Pennsylvania Porter???????

[virginiabrewer]

Got a recipe for a Pennsylvania Porter and it is as follows:ce
9lbs six row malt
1lb flaked maize
3/4lb crystal malt 60L
4oz black malt
2/3oz cluster hops(boil 60 min)
3/4oz styrian golding or willamette hops(boil 45min)
1/4oz brewers licorice(optional)
Wyeast new UIM, st.louis american lager yeast
O.G-1.050-FG-1.012
Dough in malt and maize
at 100 degrees F (38C)then protein rest
at 122 degrees (50C) for 20 min,then to 156degrees 69C
for 40 min,and sparge. Boil for 1 hour with hops addition at the beginning, fifteen min into the boil add licorice
(optional)
and allow it to boil for the remaining 45 min ,..Cool to 50 degrees or 10C
pitch yeast ,rack after 7 days,then store for three weeks at cellar temp...???????????????????????????????????
???My question is : I have never made a homebrew before in my life...I would like your feedback on this recipe!!!!????

 

[yodalegomaster]

The first thing I would change is to use a Ale yeast, if you can't ferment at 50-53 degrees with a lager yeast. I would use 1056 or 1968 ESB if you want an English porter. If you use the lager yeast and ferment it higher you will get a lot of off flavors. You could also use the cal ale 2112 which is a lager yeast, but will ferment up to 65 degrees without off flavors. That's the Anchor Steam yeast.

Second I would drop the cluster hops. They are very Catty (As in cat Pee) to me and most other brewers, They belong only in CAP (Classic American Plisner) beers

 

[Revvy]

The first thing I would change is to use a Ale yeast, if you can't ferment at 50-53 degrees with a lager yeast. I would use 1056 or 1968 ESB if you want an English porter. If you use the lager yeast and ferment it higher you will get a lot of off flavors. You could also use the cal ale 2112 which is a lager yeast, but will ferment up to 65 degrees without off flavors. That's the Anchor Steam yeast.

Second I would drop the cluster hops. They are very Catty (As in cat Pee) to me and most other brewers, They belong only in CAP (Classic American Plisner) beers

Then it's not being true to the historical style, if that's what the OP is aiming for.

Pennsylvania porter, also known as East Coast porter, is the classic American porter of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is a bottom-fermented (as opposed to the usual top-fermented porter), ester-free beer with fair-to-medium mouthfeel that will dry toward the end of the taste and may also include slight diacetyl and burnt malt components. Typically, malt and hops are balanced (O.G. 1.049-1.053; IBUs 20-25), and the hops are characteristically American. It is brown/black in color with red tints or a mahogany cast in the glass.

Pennsylvania porter was a result of breweries adapting the English porter style to the arrival and popularity of lagers in the U.S. beginning in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Adjuncts such as maize, molasses, and Porterine, are not uncommon ingredients.

Remaining commerical examples of this kind of porter include Yuengling and Stegmaier.

OG: 1.048-1.061
FG: 1.010-1.023
IBU: 20-35
SRM: 20-30

According to American Porters: Marching to Revolutionary Drummers (Brewing Techniques Magazine.)

Honestly virginiabrewer, this is a pretty ambitious beer for someone who has never brewed before, first because it IS a lager, which requires temp control, and little marging for error, and secondly because it's an allgrain recipe, which is a little more advanced, and I think one needs to work themselves up to that technique.

If I were you I would learn to brew first, then haul out this recipe when you have more of an idea of what you're doing. Start with a few extract with grain ALE recipes, then if you like the hobby, deal with the necessary temp control needed for brewing lagers (I've been brewing for a long time and I only brew lagers in the height of winter because I don't have a dedicated fridge/freezer to lager in) and ease into all grain.

Historical recipes such as this are a little more challenging to brew, since they are often written a little differently, or contain less detail than modern recipes,so it is something you want to kinda know the basics of brewing BEFORE you jump into these types of recipe...

I sugest you learn to brew THEN tackle this recipe....

Start by reading this free online brewing book, and getting a basic equipment kit. ANd come back to this recipe in a few months...it will make a hellova lot more sense to you, and you won't need to change anything to it...you'll understand that it's supposed to have those things in it.

 

[Revvy]

From the same article.

Cluster hops were the common bittering hop, although it cannot be ruled out that Fuggles or some form of Goldings made their way into the aroma hop profile.

So I would leave the cluster hops alone.....

And this about the use of lager yeast...

Yeast strains and fermentation: Fermentation using lager yeast strains is another American porter variant. Originally, the bulk of porter produced in the United States was top fermented. As the lager beer revolution spread, many German brewers chose to satisfy local demand for porter by making it in their breweries using a bottom-fermenting strain.

This pattern was especially notable in Pennsylvania, where lager brewers produced porter, sometimes using a traditional recipe that included licorice, but most often using a porter hybrid formula. These 'Pennsylvania Porters' were really based on an American premium pilsner formula that called for six-row malt and corn grits and, most often, the addition of Porterine. This dark syrupy liquid was composed of extract, dextrose, and other nonfermentables and had a color rating of 940 °L (10). Brewers added Porterine to the pilsner wort not only for color adjustment, but also to approximate the qualities of porter that otherwise required the use of various other malts not often found at a brewery geared toward American pilsner production. To have maintained stocks of those malts would have been too expensive. Porterine gave these breweries the opportunity to keep costs down and yet cater to the popular demand for porter.

The above recipe seems very true to the historical style...so I wouldn't mess with it, just brew it when I was ready.

 

[virginiabrewer]

Well since lagers are more advanced and require colder climates at this time of year, i think your right about the climate...A nice ale true to its roots from Virginia, is what im shooting for sort of a heritage beer if you will(although) to me Lagers are the best. George Washingtons beer probably will taste like well BAD...Any tips or suggestions on this are very welcome,,,,thx