Stout or Porter - What did I make?

[dttk0009]

I recently tried my second attempt at making a stout after trying many years ago and ending up with an infected batch.

I cooked up a recipe on BeerSmith and had some good success in executing it about 20 days ago. While waiting for the beer to finish up in the bottles, I was wondering about whether what I brewed was actually a stout or a porter, or maybe even something else?

To be honest I kinda winged it with the adjuncts to give it the appropriate color. Could anyone shed some light on my recipe and let me know what it could officially be?

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Pale Malt (Weyermann) (6.5 EBC) Grain 1 60.3 %
Vienna Malt (Weyermann) (5.9 EBC) Grain 2 17.2 %
Oats, Flaked (2.0 EBC) Grain 3 8.6 %
Carafa III (Weyermann) (1034.3 EBC) Grain 4 3.4 %
Caramunich II (Weyermann) (124.1 EBC) Grain 5 3.4 %
Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 6 3.4 %
Wheat, Flaked (3.2 EBC) Grain 7 3.4 %
Magnum [12.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 43.1 IBUs
Zeus [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 9 16.2 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) [23.66 ml] Yeast 10 -

Fermented @16C for 12 days

Measured Original Gravity: 1.062 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.014 SG

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I guess I was going for an oatmeal stout given the addition of flaked oats, but I'm not sure if flaked oats an oatmeal stout makes.

 

[TorMag]

The only main difference many brewers still agree on is the kind of malt that should be used to brew each type of beer. Porters use malted barley and stouts are primarily made from unmalted roasted barley, which is where the coffee flavor most people associate with stout comes from.

I googled that....

 

[Newsman]

Also, to a certain extent, I think, teh ABV has a bit to do with it as well

 

[okiedog]

Pale barley malt is the primary ingredient in Stout. Roasted barley is a character malt that gives Stouts their characteristic dry roasty flavor. without roasted barley, I don't think it is a Stout.

 

[dttk0009]

I googled that....

Guess I shoulda done the same before brewing up the recipe, but going in blind can be pretty fun.

Thanks for the input, guys. I suppose it's gonna be more of a porter.

 

[TorMag]

Guess I shoulda done the same before brewing up the recipe, but going in blind can be pretty fun.

Thanks for the input, guys. I suppose it's gonna be more of a porter.

Hats off to you for coming up with your own..

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

Pale barley malt is the primary ingredient in Stout. Roasted barley is a character malt that gives Stouts their characteristic dry roasty flavor. without roasted barley, I don't think it is a Stout.

This is a "rule" in the sense that "i before e except after c" is a rule. (IE, there's a sort of general pattern in that direction, but numerous counter-examples exist, both presently and historically).

 

[filthyastronaut]

For modern reasons, the commonly cited difference is unmalted roasted barley for Stouts, and malted roasted barley in porters. There is a lot of overlap, though, if we're talking style guidelines. They're extremely similar.

Historically, as far as I know, Stouts originated as a stronger type of Porter, and were called Stout Porters before the "Porter" part was dropped. With that perspective, you could say that all Stouts are Porters but not all Porters are Stouts. But then again, you could argue that the origin of the name does not apply to modern brewing.

Basically, it's kind of arbitrary.

 

[UndeadFred]

Ha Ha! The term stout comes from Guinness who sold a variety as an "extra stout porter" and the stronger, darker colored, high ABV varieties seem to have the name stick.

Historically there is no real differentiation. Modern times.. eh some people claim that the addition of unmalted roasted barley is the differentiator, but I call BS on that personally.

I am participating in a wort challenge where our club (CR Beer Nuts) bought the wort from a GABF Gold winning Porter recipe (From Lions Bridge Brewing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.. thanks again Quinton for your continuing support!) and we are all tweaking it in some way. I am going to call my entries-- if they are any good-- Stouts and not porters just to be funny.

 

[okiedog]

Typically, you can make a Porter with or without roasted barley, but a Stout is generally expected to have a fair amount of the dry, roasty flavor from roasted Barley. That seems to be the case for modern day Stouts and Porters, any way.

