Decided on a porter- spice it up?

[massappeal120]

well thanks for all the suggestions, i decided on a porter and went and bought a kit from my local shop. hopefully this one turns out better than my pale ale (not that it is bad just not really good). If not then I will have to ditch the kits completely and just figure this all out. My porter kit consits of:

6lb of liquid malt
2 kinds of dry grains (not labled) both have some darker choclatey aromas. one dark in color one medium-light.
a package of northern brewer hops pellets (alpha 7.8%)
a package of fuggle freeze dried hops (4.5 % alpha)
White Labs London Ale yeast.

The worker at the shop suggested maybe adding some spices to give this a lil extra thanks giving pazazz. Any suggestions? Im thinkin cinnamon stick and cloves? I dunno though. I like my beer to taste like beer so I dont wanna fancy it up too much., Just something nice and suttle. so yea any help in this area would be saweeeet. onelove.

 

[LouT]

I vote you don't add any spices.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=416745&postcount=14

 

[sause]

I vote no spices also. By the short description of the grains I'm guessing their Chocolate and some sort of Crystal or Munich.

 

[doubleb]

Hey maybe add some coffee, if you like that and are a coffee drinker. I'm contemplating adding some to my porter as well.

 

[bradsul]

Sounds like you're still new to brewing (if not you can disregard) but if that is the case I would keep it simple and stick to the recipe. Besides, there's nothing like a nice porter when you want a dark beer. If you like the kit you can always make another batch and try experimenting with spices, best to know what the base beer tastes like first though.

 

[david_42]

Ginseng and ginger both (use one or the other) work extremely well in porters. I wouldn't use more than 1/2 ounce of either.

 

[Orfy]

I'd try it plain see what it's like and then if it can take it add the bit's next time.