt.

I have some roasted barely in there. Is there a real need in the black as well? What will it bring that the british chocolate doesn't? Is it for mainly color because the onnly one I found was aa de bittered.

jdutton24 said:

6 lbs of dark liquid malt extract
.5 lbs of bitish chocolate
.5 lbs of caramel 120l
1 oz of german northern brewer hops (30 min)
.5 oz of cascade/ uk fuggle hops (2 min)
nottinghams yeast

Click to expand...

If you want to call this a porter go ahead, but it's a really a stout.
The half pound of chocolate malt by itself would make it a stout.

I would check out the recipes in Terry Foster's book on porter
for excellent porter recipes. Compare your recipe with the stout
recipes in Lewis' book on stout. These are both in the Classic
Beer Styles series from Brewer's Publications.

My porter uses 3 ounces chocolate, 1 ounce black malt.

Ray

rayg said:

If you want to call this a porter go ahead, but it's a really a stout.
The half pound of chocolate malt by itself would make it a stout.

I would check out the recipes in Terry Foster's book on porter
for excellent porter recipes. Compare your recipe with the stout
recipes in Lewis' book on stout. These are both in the Classic
Beer Styles series from Brewer's Publications.

My porter uses 3 ounces chocolate, 1 ounce black malt.

Ray

Click to expand...

+1

My porter uses 1 oz black, and 4 ounces chocolate, along with brown malt, amber malt and crystal.

rayg said:

If you want to call this a porter go ahead, but it's a really a stout.
The half pound of chocolate malt by itself would make it a stout.

I would check out the recipes in Terry Foster's book on porter
for excellent porter recipes. Compare your recipe with the stout
recipes in Lewis' book on stout. These are both in the Classic
Beer Styles series from Brewer's Publications.

My porter uses 3 ounces chocolate, 1 ounce black malt.

Ray

Click to expand...

The style guidelines between a stout and porter are pretty fuzzy. I don't think a few ounces of extra chocolate is enough to classify it as a stout. I use about 3.5oz of both chocolate and roasted barley in my house porter... but I've used more chocolate at times. I think if you look around the forums, you'll find a lot of other porters with over a 1/2 lb of chocolate.

I don't really care what a book says about a style. Style guidelines these days are being broken wide open by new breweries, and what was once a classic porter in the 70's is now pretty lame. If the brewer says it's a porter, it's a porter.

Thanks guys. I figured since I'm using a light extract that would tone it down some. But I'm rolling with this and if its too much ill tone it down next time. I mean if all goes according to plan ill have beer. I'm not a huge fan of a stout but they aren't bad. I jst find a porter a bit smoother and tastier for me. But I think this is a good starting point either way. I never expected to make the perfect brew on my first try with my own recipe just maybe take out a couple brews before I get there from the info here

hey guys not to resurrect a dead thread here but just thought id post this.... i did a recipe calculations and made a slight adjustment.... instead of six pounds of dme i used 3 lbs dme and 6lbs of lme. same grain bill and came out high on the gravity of course but thats not bad to me. i think that maybe the final version before brew day... i think that may tone down if i used too much chocolate and the 120l....

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/recipe.html

*EDIT*
ok so that link obviously didnt work so here are the details
OG 1.078
FG 1.020
IBU 31
ABV 7.5 %
SRM 32