Porter recipe tweaking

[loapathy]

I'm planning on making this tonight but am looking for input on this 2.5 gallon batch:

% LB OZ MALT OR FERMENTABLE PPG °L
67% 6 0 American Two-row Pale 37 1
11% 1 0 American Munich 33 10
6% 0 8 Rice Hulls 0 0
6% 0 8 Chocolate Malt (US) 28 350
6% 0 8 Oats, Flaked 37 1
6% 0 8 Honey Malt 37 25

60 mins 1.0oz Fuggles (pellet) 4.5
10 mins 1.0oz Kent Goldsings (pellet) 5.0

1 tsp irish moss @ 15
2 oz Lactose @ 15
4 oz Maltodextrine @ 15

... I need to choose a yeast for this. I was going to use Irish Ale, but not sure how it'll do against the alcohol content. I have A few packs of s-05, 1 pack of s-04, Wyeast Irish Ale, California Ale WLP001, and WLP500. The WLP500 is already in a starter for another batch, but I can restep it up easily enough, whereas I'd have to underpitch or let the wort sit for a couple days to make starters with the other liquids.

My other question is about roasted barley. I'm not sure if it needs it, but a lot of the Porters I like have a hint of roastiness. I've never been able to manage the "hint" of roastiness when used roasted barley, so is there another option?

Also, once done fermenting this will be primed with tangerine sugar "syrup". Basically, zest and juice tangerines into 2 cups of boiling water, reduce to one cup, let cool, then check with hydrometer/refractometer and put the appropriate amount of corn sugar to make up a typical priming solution.

Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

 

[chapa]

Maybe just throw a few oz of roasted barley. Or maybe 1oz roasted + a few oz of black patent. I've yet to brew a porter, but have been looking into doing one for a while. I made a nice brown ale not long ago, that's just realistically a toned down porter, and while its good, and easily drinkable (as my BMC buddies have proved) its always a tease to me, and makes me want a real porter!

 

[cheezydemon3]

+1 roasted barley.

Add 6 oz black patent and 6 oz roast barley and you have my last porter.

BMC crowd, beer snobs, and family alike all sucked it dry in no time. I meant it as a session beer/keg filler while my real Stout bulk conditions, but methinks I will have to brew it again!

 

[Freezeblade]

for the tangerene syrup, might I suggest a slightly different route? Boiling juice from tangerenes will cause the pectins in the fruit to set, and will lead to haze in your final beer, which will likely never go away, not to mention the varying sugar contents of using fruits.

What I would do is instead to zest the tangerenes and add all that zest into whatever amount of priming sugar is needed with water, then boil to get all the flavor/aroma oils out of the tangerene skin. The same essentual oils which are in citris juice are far more present in the skin, and will be more reliable.

Other than that the recipe looks fine, although I'd add a little crystal and black patten, but that's a matter of taste.

 

[Calder]

I don't think Black has a place in a Porter. Maybe a couple of ozs of Roasted Barley. I don't use either in a Porter. Remember you can't take it back out. Maybe some crystal.

Why the Lactose and Maltodextrin. It's going to finish high anyway since your OG is probably going to be north of 1.100.

Why the rice hulls?

S-04 would be a good yeast. It should be OK for the alcohol content. I would not use WLP500. It could end up too fruity.

 

[loapathy]

Lactose and Maltodextrin: for residual sweetness as well as body/mouthfeel. From brewtarget, qbrew, beer calculus, et al, I get OG of 1.085 - 1.090 and a FG of 1.018 - 1.022, assuming my typical 70-75% efficiency holds. Last time I made a beer with gravities around there and no crystal it was very, very, very dry. It is a 2.5 gallon batch though so I'll try one batch with and one without, see which ends up better.

Good idea on the syrup--I'd done it before but on a Hefe type beer where some haze is acceptable. I think I'll just do the zest in the priming solution instead of the juice. Thanks for the tip.

And with black/patent and roasted barley, I've always thought of them as one of the few differentiations between Stouts and Porters. I think I'll try one batch with a couple ounces and one without, just to see. Not 6 oz though, just looking for a hint of roastiness. Almost tempted to use some rauch malt or the cherry smoked malt... but the LHBS doesn't have any and I wanted to brew this tonight.

EDIT: And the rice hulls didn't belong there. They were leftover from another recipe.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Porters run the gambit, you are welcome to your opinions, but to suggest baltic porters aren't porters will eruffle some feathers. (no black patent)

 

[loapathy]

Not suggesting that at all. More of an opinion thing, my personal tastes rather than a big statement. To my tongue, a porter with a lot of roastiness seems like a Stout. Not that it is, just that it tastes like it to me.

 

[Hoppocrates]

I too like a hint of roasty-ness in my porter. I favor 2-4 oz of roasted barley in a porter. 6 oz seems a bit much to me...

 

[noodledancer77]

I'm learning about Porters now. I just brewed a robust as my first AG recipe and the only commercially produced porter that I've had is from Bluegrass Brewing Company in Louisville. Heading to the store tonight to remedy that. My impression is that the black patent is probably responsible for too much roasty flavor in some porters. I taste it as a fungus-like flavor on the finish. Am I wrong? My porter turned out that way, and it had 2 lbs of black patent (10 gallon batch). I'd like to try another with a smaller amount and see how it does.

 

[loapathy]

I ended up using 2oz of black patent and 1 oz of roasted barley, and the sample tasted a more roasty than I was expecting, but I am pretty sure that'll even out once it has fermented. It's only a 2.5 gallon batch.

Thanks everyone for the help!