Smoked Porter Critique

[TAK]

Hello HBT collective,

Any input on this English smoked porter recipe?

5 lbs English Maris Otter Malt
5 lbs Brittish Peated Malt
1 lb Fawcett Oat Malt
12 oz English Medium Crystal
4 oz English Extra Dark Crystal
1 lb English Chocolate Malt
8 oz English Black Malt

0.667 oz US Magnum (14.7 AA) @ 60 min
1 oz Organic UK Fuggle (3.8 AA) @ 5 min

Yeast TBD
Expected OG = 1.064
Aprx 37 IBUs

I'm sure there are varying opinions on this, but is it too much chocolate and/or black malt?

Cheers

 

[TAK]

Bump?

 

[CadillacAndy]

I'd steer clear of peat smoked malt. It's a super powerful flavor. I'd swap that out with a regular smoked malt, or try smoking your own.

 

[TAK]

Interesting, is it more pungent than other styles of smoked malt? Or just more potent? I did a 1gal test batch a while back to get a feel for the amount of smoke I want. I did 50/50 in my test batch also. But I think it was probably beach wood smoked or something.

I already ordered the malt in this recipe, so I'll probably use the peat, but I wonder if I should pull back the precent. With that said, I do love a strong smoked character.

 

[progmac]

conventional wisdom is not to use more than 0.5# of peat malt. although people parrot that advice, i never see anyone that has actually used a large amount of it. let us know how it turns out. it might be awful.

 

[TAK]

Hmmmm, maybe I'll re-order some malt and go with beach wood or something. I do want a strong presence in the grist, but not anything putrid.

 

[CadillacAndy]

I'd recommend rauchmalt or any other type of wood smoked malt over peat any day. It's a very intense flavor that's a little hard to explain. They usually use it in scotch I think, so think of the dirty, earthy flavor scotch has.

 

[TAK]

I thought about doing a micro mash, like a quart or less, of this recipe roughly scaled way down. I figure the sweet wort will give me an idea of the character.

I'll probably end up ordering something else though.

 

[GuldTuborg]

If you can, try out the malt, as you suggested. Peated malts come in a variety of strengths, so it's tough to say how strong yours will be. I've heard some people claim they've got pretty lightly peated malts, and others have used a pound or so in 5g and claimed it's tasted like Laphroaig. If you can't try it first, use a standard wood smoked malt rather than the peat.

For a porter, I would also tone down on the roasted malts. You could cut both quantities in half and still have a good porter character. In fact, that's probably exactly what I'd do. From there, adjust up or down by 25% at most depending upon how roasty you like it.

You might consider a slight increase in the hop rate as well, just to balance out the roast and smoke flavors. Not much, maybe an extra 5-10 IBUs.

 

[mattd2]

conventional wisdom is not to use more than 0.5# of peat malt. although people parrot that advice, i never see anyone that has actually used a large amount of it. let us know how it turns out. it might be awful.

Disclaimer: I have not had this beer but it does have a good following
New Zealand brewer Yestie Boys do a 100% peat malt beer
http://www.yeastieboys.co.nz/beer/rex-attitude/
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23246/69677
If you do use a large amount just expect a much different flavour - I think you are correct to redo your trial specifically with the peat smoked stuff to gauge what it will taste like and if you like it

 

[Tamarlane]

I recommend 40-50% of Briess Cherry Wood smoked malt. Great, rich smoky flavor. Just make the base beer strong enough to balance it.

 

[TAK]

If you can, try out the malt, as you suggested. Peated malts come in a variety of strengths, so it's tough to say how strong yours will be. I've heard some people claim they've got pretty lightly peated malts, and others have used a pound or so in 5g and claimed it's tasted like Laphroaig. If you can't try it first, use a standard wood smoked malt rather than the peat.

For a porter, I would also tone down on the roasted malts. You could cut both quantities in half and still have a good porter character. In fact, that's probably exactly what I'd do. From there, adjust up or down by 25% at most depending upon how roasty you like it.

You might consider a slight increase in the hop rate as well, just to balance out the roast and smoke flavors. Not much, maybe an extra 5-10 IBUs.

Thanks for the input. This is exactly what I was looking for from my OP, glad I got advice on the peat too though. I'll bring it down to 8oz chocolate malt and 4oz black malt. Bumping up the IBUs sounds like a good idea too. I'll definitely be trying the malt before I brew this now. The micro mash sounds fun anyways. I figure I'll work out the recipe in grams and mash a few cups in a coffee thermos.

 

[TAK]

So, I did a micro mash at 1g per 2 oz of the full recipe. The smokiness was upfront in the nose for sure. It was definitely strong on the tongue, but it didn't dominate. The roasted tones and crystal malts had equal presence that balanced with the smoke. After hopping, I'm sure it'd be even more in tune. With that said, the peat character of the smoke is definitely more what I want in a single malt whiskey than a beer. I think I will look for a different smoked malt.

 

[GuldTuborg]

I'm glad you found out this way before making 5g worth of the stuff! Look around, there are lots of different woods used in smoking malts. If you don't like what you see, you can always smoke your own!

 

[TAK]

I'm glad you found out this way before making 5g worth of the stuff! Look around, there are lots of different woods used in smoking malts. If you don't like what you see, you can always smoke your own!

The micro mash was absolutely worth it. It was a bit fun even; a way to get some worthwhile "brewing" activity in on a week night. I could see using the technique again to get a feel for grain or a recipe.

I am thinking about smoking my own. I like that I can carry the same base malt into my smoked portion that way. Need to do some research though. I have one of those R2D2 smokers, so the real estate available for spreading out grain is low. I imagine I'd need to do 2 or 3 batches to get what I want.