Check My Porter Recipe?

[Iowa Brewer]

Hey all,
Trying my hand at creating a simple English Porter recipe. Decided to use American Pale malt as I read a number of posts saying it works well and I have it on hand.
Anyone see any issues I might be missing?
Thanks!

• Pale Malt – 9# (80%)
• Crystal 120 – 1# (9%)
• Black – 8oz (4.4%)
• Brown – 8oz (4.4%)
• Chocolate Malt – 4oz (2.2%)
• 60min addition: Willamette – 1.5oz
• 30min addition: Willamette – 8oz
• Omega OYL–006 British Ale 1

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Did you mean 0.8 oz willamette for the @30 minute hop?

 

[Iowa Brewer]

Ha! Yes!

 

[Airborneguy]

I personally wouldn’t bother with the 120. My house porter is 7.5 MO, 2.5 Brown, .75 black patent.

 

[AlexKay]

If you want to use caramel malt in an English porter, use English crystal. Worlds of difference.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

[...] English crystal. Worlds of difference.

+1.

---

Picking the right brand of crystal is often the "secret sauce" that moves the recipe from good to great.

 

[BigEd]

That's a whopping amount of dark crystal malt. Agree with Airborneguy that I'd ditch it. A half pound of medium crystal (55-60L) wouldn't be bad. It will add a touch of background sweetness without getting in the way. What is your target IBU? Even with a modest AA% hop like Willamette you may be over what is norm for an English porter. I'd run it through a calculator and shoot for low 20s in IBU. This beer should be malt dominant. I'm also going to agree with AlexKay on the malt choice, not just for crystal but for base malt as well. If you have domestic pale on hand use it but next time you make an English porter use UK malts instead.

 

[Iowa Brewer]

If you want to use caramel malt in an English porter, use English crystal. Worlds of difference.

That’s good to know. Thanks!

 

[Iowa Brewer]

That's a whopping amount of dark crystal malt. Agree with Airborneguy that I'd ditch it. A half pound of medium crystal (55-60L) wouldn't be bad. It will add a touch of background sweetness without getting in the way. What is your target IBU? Even with a modest AA% hop like Willamette you may be over what is norm for an English porter. I'd run it through a calculator and shoot for low 20s in IBU. This beer should be malt dominant. I'm also going to agree with AlexKay on the malt choice, not just for crystal but for base malt as well. If you have domestic pale on hand use it but next time you make an English porter use UK malts instead.

Thanks for the tips. Yes my IBU is 31. Think I will bring that down. Cheers!

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

If your OG is 1.050-55 I don't see any issue with 30-ish IBU, just don't let it attenuate more than low to mid 70%.
Wait til' you see the porter and stout recipes from like a 120 years and further back, with bu:gu ratios of 0.8 and upward...

 

[pvtpublic]

Yup, that's a recipe alright.

 

[kevin58]

I'm with Airborneguy, lose the crystal 120. I would also probably drop the chocolate malt and I would definitely increase the brown malt. I typically use 20 to 30% brown in my English Porter.

 

[Brewskey]

If you're interested, check this thread for a modern version of a London Porter from Fuller's. Quite a lot of crystal actually, but only half as dark. See the recipe at the bottom of the post, regular London Porter.

 

[rhys333]

Hey all,
Trying my hand at creating a simple English Porter recipe. Decided to use American Pale malt as I read a number of posts saying it works well and I have it on hand.
Anyone see any issues I might be missing?
Thanks!

• Pale Malt – 9# (80%)
• Crystal 120 – 1# (9%)
• Black – 8oz (4.4%)
• Brown – 8oz (4.4%)
• Chocolate Malt – 4oz (2.2%)
• 60min addition: Willamette – 1.5oz
• 30min addition: Willamette – 8oz
• Omega OYL–006 British Ale 1

I'd drop the 120 for sure. At 9% of grist you'll be in for mega licorice flavors that you may not appreciate. Replacing it with medium crystal would work nicely. You can safely up your brown malt to around 10% if you want some of the drying complexing it brings to porter. As for your roasted malts, I suggest 5 - 6% max. Black malt is classic, but chocolate works nicely too. Quality UK grains seem to work best for porter IME, as domestic equivalents can be a bit nasty.

 

[Iowa Brewer]

Hey all, here is what I adjusted my recipe to, if you don't mind taking a look. I am going for a dryer ale.
Cheers!


