First porter recipe.. thoughts are appreciated

[frettfreak]

Here is my first attempt at my own porter recipe. Would love some feed back so please let me know what your suggestions are. Really dont know where i am going with the yeast strain yet. I have Dennys50 plugged into the recipe, but debating on changing that to WL002 london ale yeast maybe too. Just not sure.

8 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 54.2 % 
3 lbs Pale Ale Malt US (3.5 SRM) Grain 3 20.3 % 
1 lbs 4.0 oz Chocolate (Briess) (350.0 SRM) Grain 4 8.5 % 
1 lbs Caramel Malt - 40L (Briess) (40.0 SRM) Grain 5 6.8 % 
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 6 5.1 % 
12.0 oz Carapils (Briess) (1.5 SRM) Grain 7 5.1 % 
1.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 20.9 IBUs 
0.75 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 9 8.8 IBUs 
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 10 - 
0.50 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 11 3.8 IBUs 
1.0 pkg Denny's Favorite (Wyeast Labs #1450) [124.21 ml] Yeast 12 - 


Est Original Gravity: 1.078 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.022 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.4 %
Bitterness: 33.6 IBUs
Est Color: 35.0 SRM

Has anyone used Dennys Fav 50 yeast on a porter? I have never used this yeast, but everyone seems to love it online, but most reviews are for ales and IPA's. Just not sure how it would work out in a porter. the WL002 is less attenuative, but higher flocculation and i am just not sure which would be better for a bigger beer like this. I know when i switched out the yeast in beersmith from WL002 to Fav50 my ABV went from 6.6 to 7.4.

I have it in beersmith as a robust porter which everything fits the profile except OG and ABV, but i prefer bigger beers so really this is where i was shooting for. Not looking to win any competitions with this, just make a good beer!! lol I am making a starter hopefully today for the yeast and plan on brewing Sunday. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

[frettfreak]

Sorry. Forgot to mention this is got a 5 gal batch

 

[progmac]

i don't think the carapils is necessary with all the other crystal malts you have in there

 

[frettfreak]

I was debating in that but I was going for big body and wanted good head retention. You don't think that would be an issue if I take that out? Not doubting you just clarifying the reason I chose to put it in. Thanks!

Went down to my lhbs and they didn't have Dennys fav but the guys there recommended I try the wpl001 California ale. Gonna give it a go and see what happens. Unless the collective here says that is a horrible idea. Then I can use that for something else and go grab another strain.

 

[progmac]

I was debating in that but I was going for big body and wanted good head retention. You don't think that would be an issue if I take that out? Not doubting you just clarifying the reason I chose to put it in. Thanks!

Went down to my lhbs and they didn't have Dennys fav but the guys there recommended I try the wpl001 California ale. Gonna give it a go and see what happens. Unless the collective here says that is a horrible idea. Then I can use that for something else and go grab another strain.

even without the carapils, this recipe has more caramel malts than most porter recipes. i don't think big body and head retention are going to be a problem.

 

[corax]

Presumably this is some sort of Imperial/Baltic porter? 1.078 is way to strong for garden-variety porter.

I agree with progmac about caramel malts; 2.5 lbs seems way too much. I would use less of a darker crystal -- maybe 1 pound of 120 L British crystal.

 

[signpost]

I agree with the others. That seems like a lot of crystal malt.

I recently brewed a 9% abv imperial porter, and just sampled the first bottle the other day. I used 12 oz. Chocolate malt, some Biscuit and Amber malt and a 1/2 pound each of Crystal 20L and 80L. It is plenty dark and even though the first bottle I tried wasn't fully carbed, it retained the bit of head that was there.

One other question. Is there a reason you are using both Maris Otter and American Pale malt? Or is that just what you had on hand?

 

[frettfreak]

I agree with the others. That seems like a lot of crystal malt.

I recently brewed a 9% abv imperial porter, and just sampled the first bottle the other day. I used 12 oz. Chocolate malt, some Biscuit and Amber malt and a 1/2 pound each of Crystal 20L and 80L. It is plenty dark and even though the first bottle I tried wasn't fully carbed, it retained the bit of head that was there.

One other question. Is there a reason you are using both Maris Otter and American Pale malt? Or is that just what you had on hand?

Well I took some suggestions and retweaked the recipe. I will post in a little bit. I am brewing it up today so we will see how it goes. I took out the car pils, cut down the crystal by quite a bit and added a little victory in.

As far as why the marris otter and pale malt... Inspiration came from one of my favorite brewery's here in CA Firestone Walker. They do that for almost all their beers and I really love what they do so I figured why not experiment a little. They are definitely different so mixing them would give me a little different base profile. Basically why not? Lol its home brew.

 

[signpost]

As far as why the marris otter and pale malt... Inspiration came from one of my favorite brewery's here in CA Firestone Walker. They do that for almost all their beers and I really love what they do so I figured why not experiment a little. They are definitely different so mixing them would give me a little different base profile. Basically why not? Lol its home brew.

Cool. I was wondering if there was a specific flavor balance you were going for, but modeling your recipe on a pro that you like is a perfectly good reason to do it.

I'll be curious to see what your final recipe ended up being.

 

[frettfreak]

Went ahead and brewed this up today. Here is my final grain bill i used. After sampling the wort, there is definitely room for improvement but we will wait and see how it finishes. It was really sweet, so i am thinking next batch i need to change some malts around a little to give it more bitterness.

8 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 60.2 % 
3 lbs Pale Ale Malt US (3.5 SRM) Grain 3 21.2 % 
1 lbs Chocolate (Briess) (350.0 SRM) Grain 4 7.1 % 
10.0 oz Caramel Malt - 40L (Briess) (40.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.4 % 
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 6 3.5 % 
8.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 7 3.5 %

Thinking next imte cutting down on the chocolate even more and changing the C40 and c80 to mayeb c80 and 120 (8 oz of each) I dunno, but it was REALLY sweet.

 

[progmac]

that looks much better

wort is always sweet. it has a tremendous amount of sugar in it.

 

[Mattyc88]

Lot of chocolate/crystal malts. Maybe reduce slightly and add a small amount of roasted malts?

 

[signpost]

Went ahead and brewed this up today. Here is my final grain bill i used. After sampling the wort, there is definitely room for improvement but we will wait and see how it finishes. It was really sweet, so i am thinking next batch i need to change some malts around a little to give it more bitterness.

8 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 60.2 % 
3 lbs Pale Ale Malt US (3.5 SRM) Grain 3 21.2 % 
1 lbs Chocolate (Briess) (350.0 SRM) Grain 4 7.1 % 
10.0 oz Caramel Malt - 40L (Briess) (40.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.4 % 
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 6 3.5 % 
8.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 7 3.5 %

Thinking next imte cutting down on the chocolate even more and changing the C40 and c80 to mayeb c80 and 120 (8 oz of each) I dunno, but it was REALLY sweet.

I'd wait until it is done fermenting before you decide it is too sweet. Let the yeasties eat up a bunch of those sugars.

 

[frettfreak]

that looks much better

wort is always sweet. it has a tremendous amount of sugar in it.

Lot of chocolate/crystal malts. Maybe reduce slightly and add a small amount of roasted malts?

I'd wait until it is done fermenting before you decide it is too sweet. Let the yeasties eat up a bunch of those sugars.

for sure. Not making any changes before i taste the final product. hoping its gonna be good.