 

[Bosh]

Differentiating stouts and porters according to whether unmalted roasted barley was used or not is pretty modern. IIRC unmlated roasted barley wasn't used at all until relatively recently, not until the 1930's for Guiness I think.

So the porter/guiness split is pretty arbitrary these days and can be used in a lot of different ways. During porter's heyday, stout was just stronger porter much like IPA vs. Double/Imperial IPA these days and often the only difference in porter and stouts recipes was the amount of water added.

Personally I call a beer a porter if it's less roasty then the beers I make that I call stouts for if it's dark brown rather than fully black but that's just my personal scheme.

 

[JKaranka]

It's an arbitrary distinction. Historically just a strong porter. There also were pale stouts but the term stuck for stout porter. When partigyled, the stout would have been proportionally stronger and more bitter.

It's quite a boring debate. I'm more interested on whether the stout I drink is a runner or a stock.

 

[TorMag]

It's an arbitrary distinction. Historically just a strong porter. There also were pale stouts but the term stuck for stout porter. When partigyled, the stout would have been proportionally stronger and more bitter.
.

I think this is a misconception. Take out Imperial Stouts, but aren't most porters higher ABV then stouts? My experience, most stouts are in the 5-6% rnage and most porters are more like 6-7% range?

 

[JKaranka]

I think this is a misconception. Take out Imperial Stouts, but aren't most porters higher ABV then stouts? My experience, most stouts are in the 5-6% rnage and most porters are more like 6-7% range?

That's a modern thing. Even Guinness stout was about twice the gravity it is nowadays and they discontinued their porter in the 60s or so (that had lower gravity than their export stout). Worth checking on the great London breweries of the 1700-1800s where these styles originate.

 

[Bosh]

I think this is a misconception. Take out Imperial Stouts, but aren't most porters higher ABV then stouts? My experience, most stouts are in the 5-6% rnage and most porters are more like 6-7% range?

Originally "stout" just meant "strong" like how "imperial" is used these days or how "mild" meant "not aged" and "stale" meant "aged."

Porter came to mean dark hoppy beer(19th century porter tended to have quite a good bit of hops). So a stout porter would be a strong dark hoppy beer.

Eventually calling other kinds of strong beers "stout" fell out of fashion so "stout" came to mean "strong porter." With double/imperial stouts being strong as **** but even regular porter often had an OG of 1.065 or so back in the Victorian era.

Then taxes and the world wars caused British beer gravities to crash really really hard. But instead of stopping making "strong" beer styles they just kept the same names and just lowered the gravity. So they started making double stouts that were as strong as old regular stouts, stouts that were as strong as old porters and porters that were watered-down crap. Not that precisely but that general idea.

Then the porter name got revived often at their old Victorian strength or near too it which often made them stronger than some (now very watered down compared to their 19th century incarnations) commercial stouts.

 

[jjeffers09]

I would see a German Inspired stout in there with the carafe III. Should be a good brew if all else is well. Too bitter to be a porter, imo. And too dark as well. All in all you made stout numbers but missed the traditional stout, but I think you were going for something unique vs recipe kit. And that is your homebrew, cheers man!

 

[JKaranka]

Originally "stout" just meant "strong" like how "imperial" is used these days or how "mild" meant "not aged" and "stale" meant "aged."

Porter came to mean dark hoppy beer(19th century porter tended to have quite a good bit of hops). So a stout porter would be a strong dark hoppy beer.

Eventually calling other kinds of strong beers "stout" fell out of fashion so "stout" came to mean "strong porter." With double/imperial stouts being strong as **** but even regular porter often had an OG of 1.065 or so back in the Victorian era.

Then taxes and the world wars caused British beer gravities to crash really really hard. But instead of stopping making "strong" beer styles they just kept the same names and just lowered the gravity. So they started making double stouts that were as strong as old regular stouts, stouts that were as strong as old porters and porters that were watered-down crap. Not that precisely but that general idea.

Then the porter name got revived often at their old Victorian strength or near too it which often made them stronger than some (now very watered down compared to their 19th century incarnations) commercial stouts.

Spot on