Pale Malt – 9#
Brown Malt – 1#
Black Malt – 8oz
Choc Malt – 4oz
Willamette (60min) – 1.3oz
OYL-006 British Ale 1

Est OG: 1.045
IBUs: 22.5
Color: 26.1 SRM
Est ABV: 4.6%

 

[Airborneguy]

I like the look of that one much better, though personally I’d up the brown malt still. I love it in porters. Maybe start here then assess going higher to your taste.

 

[Iowa Brewer]

I like the look of that one much better, though personally I’d up the brown malt still. I love it in porters. Maybe start here then assess going higher to your taste.

Sounds good, Airborneguy, and I will do. I also like biscuit, which I might play around with in the future, but I suppose the brown gives some of those characteristics.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

@Iowa Brewer I really hope you remember to update us on how it turns out!

 

[Iowa Brewer]

@Iowa Brewer I really hope you remember to update us on how it turns out!

I sure will, Hoochin'Hank!

 

[Iowa Brewer]

Update on Black Rainbow Porter
Hey all, thanks for the advice and tips given for this recipe. I've had some time to imbibe and enjoy this one and here are my thoughts an a follow-up question.

The color is great and the flavor is about where I wanted them. It's a good dry porter with nice subtle notes of chocolate and coffee. It's a very drinkable porter and my family/friends have been enjoying it.

The one thing I'd like to improve on is body. It feels... thin? Not watery, but I'd like to have more body in it and am wondering how I might achieve that.

The final grain bill for this 6gal batch was as follows:

• Marris Otter – 9# (83.7%)
• Brown – 1# (9.3%)
• Black – 8oz (4.7%)
• Chocolate Malt – 4oz (2.3%)
• 60min addition: Willamette – 1.6oz
• Omega OYL–006 British Ale 1 from starter on stir plate

Water profile (ppm) created through Bru'n, was as follows, using Brown Full profile as my guide. I started with 8.34gal

• Calcium: 54
• Magnesium: 5
• Sodium: 27
• Sulfate: 50
• Chloride: 64
• Bicarbonate: 85

Would adding flaked oats help? Is there an other way to give it greater body?
Many thanks and happy brewing!

 

[camonick]

It’s not an authentic English porter recipe, but this is the base grain bill for a chocolate porter I make (recipe directly from the brewmaster at a well known Boulder, CO brewery before they sold out).
10 lbs 2.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 79.4 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) 9.8 %
6.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) 2.9%
6.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) 2.9%
6.0 oz Chocolate Wheat Malt (400.0 SRM) 2.9 %

Maybe the chocolate wheat would help with the body.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

That porter looks fairly Brittish, try a Brittish water approach, my typical porter/stout water is ~100 Na ~300 Cl ~80 So4 and Ca should end up at about 150-200.
I used considerably larger percentages of brown and black in my latest porter, without issue, especially brown malt adds body in form of dextrins.

 

[Iowa Brewer]

It’s not an authentic English porter recipe, but this is the base grain bill for a chocolate porter I make (recipe directly from the brewmaster at a well known Boulder, CO brewery before they sold out).
10 lbs 2.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 79.4 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) 9.8 %
6.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) 2.9%
6.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) 2.9%
6.0 oz Chocolate Wheat Malt (400.0 SRM) 2.9 %

Maybe the chocolate wheat would help with the body.

Thanks!

 

[Iowa Brewer]

That porter looks fairly Brittish, try a Brittish water approach, my typical porter/stout water is ~100 Na ~300 Cl ~80 So4 and Ca should end up at about 150-200.
I used considerably larger percentages of brown and black in my latest porter, without issue, especially brown malt adds body in form of dextrins.

Great, thanks Erik!

 

[DBhomebrew]

OYL-006's attenuation is ~80%. For more body, you can try Omega's 007. Not quite as much attenuation. 016 is nice, too.

 

[AlexKay]

Flaked grains are great for body, whether you use oats or barley. Use a pound, maybe two. And if the taste works for you (I like it very much), flaked rye adds body like nothing else.

 

[Iowa Brewer]

OYL-006's attenuation is ~80%. For more body, you can try Omega's 007. Not quite as much attenuation. 016 is nice, too.

Sounds good, thanks!

 

[Iowa Brewer]

Flaked grains are great for body, whether you use oats or barley. Use a pound, maybe two. And if the taste works for you (I like it very much), flaked rye adds body like nothing else.

Good idea, cheers!

 

[scrap iron]

I second the flaked grains for more body. I like flaked barley for more mouthfeel and a foamy head. The flaked rye adds a nice touch too.