Robust porter

[jtp137]

Thinking of making a porter for the first time with some left over malt would it be ok for 10% crystal 40, 6.5% chocolate malt, 2.6% black patent and rest 2-row thinking may be on the roastier side which I like but is 10% too much crystal?

 

[Calder]

Drop the black and call it a Brown Ale.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Thinking of making a porter for the first time with some left over malt would it be ok for 10% crystal 40, 6.5% chocolate malt, 2.6% black patent and rest 2-row thinking may be on the roastier side which I like but is 10% too much crystal?

You're the head brewer, and chief taster, so ultimately it's up to you - but personally I would knock the crystal down a bit. Just in general, US brewers seem to use far too much crystal for British styles when they should be letting a low-attenuation yeast do the work. Historically porters used only brown malt until the late 18th century, then there was a fairly rapid change over to around 85:15 pale:brown by 1817 when black patent was invented. It gradually replaced some of the brown until they were roughly 84:8:8 by the end of the 19th century. Only in the 20th century did you get some porter recipes using crystal, but it wasn't particularly common and seems to have been tied in with the brewing of London (ie sweetish) stouts. Having said that, the modern Fuller's porter uses a fair bit of crystal and it's delicious.

So I'd start with 5% crystal and see how you go, be prepared to go up or down depending on taste. And use an appropriately low-attenuation yeast - 1968/WLP002 would be an obvious place to start, but any similar British yeast would do.