Help me make a clone

[Chris Grubb]

so I really enjoy porters especially with fall and winter just around the corner.
I’m trying to make a clone of a porter that is brewed in Savannah ga. When I am in that area I drink as much as possible, but it’s too rare that I am able to do that.
I would like some opinions on how to brew an all grain batch that gets in the neighborhood of this one. I know it will take some tweaking to really get it dialed in, but here is the description:
American porter
6% ABV
Our porter is a full bodied, semi-sweet dark ale, with distinct notes of caramel and chocolate. A touch of English grown Fuggles gives balance to the complex malty sweetness.

Haven’t brewed too many all grain batches, so I’m not great at knowing exactly how much of which malt to get the desired flavor.
Thanks for any insight you have.

 

[seatazzz]

Your best bet is to either call or email the brewery and ask if they will share the recipe. Some breweries won't do that, but some will at least give you some clues as to the grain bill and hops. And do your research. There are literally tons of books out there that tell you what malt will impart what flavor, and at what percentage. You'll find most people here rely on How to Brew by Jon Palmer, or the Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian (my copy is falling apart).

And, experiment! The true beauty of all-grain brewing is the ability to give your beer exactly the flavor you want, although it does take some trial and error in most cases. And Google can also be your friend here. Someone out there may have already brewed a clone of the beer you're after, and posted the recipe online somewhere. If so, try brewing it; if it's not what you're looking for, tweak the recipe (with abovementioned research in mind) until it's right. The other great thing about homebrewing is, for the most part your "mistakes" will be drinkable no matter what.

 

[Sadu]

Yeah as above, see if the brewery will give you a heads-up on what to do because that's the quickest way to get a reasonable clone.

Otherwise start with what you know, and guesstimate the rest. Already you have a fair bit to work with, probably not enough to get closely in the ballpark but you gotta start somewhere and making your own recipes is fun while you figure it out.

Porter = chocolate malt, brown malt, caramel malt
American = probably 2-row base malt, probably more late hop character than English and probably a dry-hop
full-bodied, semi-sweet = target a higher FG, I'd aim for 1.020 or thereabouts which would make your OG around 1.065
distinct notes of caramel and chocolate = not actually that helpful. About 5% chocolate malt and 5% crystal malt is a starting point, don't push the chocolate malt past 10%
balance to the complex malty sweetness = give it a firm amount of bitterness, maybe 40ish IBUs

American ale yeast like S-05 are often used in American ales (funny that), but an English yeast would help with the full-bodied aspect. I think typically with American-style beers you go for less yeast character and more hop character - but I have no idea if this beer is like that.

Also, you'll find things go a lot easier if you get a copy of Beersmith and design your recipe in there.

 

[madscientist451]

I’m trying to make a clone of a porter that is brewed in Savannah ga.

What is the name of the brewery?

Also, have you tried to brew a porter yet? There's lots of great recipes in books and on the AHA website, or just hunt around on google.
Recommended books would include Jamil's Brewing Classic Styles, How to Brew by John Palmer, but there are many others out there.

Here's one I found that might work:

https://beerrecipes.org/Recipe/2811/jamils-whos-your-taddy-porter.html

Cut the recipe in half, brew 2.5 gallons of it and then compare it to your commercial example. Revise the recipe to either suit your taste or match the beer you are trying to clone.
Note that you might like your version better than the commercial example and you might go a different direction with some of the ingredients.

• 8.45 gal - The brewer's water (Water)
• 9 lbs 8.0 oz - UK Pale Ale Malt (3.0 SRM) (Grain)
• 16.0 oz - UK Brown Malt (56.7 SRM) (Grain)
• 16.0 oz - US Caramel 40L Malt (40.0 SRM) (Grain)
• 10.0 oz - US Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) (Grain)
• 1.3 oz - UK Fuggle [5.0%] - Boil 60 min (Hops)
• 0.5 oz - UK Fuggle [5.0%] - Boil 10 min (Hops)
• 4 pkgs - Wyeast 1028-London Ale ( #) (Yeast)

Additional Instructions
Boil: 60 Minutes

Beer Profile
Original Gravity: 1.063 (15.3° P)
Final Gravity: 1.014 SG (3.5° P)
Alcohol by Vol: 6.4%
Color SRM: 27.2 Color Sample
Bitterness IBU: 25.9
Recipe Type: all-grain
Yield: 5.00 US Gallons

Source: homebrew4less.com

 

[Northern_Brewer]

It would help if you mentioned the name of the beer, which I assume is Captain's Porter from Moon River Brewing. Untappd suggests it's more on the roasty/coffee end than the chocolatey end. This article talks about how he has lots of different strains of yeast on hand - for the volumes involved in a brewpub that almost certainly means dry yeast. So since we're looking for low attenuation I'd guess S-33/Windsor or London ESB.

He seems quite attuned to British beers - he has an Endeavour bitter and using Fuggles in the porter, and the article says the porter is almost unchanged from the early days (he started in 1998). So I'd start with a British porter recipe and then crank it up a little to adjust for the higher ABV. So mebbe take this recipe intended for 25 litres and make it with 5 US gallons (19l) instead

4.3kg pale malt
683g brown malt
568g Crystal 60
115g chocolate malt

86g Fuggles @90 minutes
10g Fuggles @15 minutes

You could replace the 90 minute Fuggles with an ounce of something high alpha (12-15%)

 

[Chris Grubb]

It would help if you mentioned the name of the beer, which I assume is Captain's Porter from Moon River Brewing. Untappd suggests it's more on the roasty/coffee end than the chocolatey end. This article talks about how he has lots of different strains of yeast on hand - for the volumes involved in a brewpub that almost certainly means dry yeast. So since we're looking for low attenuation I'd guess S-33/Windsor or London ESB.

