First time brewing a Porter - Need help!

If you want to make a nice London Porter, try adding invert sugars like molasses, sugar beets syrup, or the best and most authentic, Lyle's Black Treacle.

Or add any type of dark, unrefined sugar like Muscovado, etc.

I agree with @JackHorzempa - let the malts shine and use British hops like EKG or Fuggles. The American hops will overpower and not really balance out a porter. That would be like putting a chocolate chip cookie into mango/grapefruit juice.

 

Classic American hops can play nicely with roasted grains, but maybe it's not for everyone.
Janet's Brown Ale comes to mind.

 

Clones of Edmund Fitzgerald are heavy with Cascade

 

Below is a clone recipe via BYO for Edmund Fitzgerald which calls to 0.5 ounces of Cascade for the end of boil addition. I personally would not associate 0.5 ounces with “heavy” but Cascade is indeed used for that recipe.

Cheers!

https://byo.com/recipe/great-lakes-brewing-company-edmund-fitzgerald-porter-clone/

 

I've never had Edmund Fitz, but I do think I saw it recently. I'll give it a try. I believe Sierra Nevada Stout and Porter both used to have cascade featured . I haven't had either for at least 15 years, and their website suggests the porter no longer uses them.

I would agree with @JackHorzempa that cascade does not seem all that heavy in the clone recipe, and I've seen clones for the SN beers that use a light touch with cascade. The Janet's Brown is somewhat heavier with C hops. It also uses a fair amount of crystal and carapils, and less roasted grain than a typical porter or stout. I think there is a challenge in balancing those hops with roasty malts, but it can be done well, IMO. Enjoyment of flavors is a subjective experience, and dialing in personal preference may take time.

BesidesTwo other beers that feature roasted grains and American hops can be found in the recipe section under Averagely Perfect American Stout (not my favorite - blame Chinook) and the Averagely Perfect American Brown (Centennial? That works better for me, although I did think I enjoyed it as much as I liked Janet's Brown).

 

Been years since I looked at it, but I just remember seeing it and thinking "Wow, didn't expect that!"

 

Magnum should be fine. If you want a later addition and you have access to other hops, something like 0.125 oz of Willamette at 15 minutes would be reasonable. If you change your mind on the C-hops, try the cascade 3 g of cascade at 15 minutes. I doubt you will find it clashes with the roast character.

I believe I would have think you said you had Muntons, US05, and S04 to choose from? I never used Muntons so do not know what to expect, but can say that either of the Fermentis yeasts should be fine.

 

Sometimes I do it, sometimes I don't. I can't say I have monitored things closely enough to say it makes a difference. It definitely is not necessary and I am at a loss to say it truly helps with anything at all.

 

S-04 would be my choice for a porter with what you have on hand.

When I do a "mash-out", it's pretty much a wet decoction. I run about half of the wort in the mash tun off, boil it, and return it to the mash tun. I don't worry about it so much with most of what I do, but if I want to retain some body, I do it. Porters/stouts would be one of the things I do it on.

If you're doing BIAB and want to do this, I suppose place the bag in another container, bring the wort to a boil, kill the heat, then return the bag and whatever liquid seeped out to the original vessel.

Keep in mind that things don't scale linearly in brewing, and I have no familiarity with how it would work on a 1 gallon scale. I do mostly 5 gallon (19L) batches, with the odd 3 gallon (11.5L) batch mixed in. You can always mess around and find what works for you.

 

I’ve seen this argument. It is based in heating and denaturing enzymes. It probably is relevant for brew systems that employ a long lautering period, like fly sparge systems. With a biab or batch sparge system, you can lauter very quickly and get your wort heated faster. It doesn’t have to sit around with enzymes working through a long lautering,

 

Yep, I batch sparge. Since I prefer a drier beer, and mostly brew Belgian styles or IPAs on the drier side, a mash-out isn't exactly necessary.

Still, even though a porter should be somewhat dry, at a certain point you want to halt enzymatic activity.

 

Have you tried BeerTools.com ? It's online and free, their calculations seem to be on point, I've used it for over 10 years now.

 

Sure, but if it takes X minutes to get your mash (grains and wort) to mash out, and Y minutes to lauter quickly with biab or batch sparge, Y plus the time it takes to bring lautered wort (lower thermal mass, no grains) to the same temp may actually be lower than X. Less time for enzymatic action.

For biab, I start raising the temp toward boil as soon as the bag is removed.

 

I'll say goldings for a porter 1 oz at 60 and 10. Dark grains shine
And it's a lot smoother, to m, than magnum.