Porter (Belgian?) Recipe Help

I have yet to make a porter, which is one of my favorite styles. But I got to thinking that it would interesting to infuse some belgian flavors into it. Kinda like a belgian porter, which I don't believe exists. But anyway, I as thinking for a 5 gallon batch of the following recipe.

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Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: White Labs WLP575 Belgian Style Ale Yeast Blend
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Est Original Gravity: 1.068
Target Final Gravity: 1.016
IBU: 30


10 .lbs Pale Malt
1 .lb Caramunich Malt
0.5 .lb Chocolate Malt
0.5 .lb Coffee Malt ? or Carafa? or Roasted Barley? ---Not Sure
1 .lb Dark Candi Sugar

1.0 oz Styrian Goldings (5.5% AA) 60 Min
1.0 oz Styrian Goldings (5.5% AA) 30 Min
0.5 oz Saaz (4.0% AA) 10 Min
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Mash at 150 - 152 degrees for 60 minutes

I won't probably brew this until June. I've got a number of other brews on the docket to do. This would a nice fal/winter brew. I'm not sure about the coffee malt or the carafa or the roasted barley? I would say the roasted barley if it was a regular porter, but with the Belgian influence I just wasn't sure...

Does the rest look okay? Any help is greatly appreciated!!

About a month back I had the ingredients to do an oatmeal stout, but I changed my mind. I added some complexity to the grain bill and put away my Munton & Fison's ale yeast, instead using some of my own Wyeast Belgian Wheat yeast to get some nice ester profiles. For all intents and purposes, it turned into a Belgian strong dark ale, but with a little modification, it could become a nice Belgian styled porter. If you like, I can post the recipe - just let me know. Always glad to help someone interested in Belgians.

Mulcahey's Brewing said:

10 .lbs Pale Malt
1 .lb Caramunich Malt
0.5 .lb Chocolate Malt
0.5 .lb Coffee Malt ? or Carafa? or Roasted Barley? ---Not Sure
1 .lb Dark Candi Sugar

1.0 oz Styrian Goldings (5.5% AA) 60 Min
1.0 oz Styrian Goldings (5.5% AA) 30 Min
0.5 oz Saaz (4.0% AA) 10 Min
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How about some special b instead of your 0.5 lb coffee/carafa? Maybe replace the 10 oz choc with 6-8 oz of Belgian aromatic malt plus 4 oz chocolate malt?

A fruity Belgian yeast would work fine. Wyeast 1388 Belgian strong ale perhaps?

EinGutesBier said:

If you like, I can post the recipe - just let me know. Always glad to help someone interested in Belgians

Click to expand...

Yeah if you don't mind! Or you can PM it to me. Either way I would be very grateful! Thanks!

Cugel said:

How about some special b instead of your 0.5 lb coffee/carafa? Maybe replace the 10 oz choc with 6-8 oz of Belgian aromatic malt plus 4 oz chocolate malt?

A fruity Belgian yeast would work fine. Wyeast 1388 Belgian strong ale perhaps?

Click to expand...

Funny, I had thought of the special B, but I was thinking I had to have a dark roast in there. The aromatic would give it a nice touch. I wasn't sure about the yeast either. I had saw the WLP575 and thought of that, but I will check out the description for Wyeast 1388. Thanks!

Mulcahey's Brewing said:

Yeah if you don't mind! Or you can PM it to me. Either way I would be very grateful! Thanks!

Click to expand...

Here you go, happy to help.


Black Bow Belgian Strong Ale


10 lbs. pale malt

3.5 lbs. rolled oats

14 oz. chocolate malt

1 lb. 80L Crystal malt

4 lbs. Dark Candi sugar


.5 oz. Hop Suey at 90 min.

.5 oz Hop Suey at 60 min.

1 oz. Hallertauer at 35 min.

1 oz. Czech Saaz at 15 min.

IBUs 42-45


Wyeast Belgian Wheat Yeast


Batch Size: 5.5 gallons

Projected OG: 1.082

Projected FG: 1.020



You could always throw in some Special B or Biscuit Malt and use fewer oats...in my experience, they didn't really make it too much different from a porter or a standard strong dark ale due to the size of the grain bill. Just something to consider. The dark candi sugar really made it shine though, so consider that too.