Please Advice me on my American Porter Recipe

[FVillatoro]

I am aiming to make an American style porter as I have already brewed an English style some months back and it came out great- but something new is exciting.

What I am aiming for here is a beer with a little less body but more focus on a roasted, toffee and hoppy taste.
The wheat malt is there for retention (proteins), and I am using only American 350L chocolate malt since it's more roasty compared to pale chocolate.
Hops are American and I am going for 40 IBUs to balance out the 80L.
I want some solid sweetness from the 80L along with toffee flavor.

I am not sure on a full 1# of the 80L and I am considering lowering that to #.75- but the 40IBUs would probably balance that out I think.

Please advice on what I can modify/switch - I want to keep it simple.

Thanks fellas!

10# American 2 Row (76.9%)
1# Crystal 80L (7.7%)
1# Wheat (7.7%)
1# Chocolate 350L (7.7%)

Hops:
25g Northern Brewer @90
14g Cascade @30
14g Cascade @10

Mash at 153 and repitching Wyeast 1968 yeast.
OG: 1.59
IBU: 40
SRM: 28

Muchas gracias!!!!!!!!!!

 

[m00ps]

I think it looks pretty solid. It definitely will turn out well as it is. Id probably scale back the crystal to 12oz and maybe up the wheat too. Though I seem to add wheat or oats to nearly everything I make. Oh thats what might go well, some toasted oats. Im not sure how hoppy itll be though. The crystal and chocolate will likely overpower any discernable hop character, but thats why I'll drink a porter in the first place

edit: afterthought but if you are using an english yeast like that, it definitely wont be an "american" porter since itll have the english yeast esters. The difference between UK and US chocolate malt isnt nearly the difference between and UK vs US yeasts

 

[Komodo]

Porter shouldn't really have a lot of roast or hoppy character. Of course that's subjective, but I would consider dropping back the chocolate to ~5%, and personally might consider other hops besides Cascade. But what you have now may very well be excellent!

 

[MindenMan]

If you ferment on the cool side ~62F you will not have to worry about any esters being produced during fermentation. ESB 1968 is a very versatile yeast, as well as being clean and clearing rapidly. For years it was the only yeast I used, and now I use just two; Irish 1084 and ESB 1968.

 

[FVillatoro]

I think it looks pretty solid. It definitely will turn out well as it is. Id probably scale back the crystal to 12oz and maybe up the wheat too. Though I seem to add wheat or oats to nearly everything I make. Oh thats what might go well, some toasted oats. Im not sure how hoppy itll be though. The crystal and chocolate will likely overpower any discernable hop character, but thats why I'll drink a porter in the first place

edit: afterthought but if you are using an english yeast like that, it definitely wont be an "american" porter since itll have the english yeast esters. The difference between UK and US chocolate malt isnt nearly the difference between and UK vs US yeasts

I'll try #.75 of 80L.
The reason I am using this yeast vs an Am. strain is because I am re-pitching this yeast from 2 previous batches, and I would like to experiment with it a bit more.

Porter shouldn't really have a lot of roast or hoppy character. Of course that's subjective, but I would consider dropping back the chocolate to ~5%, and personally might consider other hops besides Cascade. But what you have now may very well be excellent!

Ill go Northern Brewer hops for bittering and finish with Willamette hops.
I'll try #.75 of American chocolate and #.25 of Pale chocolate. Thanks

If you ferment on the cool side ~62F you will not have to worry about any esters being produced during fermentation. ESB 1968 is a very versatile yeast, as well as being clean and clearing rapidly. For years it was the only yeast I used, and now I use just two; Irish 1084 and ESB 1968.

I've fermented @ 66-64 degrees before. I'll try 62-64 to get a more neutral ester profile on this.

Thanks fellas! I'll go make the tweaks and I'll brew this baby on Saturday morning! :rockin::rockin::fro::fro:

 

[chickypad]

I'll disagree, obviously there is a lot of leeway but for an American or Robust style porter some roast would be considered to style. I would consider replacing some of the chocolate with a little black malt but I think your percentage of roasted malt looks fine. I do like the hops change, personal preference here but I prefer those hops over the citrusy stuff in American browns and porters.

 

[FVillatoro]

I'll disagree, obviously there is a lot of leeway but for an American or Robust style porter some roast would be considered to style. I would consider replacing some of the chocolate with a little black malt but I think your percentage of roasted malt looks fine. I do like the hops change, personal preference here but I prefer those hops over the citrusy stuff in American browns and porters.

Thanks for the reply.
I want to keep a simpler roast bill because on my last stout I used 3 different types of roasted malts (Am 350L\Pale\UK Roasted Barley) plus oats and flaked barley and milk sugar. Although it came out great, I would just like a simple "thinner" roasty porter.

The reason I went with 1 full pound of Am chocolate initially is because it's roasted deeper than the pale chocolate at my LHBS, and I am thinking that it would probably yield the roastiness that I want.

What could work is #5 of Am 350L and like a #.25 of black malt.
Gotta love home brewing... so many possibilities!

 

[chickypad]

Definitely lots of ways you can go. One reason I like the black malt in American porters (and I even use it frequently in stouts) is I seem to find the roast a bit smoother, sort of easier drinking for me. I find beers with a lot of dark chocolate or roasted barley seem to come out with a bit too much coffee/espresso type roast for me. But I know others who seem to think black malt tastes like charcoal (never got that myself) so take it all with a grain of salt. Good luck with it, should be good whatever you decide!

 

[Calder]

You asked us to answer a pretty ambigous question. So you are going to get a lot of very different ideas.

My thoughts:

- Increase the Chocolate
- reduce the Crystal
- Add some licorice
- Not sure about the citrus hops
- English notes from the yeast are OK.