First recipe attempt, please give input :)

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BluBruShack

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Hey Folks so here goes nothin

I wanted to make a pumpkin porter for fall and here is what I figured out. Looking about the forums I have found a few great tips (i think) and what I have decided on. Its going to be an extract with specialty grains for 5 Gal

  • 6# Dark LME
    3.3# Light LME
    8oz Caramel 120
    4oz Chocolate Malt
    4oz Black malt
    0.5 oz Galena (60 Min)
    0.5 oz Cascade (30 Min)
    SF 4 English Ale Yeast

I dont have beer smith or any fancy programs I was wondering if anyone could help me out. Im looking for an IBU around 21 as im trying to do a black butte porter ish brew. But I am also going to add pumpkin pie spices to the mix

2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (5 min)
Then 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice and 2 vanilla beans when transfer to secondary

How does this sound? Need more hops less hops? I already have the yeast and the an ounce of Galena and more than an ounce of cascade. Thanks in advance for your input.

BBS
 
A fellow Treasure Valley resident, I live in Caldwell. Wish I could be more help, but I'm very new and know nothing about extract brewing. I know there is another thread going in this section about pumpkin pie spices. The advice there was 1/2 tsp in a 10 gallon (I think?) batch. However, I'm not sure they were doing a porter, and that would probably stand up better to spices without being overwhelmed. So you might be ok there. Another good place to go is the recipe section. You should be able to find some really good help over there from people who have a lot of recipe formulation experience. Good Luck!
 
Hey Dj nice to see someone local as well. Ill head on over and check out the the other tread to see if i can scavage some more info from it. I dont think i have been doing this much longer than you have and its a really fun hobby. Im hoping to make my best brew yet! Been wanting to make a porter for a while now just hasnt been the right season. Do you by chance know anyone who has any ball lock kegs for sale? Lots online but the shipping is killer, just didnt know if you had any good leads :)
 
I'd probably use crystal 60 instead of 120 in a porter. 60 will give you more or a caramel flavor. 120 is more raisiny. However, if you want that raisin flavor, disregard my suggestion.
 
I'd probably use crystal 60 instead of 120 in a porter. 60 will give you more or a caramel flavor. 120 is more raisiny. However, if you want that raisin flavor, disregard my suggestion.

Thats a fantastic suggestion! Yeah I would much rather have a caramel flavor. I have no experience making porters so any other pointers would be great. Thanks Rev
 
The base recipe looks OK, but I am probably going to be the first of many to advise you to use the lightest extract you can get and build on it with your specialty grains.
If you were to brew the base recipe (without spices), I'd probably want to see more bittering.

You can use Beercalculus online to toy with recipes until you find the right software for you.
 
The base recipe looks OK, but I am probably going to be the first of many to advise you to use the lightest extract you can get and build on it with your specialty grains.
If you were to brew the base recipe (without spices), I'd probably want to see more bittering.

You can use Beercalculus online to toy with recipes until you find the right software for you.

Wow this is really cool site and thanks for the input. Im guessing that a balanced beer would be right in the middle of that scale so it looks like it could use a bit more hops to get more of a balanced flavor.

Could you explain to me why I should use the lighter extract? Im still new and was just wondering the difference.

Im glad I posted here before I purchased my ingredients. Thanks
 
About kegs, I don't know. I was at brewer's haven the other day and they had a bunch of homebrew kegs in the corner, but I didn't look closely at them. Honestly, I'm not even sure they were for sale. It's a converted C-store, so maybe the invertory space is a little "off." I don't quite have the budget for the switch to kegs, but I'm doing super small batches right now, so bottling isn't too much of a hassle. I did notice Clist has a couple people selling fairly robust startup kits, so if you're in the market for more than just kegs, that might be a way to go.
 
About kegs, I don't know. I was at brewer's haven the other day and they had a bunch of homebrew kegs in the corner, but I didn't look closely at them. Honestly, I'm not even sure they were for sale. It's a converted C-store, so maybe the invertory space is a little "off." I don't quite have the budget for the switch to kegs, but I'm doing super small batches right now, so bottling isn't too much of a hassle. I did notice Clist has a couple people selling fairly robust startup kits, so if you're in the market for more than just kegs, that might be a way to go.

I was actually just at brewers haven today and picked up some hops and yeast. Not a bad place but it was busy and there was only 1 guy working so I couldnt get my questions answered or much help. Generally about mid day they have 2 gals and the owner there so they are all more than helpful. I have everything except the tap and the keg. Thanks for the reply ill check craigslist and see what I can find.
 
Hey thanks for looking for me. Yeah that is a bit steep for me as well. A bit low on funds at the moment but I appreciate you searchin for me. I went back down to brewers haven today and picked up the rest of my ingredients. They had pin lock kegs for $40 and ball lock kegs for $52. You were right on they huge stack of them they have going!


So here is what I ended up with for the recipe

6 Gallon Recipe Pumpkin Porter
  • 6# Light DME
  • 1# Chocolate Malt
  • 1# Caramel 60 Malt
  • 4 oz Black Patent
  • .75 oz Galena Hops (60 min)
  • .5 oz Cascade Hops (30 min)
  • 1 Whirfloc Tab (15min)
  • 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (5 min)
  • 1 tsp nutmeg (5 min)
  • Safale S-04 Yeast
2 Weeks in primary
Xfer to secondary
  • Add 1 tsp of Pumpkin Pie Spice
  • Add 2 Vanilla Beans Split
2 More weeks then bottle

Thanks for all of the of the input and I will let you know how it turns out :mug:
 
I was actually just at brewers haven today and picked up some hops and yeast. Not a bad place but it was busy and there was only 1 guy working so I couldnt get my questions answered or much help. Generally about mid day they have 2 gals and the owner there so they are all more than helpful. I have everything except the tap and the keg. Thanks for the reply ill check craigslist and see what I can find.

Hey, fellow Boise resident here. I used to go to Brewer's Haven until Home Brew Stuff opened up on Chinden. I found them to be a lot more helpful as far as advice goes, and their inventory is pretty large. No beer for sale though. Anyway, good luck with the brew.

Craig
 
:Appreciate the lead. Brewer's Haven is close to work, so that's the only place I have gone to so far. I live in Caldwell, and I think there is a LHBS in Nampa that I'd like to try, just haven't gotten over that way yet. I will definitely give Home Brew Stuff a try. I don't need beer for sale, as I plan on making my own! :mug::tank:
 
Wow seems like a small world the 3 of us so close. Im bummed to see how much of a price difference there is between locally and online supplies. I understand why but I could have saved about $10 by going through http://www.midwestsupplies.com/ and thats with shipping. I like buying local but for big orders it may not make sense. The specialty grains were cheap but the extract was a bit pricey.
 
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