Good London porter/stout recipe with dry yeast for first AG brew ?.

[brewman !]

I've finally got my AG system together and ready for my first brew session in a long, long time. I'm an experienced AG brewer, but I haven't brewed since "forever".

I'm looking for an AG recipe for a London porter/stout that has a fruity/raisiny undertone with minimal dark gain astringency. Not very hoppy. It might have a tinge of chocolate, but not very much. Licorice would be great too ! I want the beer to be very dark, ie black. I want to use dry yeast. I want it to ferment at room temperature.

Anyone have a recipe like this ?

I was in London about 5 years ago. I got tired of doing the tourist thing and stopped by a nondescript neighborhood (brew?)pub for a beer while my wife went on yet another sightseeing tour. It was late May. The sun came out. They opened all the doors and windows. The locals and other tourists were friendly and fun. And I had the most delicious dark beer I ever tasted. I probably could never find that pub again if I tried. I've kicked myself ever since that I didn't try to meet the brewer and/or get the recipe or even ask what it was ! How stupid was I.

I'm hoping to recreate that beer someday. I've been dying to try ever since I got back from that trip.

 

[rhys333]

You just described my porter I recently posted in the recipe section, except I used a small amount of US Chinook hops. You could sub EKG if you like. Here's the link:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=601441

 

[kristiismean]

Porter brewed 10/8/2016
Just the Tip
IBU 45.58 SRM 36.73 ABV 6.24%
5.5 Gallon 60 Minute Boil

Grain Weight
2-Row Pale Malt (US) 7 Lbs
Flaked Barley 1.5 Lbs
Carvienne 1 Lbs
Munich Malt (10L) 1 Lbs
Roasted Barley 1 Lbs
Special B Malt 1 Lbs
Flaked Wheat .5 Lbs
Black Malt 4 oz

Hops Weight Time
Fuggles .5 oz 60
Galena .5 oz 60
East Kent Goldings .25 oz 15

Other 3/4 Brewers Licorice Stick or 2.5 oz Anise 30 min

Yeast SafAle US-05 or Wyeast 1272 or 1056

Flavor profile is there. strain from the kettle to the fermenter to get the anise out.

 

[brewman !]

You just described my porter I recently posted in the recipe section, except I used a small amount of US Chinook hops. You could sub EKG if you like. Here's the link:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=601441

Thanks for the reply.

The recipe is perfect except that I would like to avoid mashing wheat on my first run back in the game. Can you recommend a substitute malt ?

How would I get a bit of licorice flavor in it ?

How fruity is US05 ?

 

[Weezy]

That recipe looks tasty but I wouldn't recommend brown malt given what the OP wants.

Hmmmm, shooting from the hip ...Dark English crystal for the dark fruit. Somee chocolate. Minimum astringency, so I'd recommend blackprintz which has a nice flavor without the bite.. Not very hoppy.

Simpsons dark English crystal 4%
Simpsons medium English crystal 4%
Chocolate malt (350L'ish) 4%
Flaked barley 6%
Blackprintz (however much you need to get to 40 SRM)
The rest Golden Promise

EKG 20 IBUs@60
EKG 6 IBUs@15

Maybe a mangrove jack yeast! Or just use Notty or S-04.

 

[rhys333]

Thanks for the reply.

The recipe is perfect except that I would like to avoid mashing wheat on my first run back in the game. Can you recommend a substitute malt ?

How would I get a bit of licorice flavor in it ?

How fruity is US05 ?

The wheat adds a nice dimension but you could just replace it with more 2-Row (domestic or MO). The US-05 is pretty much neutral, relying on the malt for the flavor complexity. You could sub US04, or one of the UK liquid strains if you like. I've brewed this before with 1469 West Yorks and it turned out really nice. As for licorice, it doesn't have any of that really, but it's got a fair amount of brown porter complexity to it and a raisin character from the C80.

 

[JKaranka]

That chinooklehead looks good, you could replace the wheat malt for more pale malt.

The main thing about a relatively 'traditional' London porter is the use of brown malt and a balance between sweet and dry (country brewers made drier porters and stouts, Scotland in the 20th century made sweeter stouts, milk stouts are several notches sweeter).

Fuller's London Porter is a good reference point:
https://byo.com/stories/issue/item/3423-fuller-s-london-porter-clone

I would say that a typical London porter as you describe in your flavour descriptions (not much roast, chocolate or astringency) will be more likely around 25-30SRM as you are restraining the dark malts. I'd lead with the Brown malt (1-1.5lb), follow up with Crystal (0.5-1lb) and Chocolate malt (0.25-0.75lb), which is pretty much like Fuller's. British brewers would often increase the SRM using Brewers' Caramel, so you can add BC or Sinamar to increase the SRM from 30 to 40. I'd say this is the best way to go and I do it myself to correct colour.

Dry yeasts:
- S04 is good, fairly neutral with some yeast character but can have a slight lactic-type twang. I like this in a porter, but you might not be so keen.
- M15 Empire Ale sounds like it fits your descriptors: depth and dark fruits. It's on the new Mangrove Jacks range and I've not used it. The previous lineup had a couple of nicely fruity yeasts, so this could be a keeper.
- US05 is fairly neutral with a tad of peach sometimes, but not as good a flocculator.
- M44 US West Coast is fairly neutral, a good flocculator. I like it for British styles.
- Nottingham is a strong attenuator that flocculates well. Could attenuate a bit too much for what you go for.

 

[JKaranka]

Note on the hops. They are not that important in the finished product but they shouldn't be overlooked. A bittering addition that gives most of your IBUs with a small addition around the 20m mark (or 15m if you fancy) is all you need.

The most important thing is getting the bitterness right, and I think many recipes end up a bit too sweet (they might have all the right malt and roast flavours but feel like they are bloating you up). For a 1.050 porter I'd aim at achieving 30IBU, which given that most calculators underestimate real IBUs, is more likely achieved by putting 35 predicted IBUs of hops. As you have very few late hops the bitterness will just blend seamlessly with the malts rather than distract...

I have some 6.5% Golding's in the freezer, so as an example I'd add 1oz at 60m (23IBU) and 1/2oz at 20m (7IBU).

 

[kristiismean]

I added in my recipe. It is a simple recipe, the grains are complex, but it's simple. I am not sure where I picked this one up, but it a very solid porter with fruity esters. It was fermented with us-05 at 68 ambient.

 

[brewman !]

I decided to brew Ed Wort's American Pale Ale instead.

I did this for a couple reasons. It is a dead simple recipe and I'm not an experienced stout/porter drinker and I thought I better figure out exactly what I want in that beer before I brew 5 gallons of it.

I'll brew a London port/stout style beer in the near future, when I've got it figured out. In the mean time I picked up ingredients for the APA. I'm getting thing organized to brew it later this week.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[brewbama]

I recommend the book Brewing Classic Styles for recipe ideas.