First try at a Porter recipe

[HelpfulBoxer]

Getting ready to brew a Porter this weekend, will be my fourth all grain batch, and hopefully the first I use my own recipe for. Here's what I have so far, any advice is much appreciated...

9.5# (65.5%) Maris otter

1.5# (10.3%) brown malt

1.5# (10.3%) victory

1# (6.9%) crystal 40

.75# (5.2%) chocolate malt

4oz (1.7%) black patent

I have EKG and fuggles for hops in the 30-40 ibu range, and I'm either going to use 1968 ESB or white labs London ale for yeast.

 

[m00ps]

thats going to be one chewy, sweet beer. I go by a rule of thumb to stay under 20% specialty malts. Youve got like 35% there. You really need to scale that back by like half or you will have a very high FG and it will be way too sweet.

I would take out the brown malt entirely. Its not bringing anything to the table thats not already there from the black and chocolate. Also, you dont need that much victory. I'd do like 0.5lb tops. Maris Otter provides a good malt backbone. If you really want that much crackery flavor, replace some fo your base malt with 1-2lb of munich.

 

[JonM]

Agreed with the above. I'd even sub Munich for all of the Victory.

I use 1968 on my robust porter recipe and its awesome. It's a low attenuator, so a mash temp in the 152-154 range gives a really rich flavor and mouthfeel.

 

[HelpfulBoxer]

Thanks for the advice. In all honesty I would really like to play up the brown malt as much as possible. Why? No clue really, possibly historical precedent. I was wavering on the victory, so I might just drop that entirely. As for the chocolate and crystal additions what would be a good amount? I don't want to over power with chocolate and caramel notes, but I definitely want them present.

 

[JKaranka]

I'd suggest the opposite: increase brown malt to 15% and drop the crystal and victory malts. Brown malt is very complex and I wouldn't fully count it towards the 80/20 split of base to speciality malt. The character is very different from chocolate malt: Intensely malty, nutty, slightly roasty. I've spent most of last year comparing porter grists and Brown malt is pretty unique.

 

[rmyurick]

I think Jamil Z. recommends brown malt for a brown porter, but not for a "robust porter". I don't think brown malt or victory malt is going to add that many non-fermentable sugars. I would go with maybe 1 lb. brown malt and 1/2 lb. victory & see how that comes out. Are you using any late hops?

 

[HelpfulBoxer]

I'd suggest the opposite: increase brown malt to 15% and drop the crystal and victory malts. Brown malt is very complex and I wouldn't fully count it towards the 80/20 split of base to speciality malt. The character is very different from chocolate malt: Intensely malty, nutty, slightly roasty. I've spent most of last year comparing porter grists and Brown malt is pretty unique.

That was my initial thought with the brown malt, just needed some guidance from someone who has worked with it before. Since you have done so much leg work with porters what kind of grain bill would you recommend?

 

[JonM]

I'd suggest the opposite: increase brown malt to 15% and drop the crystal and victory malts. Brown malt is very complex and I wouldn't fully count it towards the 80/20 split of base to speciality malt. The character is very different from chocolate malt: Intensely malty, nutty, slightly roasty. I've spent most of last year comparing porter grists and Brown malt is pretty unique.

Interesting! I take a pretty methodical approach when learning ingredients too.

To the OP: I'd go with this recommendation and forget what I said above.

 

[HelpfulBoxer]

I think Jamil Z. recommends brown malt for a brown porter, but not for a "robust porter". I don't think brown malt or victory malt is going to add that many non-fermentable sugars. I would go with maybe 1 lb. brown malt and 1/2 lb. victory & see how that comes out. Are you using any late hops?

My hope is to kind of straddle the line between brown and robust porters...as for late hops, it's a possibility. I was hoping to nail down my grains before I figured out the hops. I have a few ounces of ekg, fuggles and northern brewer on hand to work with.

 

[JKaranka]

You can use brown malt across the range. I cloned a 1950s Whitbread stout that had brown malt and chocolate malt. Very tasty and smooth. An India porter with 30% brown malt and plenty of hops based on some 1880s recipe like the Kernel exports was also a hit. It's not really a "5% of the grist" type of malt. 15-20% of brown malt with a backing of something more roasted is a very balanced way of making a porter.