What Style Would You Call This? Thought It Was Porter

Recipe is
6 lbs. NW Gold LME

Mashed:
1 lb. Victory
1 lb. Chocolate
.375 lb. Black Patent

Perle
Safale 05

It doesn't taste as Porter-like or as dark (but looks it) as I thought it would. My own original recipe called for 1.25 Choc. and .75 Victory but the LHBS only sells in 1 lb. bags and I didn't feel like wasting or buying extra. I wish I would have.

Did the Victory overwhelm the rest? Would you call this a Porter? I've been told that a little Black Patent goes a long way but it didn't seem to here. It's still a nice beer. I don't like "English" funky style, raisin, dried fruit etc. I'm trying to get dark choc, coffee etc. with good body so I'm avoiding Safale 04 and dark Crystal malts.

For the next try I'd like to do:
6 lbs. NW Gold LME
1 lb. Light DME
.5 lb. CaraPils
.5 lb. Crystal 40L
1 lb. Choc. (or more?)
.5 lb. Black Patent
1 lb. Oats

E.K. Goldings

I don't want to go overboard on the Black P partly because my brewing comrade doesn't like too much robustness. I figure I could either go incrementally or go 1 lb. and see if that's overboard. I would do the latter if it were just me. The former will still be a good beer no matter what.

Thanks for any comments.

Should make a good porter, personally I would have used a pound of black patent, but we all like "robust". However, how long has this been bottled/kegged?

COLObrewer said:

Should make a good porter, personally I would have used a pound of black patent, but we all like "robust". However, how long has this been bottled/kegged?

Click to expand...

It has only been bottled for about 3 1/2 weeks after being in the carboy for two. I know it's still early but didn't think the malt flavors would shift that much over time.

I'd say it's missing some caramel. Most porters will have a darker crystal, C120L or even Special B in them. I've got one recipe that uses 1.5 lbs of C120L. More than 2-3 ounces of BP will give a porter a harsh edge.

I'm more of a stout fan, I like coffee and chocolate flavors also.

I'm drinking a shakespeare stout clone right now that didn't quite hit the mark, but is very delicious. I used 1.25lb of chocolate malt in it (the most I've ever used in a batch)
and it really shines thru, almost like chewing on a candy bar.

roasted barley should get you coffee flavor, I only used 6oz in this batch and the flavor is there, but dominated by the chocolate a little.

Didn't use any black patent in this batch, I usually limit it to 4oz in any batch.

I think you're missing some crystal to sweeten it up. The chocolate will give you a chocolate flavor, but without some sweetness it won't really taste like chocolate. The black patent is kind of a bitter flavor from what I understand, I usually go with roasted barley over black patent.

My brewing comrade doesn't like Stout and I don't like a lot of typical Stout's but I do like Kalamazoo and Oscar's Chocolate Oatmeal Stout. I'm afraid that the roasted barley might put it over the top, but maybe 1/4 lb. of black p and 1/4 lb. of roasted barley?

I think I will do 1 1/4 of chocolate. The 1/2 lb of Crystal 40L would be to sweeten it up in case you missed that but if you think more I'd consider it. Would the CaraPils sweeten it up at all or would that just add body? Thanks for the feedback.

I'd do 1/4 to 1/2 lb of C120 and drop the oats. Keep the C40, or use C60 which I use in mine. You can go with 1/2# of patent, or 1/4# patent and 1/4# roasted barley. Either way you'll have a very fine robust porter.

One other thought, if you use a clean American ale yeast for this you do want heavy crystal (~10% by weight) and probably mash around 156*F, if you use English yeast you can use ~7% crystal by weight and mash about 154*F.