He seems quite attuned to British beers - he has an Endeavour bitter and using Fuggles in the porter, and the article says the porter is almost unchanged from the early days (he started in 1998). So I'd start with a British porter recipe and then crank it up a little to adjust for the higher ABV. So mebbe take this recipe intended for 25 litres and make it with 5 US gallons (19l) instead

4.3kg pale malt
683g brown malt
568g Crystal 60
115g chocolate malt

86g Fuggles @90 minutes
10g Fuggles @15 minutes

You could replace the 90 minute Fuggles with an ounce of something high alpha (12-15%)

What is the name of the brewery?

Also, have you tried to brew a porter yet? There's lots of great recipes in books and on the AHA website, or just hunt around on google.
Recommended books would include Jamil's Brewing Classic Styles, How to Brew by John Palmer, but there are many others out there.

Here's one I found that might work:

https://beerrecipes.org/Recipe/2811/jamils-whos-your-taddy-porter.html

Cut the recipe in half, brew 2.5 gallons of it and then compare it to your commercial example. Revise the recipe to either suit your taste or match the beer you are trying to clone.
Note that you might like your version better than the commercial example and you might go a different direction with some of the ingredients.

• 8.45 gal - The brewer's water (Water)
• 9 lbs 8.0 oz - UK Pale Ale Malt (3.0 SRM) (Grain)
• 16.0 oz - UK Brown Malt (56.7 SRM) (Grain)
• 16.0 oz - US Caramel 40L Malt (40.0 SRM) (Grain)
• 10.0 oz - US Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) (Grain)
• 1.3 oz - UK Fuggle [5.0%] - Boil 60 min (Hops)
• 0.5 oz - UK Fuggle [5.0%] - Boil 10 min (Hops)
• 4 pkgs - Wyeast 1028-London Ale ( #) (Yeast)

Additional Instructions
Boil: 60 Minutes

Beer Profile
Original Gravity: 1.063 (15.3° P)
Final Gravity: 1.014 SG (3.5° P)
Alcohol by Vol: 6.4%
Color SRM: 27.2 Color Sample
Bitterness IBU: 25.9
Recipe Type: all-grain
Yield: 5.00 US Gallons

Source: homebrew4less.com

Moon river brewing on Bay Street.
I have made porters and stouts, and they all are fine and very drinkable, but just not as great as that one in my opinion.
Thanks for the help, I will start here

 

[Chris Grubb]

Put together a kit based on these suggested recipes. Hoping to get it brewed this weekend. Will update with results in a couple weeks. I will keep trying if I have to... you know; for science.

 

[Chris Grubb]

So bringing this thread back to life, I brewed this beer, and it was ok. The biggest thing lacking that I could tell is a roasty flavor. Should I increase the brown, or chocolate to get more of a roasty flavor, or add in some roasted barley or coffee malt?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Roasted barley would be the classic way to add roastiness but go easy with it. For comparison, the typical Guinness clone has about 10% roast barley. Only you can tell how MRB porter compares on roastiness to Guinness, but I guess start with 5% roast barley?

 

[madscientist451]

So bringing this thread back to life, I brewed this beer, and it was ok. The biggest thing lacking that I could tell is a roasty flavor. Should I increase the brown, or chocolate to get more of a roasty flavor, or add in some roasted barley or coffee malt?

It would be easier to evaluate your recipe and make suggestions if you included it in your questions.
Also, exactly what brand and type of chocolate malt makes a difference.
Some have more roasty flavors, some can add a bitter flavor note.
I'm not so sure about using roasted barley in a standard porter, but it might work for you.
Here's a great article about using chocolate malt:
https://byo.com/article/brewing-with-chocolate-malt-tips-from-the-pros/

 

[Chris Grubb]

Basic Information

Name: captains porter 1
Style: American Porter
Method: All Grains
Efficiency: 72.0%
Water Volume: 5.0 Gallons

Calculated Statistics

Gravity (1.05 - 1.07): 1.062 SG
Bitterness (25.0 - 50.0): 23.4 IBU
Color (22.0 - 40.0): 33.7 SRM
ABV (4.8 - 6.5): 5.8 %

Grains

0.75 lbs - Chocolate Malt - 450.0 SRM
1.0 lbs - Brown Malt - 65.0 SRM
1.0 lbs - Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L - 40.0 SRM
9.5 lbs - Pale Malt (2 Row) UK - 3.0 SRM

Hops

0.5 oz - Fuggles - Boil 10.0 min
1.5 oz - Fuggles - Boil 60.0 min

Yeasts

1.0 pkgs - London Ale

Notes

1.026 pre boil gravity
Mash 153 for 60 minutes
Boil 60 mins


1.055 starting gravity
1.013 final gravity

Here is the recipe I used.
Thinking about upping the chocolate malt to at least 1 pound, and possibly going to a darker crystal. Maybe adding .25 pound of roasted barley