Sierra Nevada Porter clone help

I love sierra nevada porter, and when I searched online I couldn't find any recipes that looked like they would work. Here is what is on sierra nevada's website:

alcohol content: 5.6% by volume
yeast: Top-fermenting Ale Yeast
beginning gravity: 14.5 Plato
bittering hops: Goldings
finishing hops: Willamette
ending gravity: 3.8 Plato
bitterness units: 40
malts: Two-row Pale, Munich, Chocolate & Caramel

So with that in mind, here is the recipe I came up with:

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
9 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 72.0 %
2 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 16.0 %
1 lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 8.0 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.0 %
1.00 oz Galena [12.10%] (40 min) Hops 34.7 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [4.60%] (10 min) Hops 5.5 IBU
1 Pkgs US-05 dry Yeast-Ale

Estimated Original Gravity: 1.061 SG (1.048-1.065 SG)
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.015 SG (1.012-1.016 SG)
Estimated Color: 29.0 SRM (22.0-40.0 SRM) Color 29.0
Bitterness: 40.2 IBU (25.0-55.0 IBU) Alpha Acid Units: 2.2 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 6.0 % (4.8-6.0 %)

I wasn't sure if I should knock the chocolate malt down to 0.75 lb or keep it at 1lb. I also wasn't sure about the hop additions. I ended up with galena because it was relatively cheap and I only needed to get 1 oz instead of 2 or 3 oz of goldings like SN uses in the original. Will I get too much flavor from the galena hops with a 40min bittering addition instead of the usual 60min addition?

This is my first recipe I'm creating on my own and hoping to brew it this saturday.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

I found this one....although I don't know if it is close or not.

http://www.brew365.com/beer_sierra_nevada_porter.php

big supper said:

I found this one....although I don't know if it is close or not.

http://www.brew365.com/beer_sierra_nevada_porter.php

Click to expand...

I saw that one before, but there is no munich malt and sierra nevada says there should be and that recipe had black patent which I'm trying to avoid because I'm looking for more of a chocolate flavor instead of a coffee flavor.

I'm going to be brewing this on either saturday or sunday, but I think I'm going to put the galena hops in at 60 min and the williamette in at 1 min to give me 40.5 IBUs. I think I'm going to stick with the 1lb of chocolate because the color is only 24.7 srm which is still on the low end for a porter.

Any other suggestions before I brew this?

I'd split the Willamette into a 0.5oz 10 min and 0.5oz 5 minute addition. 1 min you won't get any hop flavor, I remember Sierra Nevada porter definitely has some hop flavor as well as aroma. Otherwise I think it will come out good.

Thanks for the suggestion. Beersmith says that yields 44.1 IBU which is close enough for me to the 40 IBU listed on sierranevada.com.

How did this turn out? I also love SN porter and want to give it a shot in the near future.

I bottled a few and used munton carb tabs with them and tried those about a month ago and wasn't very impressed. The beer tasted very thin and very little chocolate taste.

On saturday, I was bottling up a few using the BMBF and tasted a little bit and it's a day and night difference from the bottles. I have a bottle of SN porter on hand to do a side by side comparison. It might not be until after thanksgiving since we're heading to grandma's house on wednesday morning. But I'll update the thread with a comparison and maybe some pictures when I get around to it. But I'm very optimistic and looking forward to getting this beer on tap.

I should also note that my efficiency was a little low, so my OG was only 1.048 and finished somewhere around 1.009, I think this beer is around 5.1% ABV (atleast that's what I put on the bottle labels).

I was filling a few bottles for the holiday weekend and decided to do the comparison.



Mine is on the left and the real thing is on the right.

The color is pefect, the taste is almost perfect, but the aroma is a little off. Mine doesn't have much of an aroma at all. I get a little roasted aroma with a hint of raisin from the original (I'm by no means BJCP certified). I think maybe an oz or two of roasted barley might make it really close, although SN doesn't state roasted barley in the ingredients on their website. Or maybe a 30 min hop addition for flavor would help.

Overall, I'm really happy with the recipe, and I would brew it again as is. Originally, I was shooting for a chocolate porter, because I thought the SN porter had a strong chocolate flavor. Now that I can taste them side by side, mine has a much stronger chocolate after taste which I really like.

drunkatuw said:

I should also note that my efficiency was a little low, so my OG was only 1.048 and finished somewhere around 1.009, I think this beer is around 5.1% ABV (atleast that's what I put on the bottle labels).

Click to expand...

That's a pretty low FG for something like a porter. What was your mash temp?

StunnedMonkey said:

That's a pretty low FG for something like a porter. What was your mash temp?

Click to expand...

I was shooting for 154, but I think it was closer to 152. Beersmith estimated a FG of 1.011, so I wasn't too far off.

That looks like a delicious beer. If/when you make a new batch, bottle a few in the SN porter bottle with the label still on, offer it to a few friends and see if they notice.

drunkatuw said:

The color is pefect, the taste is almost perfect, but the aroma is a little off. Mine doesn't have much of an aroma at all. I get a little roasted aroma with a hint of raisin from the original (I'm by no means BJCP certified). I think maybe an oz or two of roasted barley might make it really close, although SN doesn't state roasted barley in the ingredients on their website. Or maybe a 30 min hop addition for flavor would help.

Click to expand...

I know this is an old thread but I was hoping if you could remember what the mouthfeel was like. I noticed above you said it was thin. Did it thicken up over time? I used this recipe and it never thickened up even after about 6 months. That is what I like about Sierra Nevada's Porter is that thick mouthfeel.

How did your brew of the porter turn out, besides the lack of a full mouth feel. Did it taste similar? Did it need some adjustments? ect. Just curious because I was about to brew it and wanted to get an idea of what I may need to tweak.

Thanks

+1

More feedback more input! I ready to make a batch too!

blacklettuce said:

How did your brew of the porter turn out, besides the lack of a full mouth feel. Did it taste similar? Did it need some adjustments? ect. Just curious because I was about to brew it and wanted to get an idea of what I may need to tweak.

Thanks

Click to expand...

I actually did not have Munich malt at the time so it wasn't the exact same recipe. No it did not taste similar. But I am brewing this recipe tonight so I will get back to you in a month or so.

plinytheporter said:

I actually did not have Munich malt at the time so it wasn't the exact same recipe. No it did not taste similar. But I am brewing this recipe tonight so I will get back to you in a month or so.

Click to expand...

can we get an update on this?

mev said:

can we get an update on this?

Click to expand...

I have actually brewed this recipe twice since my first attempt and it has turned out amazing. I used the proper amount of Munich. I would like to create a thicker mouthfeel, but overall the recipe is very similar to Sierra Nevada's Porter.

my recipe is similar:

5.5g

7lb 2-row
3lb munich
1lb C80
1lb chocolate

1.5oz goldings at 60
0.6oz williamette at 30
0.6oz williamette at 10

us-05

decent body, good mouthfeel. 1.056 -> 1.014

motobrewer said:

my recipe is similar:

5.5g

7lb 2-row
3lb munich
1lb C80
1lb chocolate

1.5oz goldings at 60
0.6oz williamette at 30
0.6oz williamette at 10

us-05

decent body, good mouthfeel. 1.056 -> 1.014

Click to expand...

I am brewing this at the weekend. What Mash temp did you use? I was going to go for 66c as that tends to give a good body