Building my first Porter, need some input!

[daweez04]

Looking to get some feedback on a porter recipe.

Went to the LHBS yesterday and sampled some grains, took some notes, these are the grains I liked. How does this grain bill look?

I was thinking of adding some lighter crystal (40-60L) to it to get some sweeter caramel flavor... but not sure it would shine through against the darker bill I have.

Hops may change, uncle is a foreman of a hop farm, headed there this weekend to load up. Gonna grab some trash bags of whatever they have dried (sterlings, hoods, nuggets...). Have cascades in the freezer if need be.

7 lbs Munich Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 6 80.0 %
4.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (crisp) (500.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.9 %
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (crisp) (450.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.9 %
8.0 oz Pale Chocolate (crisp) (200.0 SRM) Grain 2 5.7 %
4.0 oz Extra Dark Crystal Malt (simpson) (160.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.9 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (Briess) (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 5.7 %
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml] Yeast 9 -
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 2.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 14.7 IBUs

Thanks a bunch!!!

PS, if anyone in the Portland Oregon area wants to trade hops after I load up, PM me.

 

[Calder]

Looks pretty good. Main comment is the IBUs seem very low. Probably want to up them to around 30.

I have a personal dislike for Black Patent Malt, and do not use it in Porters (or Stouts for that matter - Use roasted Barley in Stouts). Many people like it. In Porters I like lots of Chocolate in place of the Black.

I don't think you need any more Crystal.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

No offense, but I see a good bit of wrong with this recipe. Here goes:

Munich DME/LME is more suited for german style beers, not english style. I'd replace the Munich with Amber DME/LME.

Cascade is not suitable for a porter in my opinion. Its citrusy side will deter from the style. I'd instead use an English hop, EKG or similar. Porters derive very little flavor/aroma from hop. That being said, a small late addition won't hurt it.

Cara-pils (if my old brain serves right) is a mash malt, and would require a partial mash.

The extra dark crystal has some compounds which are different than C20-120, pushing the envelope towards plum,raisin,etc, akin (but not quite there) to Special B. 8 oz may be too much. I might want to do 4oz C160 and 6 oz of C80.

M_C

 

[Bob]

Too complicated. I agree with MC, to a certain extent.

But first, I strongly recommend getting Terry Foster's style book on Porter. It's dated, but the information is still very useful.

I was thinking of adding some lighter crystal (40-60L) to it to get some sweeter caramel flavor... but not sure it would shine through against the darker bill I have.

You think correctly. Ditch the dark stuff and use 40-60L instead.

Hops may change, uncle is a foreman of a hop farm, headed there this weekend to load up. Gonna grab some trash bags of whatever they have dried (sterlings, hoods, nuggets...). Have cascades in the freezer if need be.

Lucky sod! Full of hate right now.

7 lbs Munich Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 6 80.0 %
4.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (crisp) (500.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.9 %
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (crisp) (450.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.9 %
8.0 oz Pale Chocolate (crisp) (200.0 SRM) Grain 2 5.7 %
4.0 oz Extra Dark Crystal Malt (simpson) (160.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.9 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (Briess) (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 5.7 %

Too complicated. Look at the Porter recipe in my dropdown.

Porter is all about balance. No one flavor should dominate the others, though each flavor should be distinct. The former is relatively easy to accomplish; the latter becomes less and less likely the more ingredients you add, because adding more ingredients tends to make a muddy mess of flavors.

You need four ingredients: Pale (or equivalent extract), chocolate, crystal and black patent malts.

Pale for the obvious reasons. It's the backbone.

Crystal provides a sweet, malty firmness, along with some color.

Chocolate provides a nutty, roasty flavor, along with a lot of red/garnet color.

Black patent provides some acidic, acrid bite, and a black color.

Munich malt extract is going to make a thick, chewy beer. Not exactly wrong, especially if you're going to really hop the crap out of it, but I don't think you should punish Porter like that, so I don't recommend it. Use Briess Gold or Pilsner as your extract base.

Cara-Pils is something I think should be banished from the homebrew market. It's really not necessary, either in extract or all-grain beers. If the pale extract you buy is from Briess - and most American LHBSs carry Briess - the extract already has CaraPils in it. Technique solves the same problems in all-grain brewing that CaraPils solves.

Drop the pale chocolate and swap the 40-60L crystal for the dark stuff, as stated above.

Even though you're in the Pacific Northwest, resist the probably overwhelming urge to over-hop!

You want a strong hops bitterness to back up the Crystal-malt sweetness, but you don't want too much. And you want a smooth bitterness, not a harsh, astringent one, so choose your bittering hops variety carefully.

Don't finish-hop the beer so that the roast-malt and yeast-ester notes get lost.

I'd do the whole thing with Sterling or Mt Hood, personally. Bitter to ~ 35IBU (BU:GU of 0.6 to 0.75), and add an ounce or so of hops at flameout.

Ferment relatively warm to get some esters out of that yeast.

Package targeting a CO2 volumes of NO MORE THAN 2. Anything higher will muddy all the flavors.

Cheers!

Bob

 

[daweez04]

Thanks for all the input everyone, really appreciated!

As far as the Munich malts, I really just wanted an excuse to use them and I read they go good in a Porter, same with the Pale Chocos. Figure if I don't like it as much, I wont use next time!

Thanks for the info on the rest of the specialty malts, learned some good stuff.