Critique my porter recipe

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tc33133

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HI,
I'm not a big porter drinker, and only brew them 1-2x a year when the weather gets cold and my wife starts asking for them. I'm trying to put together a nice base porter which I'll add some winter type spices (vanilla cinnamon & chocolate). Please let me know if I'm in the right neighborhood. I have brewed Denny Conn's BVIP a couple of times and really enjoyed it. I wanted to add more chocolate and some oats as well as lower the gravity for this year's porter.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Post Boil Volume: 11.96 gal
Estimated OG: 1.069 SG
Estimated FG: 1.015 SG
Estimated Color: 35.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
16 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 60.0 %
4 lbs Munich 10L (Briess) (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 14.5 %
2 lbs 8.0 oz Chocolate (Briess) (350.0 SRM) Grain 3 9.1 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.5 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Crystal Dark - 77L (Crisp) (75.0 SRM) Grain 5 5.5 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Oats, Flaked (Briess) (1.4 SRM) Grain 6 5.5 %
47.90 g Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 22.4 IBUs
28.00 g Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 8 6.5 IBUs

Single Infusion mash @ 154 for 60 minutes
WLP001 @ 68F

THANKS!
 
Personally I don't get into the brown malt in a porter and I can take or leave munich. Either way, I think you have a little too much munich. I'd dial the munich back to 10% or less and add that amount in to your base malt. I'm a big fan of using maris otter for the base in my porters.

If you could tell us more about what flavors you're looking for in the beer that would help give more specific advice about whether the recipe is what you want. Otherwise, we're all just going to tell you what we like instead of what you and/or you wife likes.
 
May want some roasted malt. Ive never used brown malt can help there. I always use a dark 120L crystal mixed in there too
 
If you could tell us more about what flavors you're looking for in the beer that would help give more specific advice about whether the recipe is what you want. Otherwise, we're all just going to tell you what we like instead of what you and/or you wife likes.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I'm looking for something smooth, with a creamy mouthfeel and a little toasty (not so roasty). A little dark chocolate bitterness, but I'm gonna make some extract of cocoa nibs and extract of cinnamon to add to 1/2 of the base at kegging time, and maybe some coffee or vanilla to the other 1/2.

I like the Munich/2Row combo as a base with Pale Ales, and was hoping to get a little more biscuity flavor by using 15%. I've never used Marris Otter, do you use it as a 100% of your base malt, or can you still get its character using 50/50 or even less? Judging by the beers I've had with it, I can't really justify the premium price (its $2/lb at LHBS, 2row is $1/lb). But I'm not sure I've had it in a porter.
 
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