anyone mind critiquing my first recipe?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

size

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2008
Messages
184
Reaction score
1
Location
Iowa
all right, here goes. i used beersmith to help me, but i tried to do most of it on my own. i'm no pro, and in fact there might be some glaring oversights in the recipe, but that's why i'm posting it here:]

Maycause Porter
2.5 lbs Light Dry Extract
3.3 lbs Light Liquid Extract
1 lb Crystal Malt 60 L
.9 lb Chocolate Malt (338 L)
.4 lb Maltodextrin
.72 oz Columbus (@ 60)
.87 oz Willamette (@ 30)
.72 oz Willamette (@ 5)
1 tsp Irish Moss (@ 10)
Yeast: English Ale (White Labs #WLP002)

My doubts:
Okay, for some reason my LHBS doesn't carry Carapils 3L. I don't know why (isnt it supposed to be extremely common?), but I read somewhere that Maltodextrin has relatively the same effect, and to use ~5 oz for a 5 gallon batch, so I tossed it in there.

I feel I got a good balance of hops/malts, but did I use enough of each? I'm hoping for a really full-bodied porter, with a medium bitterness to it.

Beer Smith told me the following:
IBUs: 45
Color: 30.7
OG Est: 1.056
FG Est: 1.018
ABV Est: 4.98%

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.
 
Why complicate and use the two different bases? I prefer to stick with liquid base only.
 
I think it looks pretty good. If it were mine I would drop the crystal a bit, to 8-12 oz, but I routinely go light on the crystal malts. I think the chocolate will be very good. I would probably reduce the bitterness just a bit. A BU:GU ratio around .6 is what I look for in my own porter formulation. You're sitting at about .8, which is closer to what I would use for a dry stout. You said you're looking to go a little on the bitter-side so this should be pretty good for your taste. I don't know anything about the maltodextrin.
 
Seems like a LOT of Crystal malt and maybe too much Chocolate malt.
Well, I read (you gotta understand im a bit inexperienced and most of my knowledge comes from reading) that a Porter should use ~1 pound of chocolate malt, plus the CM available to me is only 338 L, so I thought I was doing just about perfect as far as that goes.

Regarding the crystal malt, I felt overall that it wouldn't be malty enough, so I tossed in some extra crystal because it's such a standard, and I figured a little extra couldn't hurt.

you know grem, i'm not sure. since i've been brewing i've been following recipes and most of them use dual base malts. i don't know why, but i figured my other batches have turned out well enough, why not stick with something that i know works?

Maycause Porter UPDATED
2.5 lbs Light Dry Extract
3.3 lbs Light Liquid Extract
.67 lb Crystal Malt 60 L
.9 lb Chocolate Malt (338 L)
.4 lb Maltodextrin
.65 oz Columbus (@ 60)
.75 oz Willamette (@ 30)
.65 oz Willamette (@ 5)
1 tsp Irish Moss (@ 10)
Yeast: English Ale (White Labs #WLP002)

Knocked down the IBU's a few points by reducing the hops (yet keeping nearly the same ratio between hop addings) , took out 1/3lb crystal malt. now i feel there is too little hops, no?

i think i'm going to leave the base malts/chocolate malt alone, I know this works for sure, and I simply don't have the energy to readjust the entire recipe right now.

thanks already for the suggestions guys.
 
It looks to me like you'll be sitting near 40 IBU, which is still on the higher end of the style. Sounds good. If you're looking for more malt flavor a great option, instead of more crystal, is a bit of munich malt. I think it needs to be mashed, but it has a great flavor. I'm drinking a munich SMaSH!
 
i'd have loved to be more complex in this, brim, but i'm brewing on an extremely tight budget so im stuck to as few ingredients as i could
 
I think it looks pretty good as written.

The maltodextrin will enhance the perception of body in the finished beer, which is often necessary in extract-based beers.

Porter is one of my favorite styles. Good luck with this one!

Bob
 
Recipe looks good in the OP. That will be a nice, tasty porter!

I prefer London Ale (Wyeast 1028) myself, it's a little cleaner and more attenuative than WLP002. But both will make a fine porter.
 
Mash low (149-150*F) if you want to hit that 1.018FG. You've got a decent amount of adjuncts in there (including maltodextrin) that usually bump up FG.

Oh, and lose the irish moss. SR 30.7 is dark brown to black (opaque) so you won't be able to see any haze anyway. Rack carefully and you'll be fine.
 
Back
Top