Has anyone tried Weyermann's German Porter recipe?

[ebbelwoi]

I'm thinking about giving this a shot. The recipe looks a bit... I dunno... let's say no-nonsense, practical and hardworking? The pdf is here: https://www.weyermann.de/downloads/pdf/German Porter_neu.pdf

And the shorter version is:
Pilsner 54%
Munich II 40%
Carafa III Special 6%
to 5.8% ABV

bittering hops: Herkules
flavor hops: Northern Brewer
aroma hops: Tettnanger
to 30 IBU

yeast: top-fermenting altbier-type
target OG: 1.057/14.25P
target FG: 1.013/3.25P

 

[bierhaus15]

That recipe comes from the Dornbusch/Weyermann recipe book and say what you will about Dornbusch, but many of the recipes are good. Certainly closer to what actual Germans are brewing than what US brewers think they are doing.

I'd brew it. Looks like a tasty beer. Interestingly, you could add about 10% caramunich malt to that and ferment with a saaz type lager yeast and end up with a decent Czech dark lager in the same vein as U Fleku.

 

[Miraculix]

I'm thinking about giving this a shot. The recipe looks a bit... I dunno... let's say no-nonsense, practical and hardworking? The pdf is here: https://www.weyermann.de/downloads/pdf/German Porter_neu.pdf

And the shorter version is:
Pilsner 54%
Munich II 40%
Carafa III Special 6%
to 5.8% ABV

bittering hops: Herkules
flavor hops: Northern Brewer
aroma hops: Tettnanger
to 30 IBU

yeast: top-fermenting altbier-type
target OG: 1.057/14.25P
target FG: 1.013/3.25P

Sounds delicious to me.

 

[couchsending]

Interestingly, you could add about 10% caramunich malt to that and ferment with a saaz type lager yeast and end up with a decent Czech dark lager in the same vein as U Fleku.

Just brewed that exact beer. Might be my favorite new style. Only ever had one commercial version (Schilling Modernism) but man was it good. Blend of 2001/2278, all Saaz and that exact grain bill. Love it!

 

[ebbelwoi]

Getting ready to make this. I don't have enough Munich II on hand. Do you figure I can replace some of it with Munich I, then add more Carafa Special III to compensate for the color difference? Or should I add a little melanoidin as well?

For the Munich II portion, I'm looking at 40% Munich II, 60% Munich I.

 

[Miraculix]

Getting ready to make this. I don't have enough Munich II on hand. Do you figure I can replace some of it with Munich I, then add more Carafa Special III to compensate for the color difference? Or should I add a little melanoidin as well?

For the Munich II portion, I'm looking at 40% Munich II, 60% Munich I.

Replace with Munich 1, maybe add a little bit more of it than the amount of Munich 2 you are replacing with it but definitely don't add more carafa.

 

[knollybru]

This is what I’m talking about. Love everything about the recipe and the Czech Dark lager variation too. I was going to brew a regular porter as one of next beers but I think I might give the German Porter a try.

Keep us posted on how it turns out.

 

[hottpeper13]

I didn't know there was a German Porter style out there, I've been brewing a beer like this with a little wheat malt and calling it a Black Kolsch for years.

 

[-Dan-]

Curious ... how did you find that on the website? I cannot locate the German Porter there under the recipe section

 

[ebbelwoi]

Curious ... how did you find that on the website? I cannot locate the German Porter there under the recipe section

I don't see it either, in German or English. I think I just googled "German Porter" and there was a direct link to the pdf.

 

[jcav]

John

I'm thinking about giving this a shot. The recipe looks a bit... I dunno... let's say no-nonsense, practical and hardworking? The pdf is here: https://www.weyermann.de/downloads/pdf/German Porter_neu.pdf

And the shorter version is:
Pilsner 54%
Munich II 40%
Carafa III Special 6%
to 5.8% ABV

bittering hops: Herkules
flavor hops: Northern Brewer
aroma hops: Tettnanger
to 30 IBU

yeast: top-fermenting altbier-type
target OG: 1.057/14.25P
target FG: 1.013/3.25P

Nice! Thanks for posting, I might have to brew this in the future!

John

 

[Miraculix]

I didn't know there was a German Porter style out there, I've been brewing a beer like this with a little wheat malt and calling it a Black Kolsch for years.

