Mint Chocolate Porter

Hello everyone,
I've had a few brews on my system and they have been general styles. I wanted to try something different. I couldn't really find any recipes online so I had to scramble one together by comparing many porter recipes and blending them together to try to get what I want. I was trying to get more of a chocolaty malty porter with a lite hint of mint left at the end (similar to a Thin Mint cookie). I haven't brewed mine yet but I was wondering if anyone had a recipe or could make suggestions or tweeks to my recipe. Feel free to use mine and modify it as you want. Any feedback would be greatly appriciated. Thanks!

Cheers!

Recipe
Batch Size: 5.5 gal
Mash: at 156 for 60 min
Mash Out: 168 for 10 min
Boil: 60 mins
Est OG: 1.059
Est ABV: 5.1%

9lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter
1lbs Black (Patent) Malt
12oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
9oz Chocolate Malt
8oz Munich Malt
60z Roasted Barley

1.5oz Goldings, East Kent (60 mins)
.7oz Fuggles (15 mins)
.82oz Mint Leaves (15 mins)
.25tsp Irish Moss (10 nins, fining)
.5oz Goldings, East Kent (0 mins, flame out)
.5oz Fuggles (0 mins, flame out)

English Ale Yeast

I'd get rid of the roasted barley, usually you see that in stouts. Plus, 1lb of black patent is more than sufficient to make 5 gallons black.

Since you want it to be chocolatey I'd just sparge over the black patent so you get the color and not to much of that roasted/astringent character that I'd think is to dry for what I imagine as the flavor profile you're looking for.

Maybe up the munich another 4oz.

I'd leave out the flame out additions of hops too. In my opinion, they'd overpower the mint. Or flip your mint addition with your flameout hops. No, I think I'd leave out the last additions of hops and move your mint to flameout actually. It seems like you'd want something that finishes on the sweeter side. So it kinda needs to be a little off balance malt/hops wise.

Thanks for the help. By just sparging over do you mean don't put in the black patent in the mash til i sparge? And according to my Beersmith program im running at 33.5 IBUs, would that be too high of a bitterness? It says im on the low end of it.

I'm not a mint man, so I think this could be awful .... what do I know.

Personally I don't think Black has any business in a Porter. I'd probably drop the Roast too. Up the Chocolate to about 1.5 lbs and add maybe half a pound of some dark Crystal.

I would nix the patent and swap the chocolate for pale chocolate. It will give it more of a chocolate flavor without the burnt roasted effect. I you want, try a few ounces of carafa 1 or crystal 80-120 for the color...the crystal will give more sweet caramel and the carafa is black patent without the bitter....IMO, im sure someone else is more versed in the carafa department....also if you are so inclined. Get yourself some cocoa nibs and make a tea with it...4-8oz depending on your tastes...and/or get one of those tiny chocolate, mint or mint chocolate extracts you find in baking stores or a bulk foods store. Personally i would at least get mint just incase it is too subtle.

Oh right i forgot....chocolate malt gets its name because of its coloring effects. Not because it tastes like chocolate. Pale chocolate tastes like a bakers chocolate and still colors the beer.

I would replace both the black and the chocolate with an equal part pale chocolate....that much black will kill your chances of a sweet chocolaty minty finish.

Wow, funny this popped up. I am currently brewing a peppermint chocolate hefeweizen. My grain bill is the following:

7# wheat malt
3# two-row
1# pale chocolate malt - way overboard due to accident, but runoff tasted amazing
1# rice hulls
Mashed at 151.5

Hops;
Pacific Jade
.25@60
.75@5

Yeast: WLP300
Ferm. Temp: 72-74 to stress the yeast

It's still bubbling away but i have 3oz of a plant called tulsi in india that gives a slight mint taste. I am going to be adding 3 oz of it. I don't own a filter or anything so drying the leaves is out of the question as they just crumble. I'm going to try and boil some leaves in water to both sanitize and see if i can extract that mint taste. If that works out i may add that to an allaquat of beer so i don't waste it all if it doesn't work out.

So far its still early, but future changes include decreasing the pale chocolate malt and adding a few ounces of honey malt.

Brew on,

Dhruv

Dhruv6911 said:

Wow, funny this popped up. I am currently brewing a peppermint chocolate hefeweizen. My grain bill is the following:

7# wheat malt
3# two-row
1# pale chocolate malt - way overboard due to accident, but runoff tasted amazing
1# rice hulls
Mashed at 151.5

Hops;
Pacific Jade
.25@60
.75@5

Yeast: WLP300
Ferm. Temp: 72-74 to stress the yeast

It's still bubbling away but i have 3oz of a plant called tulsi in india that gives a slight mint taste. I am going to be adding 3 oz of it. I don't own a filter or anything so drying the leaves is out of the question as they just crumble. I'm going to try and boil some leaves in water to both sanitize and see if i can extract that mint taste. If that works out i may add that to an allaquat of beer so i don't waste it all if it doesn't work out.

So far its still early, but future changes include decreasing the pale chocolate malt and adding a few ounces of honey malt.

Brew on,

Dhruv

Click to expand...

Try using a hop bag or pulverizing the mint in a food processor and make a tea.

Dhruv6911 said:

Wow, funny this popped up. I am currently brewing a peppermint chocolate hefeweizen. My grain bill is the following:

7# wheat malt
3# two-row
1# pale chocolate malt - way overboard due to accident, but runoff tasted amazing
1# rice hulls
Mashed at 151.5

Hops;
Pacific Jade
.25@60
.75@5

Yeast: WLP300
Ferm. Temp: 72-74 to stress the yeast

It's still bubbling away but i have 3oz of a plant called tulsi in india that gives a slight mint taste. I am going to be adding 3 oz of it. I don't own a filter or anything so drying the leaves is out of the question as they just crumble. I'm going to try and boil some leaves in water to both sanitize and see if i can extract that mint taste. If that works out i may add that to an allaquat of beer so i don't waste it all if it doesn't work out.

So far its still early, but future changes include decreasing the pale chocolate malt and adding a few ounces of honey malt.

Brew on,

Dhruv

Click to expand...

Try using a hop bag or pulverizing the mint in a food processor and make a tea. And by tea use hot vodka to steep and extract the flavor...give it anweek or two...use more than you think you need because it might not all come out and the flavor mellows.....use a bunch more and add it a little bit at a time for taste. Then when you get it where you want it add a little more so when it all melds together you get it where you want it.