What makes a good Porter?

[cyclonite]

I like Maris Otter as the base grain (gives it a maltier profile, and a bit of nuttiness). I've used all of the following malts in various porters to get roasty flavors:
Black Malt (very little to avoid too much acrid/astringent taste)
Carafa III (aka debittered black - I prefer this to Black Malt to avoid astringency)
Chocolate Malt (pretty much a must IMO)
Special B (LOVE this in porters )
Kiln Coffee (This also makes for a great porter, kind of like chocolate but with some definite coffee tones without actually using coffee beans)
Brown Malt (great in porters, never used it in anything else)
High kilned Crystals (90, 120, 150/British extra dark)

I avoid roasted barley in porters - I think it should be reserved for stouts. I've also done some porters without any black malt, and giving more of a mix of the other roasted malts. These tend to be smoother, and you can get some great complexity by mixing up some other malts (try Special B + Kiln Coffee = great combination). I also tend to use some Biscuit in porters for the flavor.

You can really experiment with porters - kind of a catch all dark beer!

 

[Ølbart]

I think the idea that stouts should use roasted barley and porters should avoid it is a homebrewer's myth without much basis in traditional commercial brewing. Back in the 19th century, porter and stout were often partigyled, the stouts simply being stronger. As the gravity went down, the weaker porter eventually disappeared, and it was during the same decline both porters and stouts started switching to roasted barley (unmalted grains being banned in UK brewing until 1880). Even today, many porters use roasted barley and many stouts use black patent and chocolate malt. Use whichever ingredient that gives you the result you want and stop obsessing over fictitious stylistic ideals. Not even the BJCP says roasted barley is unheard of in porter.

 

[firebird400]

I actually do not know what roasted malts add over black malts, I have never used them but I assume it has to do with taste more so then color.

But then again I got the wrath of Bob last time I assumed something

I´ll keep at it, reading and learning that is.

According to shipment tracking I should get the books I ordered in about a week.
I am getting Porter by Terry Foster, Stout by Michael J. Lewis and Marzen, Vienna, Oktoberfest by George and Laurie Fix

 

[Sweetchuck]

I'd like to jump into this discussion since I have a porter teed up for the batch after the next.

After I bust off pale ale #4 this weekend, I'm looking to get a porter going.

My mashing/sparging efficiency isn't where I want it to be so I'm overcompensating here a bit, and like someone said earlier, I want a roasted flavor with this brew - so I'm thinking:

5 gal batch
9 lbs 2 row
1 lb roasted barley (might cut that back)
1 lb quick oats
1.5 lbs chocolate malt (too much, too little?)
.5 lb black patent

Medium hop.

Any thoughts?

 

[GuldTuborg]

That's definitely a stout you've drawn up. I like keeping the dark malts in my standard porter recipe to just under 10%. I use twice as much chocolate malt as patent. You may differ as to what you want in a porter, of course, but 3lbs of dark, roasted malts in a 5 gallon batch is undoubtedly strong stout territory.

Yeah, I just ran your recipe through Beersmith. Just under 70 SRM.

 

[Boy]

Just started drinking this porter I bottled 3 weeks ago. Came out amazing. For the OP, the three biggest ingredients I have read are vital to Porter are Brown malt, Pale Chocolate, and Chocolate malt.

9lb 10oz 2Row
14oz British 60
12oz Chocolate
10oz Victory
4oz Roasted Barley

Hops: Chinook, Northern Brewer, Saaz

3oz Coarse ground coffee in secondary 24 hours

 

[macmclean]

I quite liked the CYBI recipe for the Black Butte Porter someone mentioned above, but my favorite Porter is an all-grain conversion of an old BYO recipe (Nosferatu's Revenge). It's incredibly smooth and drinkable for such a high-gravity beer. I get more requests for this than almost anything else I make, which is remarkable considering SWMBO and our female friends are voracious when it comes to the Belgians.
OG: 1.088
IBU: 30.1
9 lb 2row
1 lb. Pale Chocolate
1 lb. Chocolate
1 lb. Munich
1 lb. Vienna
.5 lb. C60
.5 lb. Carapils
2 lb. honey
2 oz. Perle@20
1 oz. Crystal@5
Nottingham or other relatively clean yeast. I've also used Wyeast Swedish Ale to good results.

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

I'd like to jump into this discussion since I have a porter teed up for the batch after the next.

After I bust off pale ale #4 this weekend, I'm looking to get a porter going.

My mashing/sparging efficiency isn't where I want it to be so I'm overcompensating here a bit, and like someone said earlier, I want a roasted flavor with this brew - so I'm thinking:

5 gal batch
9 lbs 2 row
1 lb roasted barley (might cut that back)
1 lb quick oats
1.5 lbs chocolate malt (too much, too little?)
.5 lb black patent

Medium hop.

Any thoughts?

If you really want to keep the RB in there I would drop it down to a 1/4lb and get rid of the BP. I personally would drop the RB and decrease the BP to a 1/4lb.