I think that there is no German porter, they probably just gave the beer this name.

There is Schwarzbier and Dunkel and its variations but to my knowledge no German porter.

 

[ebbelwoi]

If you google "German Porter" you'll find plenty of information about it. You could even just click the link to the recipe.

 

[Miraculix]

If you google "German Porter" you'll find plenty of information about it. You could even just click the link to the recipe.

Interesting! Well, today it's not a thing anymore. Maybe on a very small scale, but not known to the wider public.

 

[ebbelwoi]

Apparently it was more common in the East, before the "Wende".

 

[Miraculix]

Apparently it was more common in the East, before the "Wende".

Ah, that explains why I haven't heard about it, I'm from the west.
I might be moving over to the deepest east soon if I get the job I applied for, so I might find something there.

 

[riceral]

I think that there is no German porter, they probably just gave the beer this name.

There is Schwarzbier and Dunkel and its variations but to my knowledge no German porter.

Well Michael Jackson wrote about it back in 1998:
http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-000150.html

 

[balrog]

I'm confused by the PDF calling for:
Yeast Altbier-style top-fermenting yeast
With lager-looking fermentation schedule, but I thought ale yeasts were top fermenting while lager yeasts are bottom fermenting?

 

[ebbelwoi]

I'm confused by the PDF calling for:
Yeast Altbier-style top-fermenting yeast
With lager-looking fermentation schedule, but I thought ale yeasts were top fermenting while lager yeasts are bottom fermenting?

The Germans lager Altbier and Kölsch, both of which are made with ale yeast, so it stands to reason they'd lager their Porter as well, I guess.

 

[couchsending]

The Germans lager Altbier and Kölsch, both of which are made with ale yeast, so it stands to reason they'd lager their Porter as well, I guess.

Lagering a porter is one thing but I don’t think there’s an “Altbier style top fermenting yeast” that would successfully ferment at 48.

Seems like that part of the recipe is a bit of a screw up

 

[ebbelwoi]

Lagering a porter is one thing but I don’t think there’s an “Altbier style top fermenting yeast” that would successfully ferment at 48.

Seems like that part of the recipe is a bit of a screw up

Aha, I missed that. Sure is low... looks like a screwup to me, too.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

I've a strain of altbier yeast direct from a brewery in Dusseldorf and I routinely ferment at 50F with it. So I am thinking 48F is not out of the realm of possibility.

 

[ebbelwoi]

Just to follow up, I brewed a batch of the Weyermann German Porter (with some notable substitutions), and I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. I've gotten nothing but compliments on it.

My grain bill ended up being
Pilsner 54%
Munich 21%
Dark Munich 15.5%
Carafa Special III 6.5%
Melanoidin 3%

All Weyermann except for the dark Munich. Final ABV was 5.3% (I was shooting for 5.4). OG 1.052, FG 1.013.

The hops were
Magnum FWH
Perle 15m
Hersbrucker 0m (was planning on Tettnanger, but it smelled a bit off, so I had to go with something else)

5.4 mash pH, German pils water profile

Fermented with Voss kveik, intentionally overpitched to keep the esters down, around 28C

I'm already down to my last bottle, but my second batch is already cold crashing. For the second batch, I didn't have any dark Munich left (it costs almost twice as much as the regular stuff), so I substituted with Munich I and added a touch more melanoidin. We'll see how it comes out.

Very happy with this beer.

 

[Bierkrug]

Kinda forgot to post this, but I once thought about doing a German Porter, too.

So, whilst searching on the interwebs, I came across this thing on the German forum:

https://katalog.ub.uni-weimar.de/tgl/TGL_7764_03-1980.pdf

Those are the the GDR guidelines for beer, unfortunately it's only in German.

Few interesting things about GDR Porter:

-Brett B was allowed (only in Porter)
-up to 100 g/hl of Salt were allowed
-up to 0.45kg/hl of caramel colourant
-had to be lagered for at least 25 days, recommended 40 days
-OG had to be between 17.7°P and 18.3°P (1.0728-1.0755)
-Apparent attenuation of at least 64%

There's a bunch more stuff, down to the colour of the label (carmine, for those who care)