Attempting a Rye Porter

[unclebrazzie]

Yo peepz,

starting from a recipe outline I found for Amager Rugporter, here's what I've come up with:

For 5 gal of 1.076 OG wort:

8.8 lbs Pale Ale Maris Otter
1.3 lbs Rye malt
1.1 lbs crystal 130EBC
1.1 lbs carapils
.8 lbs cara aroma2 350EBC
.8 lbs Special B
.44 lbs chocolate malt
1.7 oz black patent

1.1 lbs molasses

Boil for 75'

1oz Fuggles at T-60
1oz Fuggles at t-15
1oz of EKG at t-15


Fermenting with Nottingham should result in FG of no lower than 1.020, at about 35 IBU (I might decide to boost to 45 due to the robustness of the body). Anyone have any experience with Nottie in this kind of medium?

Thick, malty and sweet-but-offset-by-bitterness, that's the aim.

Does anyone here think 25% of total cara is too much?

I'm also slightly concerned about the cara-aroma interfering with the SpecialB; from what I hear, that would combine into liquorice-like flavors. Any thoughts on that?

 

[Calder]

Go do some more research. That recipe can't be real. 6 lbs of speciality malt is way too much.

Less than 10% rye, doesn't make it much of a rye brew.

That sucker isn't getting anywhere close to 1.020. Feel your self lucky if you get anywhere near 1.030. You had better mash long and low.

 

[celiacguy]

Weird coincidence I just cracked my first bottle of my first attempt at a rye porter. I also went heavy on the Crystal (16%) although lighter than you are planning. I split it between 120 and 60. I regret using too much 120. I had read several probrewers say you need more Crystal to balance out the dryness of the rye and I think my total Crystal might be about right. Unfortunately the balance between the light and dark crystals/coffee is way off.

For the rye, I used 20% and I am happy with it. The beer has lots of body and a nice mouthfeel. Uncarbonated it looked oily and gross, but the carbonation cut through it just right.

Good luck with your recipe.

 

[Beernik]

I've never brewed with molasses but with 1.1lbs in your recipe, I doubt you'd taste anything else. Everything I read on molasses says "use sparingly." I've read 6 - 8oz maximum for 5 gallons.

And you have about 4lbs of Crystal malts in there. That's about 25% of the grain bill. You might want to cut that back a bit. Like no more than half that amount.

 

[unclebrazzie]

Thanks y'all!

Sound advice, both about the 25% crystals and the molasses. I'll tone down and come back with a new recipe.

 

[Weezy]

Here's some misc. thoughts:

A typical porter will be about 8% crystal. If you want it thick and malty maybe go to 12%.

There's no point to adding carapils to a beer that's already heavy on the adjuncts. Your FG will be high as it is.

Special B and the C130 are similar and the combination won't be an improvement over using one. Pick one, ditch the other.

Cut back on the caraaroma and molasses significantly. You don't need a lot to get the effect.

I'd ditch the chocolate, personally. But if you want, i'd cut it back to just a pinch.

Have fun with it!

 

[unclebrazzie]

I'm going to come back to this idea once I trimmed all the fat from its hide.

Thanks y'all!