Category Archives: porter

Turtle Toe Porter

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As the weather swings cooler, my tastes swing to darker beers–porters, stouts, and such. So, I found a clone recipe for Deschutes Black Butte Porter on the AHA website and made a few modifications for yeast (American ale instead of English ale) and hops (to use up on-hand varieties).

The name comes from a fossil specimen in the museum lab at the moment–it’s a ~67 million year old turtle from Wyoming, which unexpectedly had complete hands and feet. “Turtle Toe Porter” is a very alliterative title for a beer, so the name stuck!

beer label image, showing foot skeleton of turtle on left side, text saying "Turtle Toe Porter" on right side, and "Farke Brewing, Claremont, California" at the bottom.
(bone image from Williston’s 1925 Osteology of the Reptiles)

Turtle Toe Porter

  • 9.5 lb. California Select 2-row malt (Great Western)
  • 14 oz. chocolate wheat malt (Weyermann)
  • 10 oz. 80L crystal malt (Warminster)
  • 4 oz. carapils malt (Briess)
  • 0.75 oz. Magnum hop pellets (10.1% alpha), 90 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Mt. Hood hop pellets (8.0% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. US-05 American ale yeast (DCL/Fermentis)

Target Parameters

  • 1.050 s.g., 1.011 f.g., 5.2% abv, 39 IBU, 30 SRM
  • Full volume mash at 152° for 60 minutes, with 10 minute mash-out at 168°
  • Claremont tap water, treated with Campden tablet

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.5 gallons of water heated to 157°, to hit a target mash temperature of 152°. I added 5 mL of 88% lactic acid to bring down the mash pH. I recirculated the mash at this temperature for 60 minutes, before raising the mash to 168°. Then, I removed the grains and brought the runnings to a boil.
  • In total, I collected 6.4 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.044, for 69% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the kettle to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. After a 90 minute boil, I turned off the heat and chilled to ~80°, before transferring to the fermenter. I chilled the wort the rest of the way in the fermentation chamber, before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed this beer on 11 September 2021. Starting gravity was 1.051, and I fermented it at 66°.
  • On 18 September 2021, I pulled the beer out to ambient, around 70° to 72°, to finish out fermentation.
  • I kegged the beer on 24 September 2021. Final gravity was 1.014, which works out to 4.9% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Brilliantly clear, deep brown beer with garnet highlights, that pours with a decently persistent tan head.
  • Aroma
    • Roasty aroma of coffee and chocolate at the front. No significant hop or yeast character evident.
  • Flavor
    • Roasty and cocoa notes dominate, with a touch of dark caramel behind that. The base malt profile has a slightly grainy character. Bitterness is moderate and fairly clean, with perhaps a slight woody character.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, moderate carbonation, dry finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Yes! This is exactly the American porter that I wanted. It is flavorful, yet very drinkable. I like the roasted character in it, and it is a good beer to bridge the summer to fall transition. If brewed as a winter beer, I might add a bit more character by using Maris Otter, but that’s a fairly mild critique in the scheme of things.
  • Overall
    • 10/10

London Porter

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Because I purchased a 55 pound sack of Maris Otter a few months ago, I have been on a bit of an English ale kick. Next stop: porters! I don’t brew this style nearly often enough, especially in its English incarnation. The particular recipe here was modified from the London Porter in Gordon Strong’s Modern Homebrew Recipes. I adjusted the base recipe slightly for the malt brands I had on-hand, and reduced the amount of brown malt slightly to account for my in-house supply. At the end of 2020, I found a bunch of 1 lb. bags of Warminster malts on sale, so loaded up on those for this recipe. I hadn’t used that brand before, and thought a good English malt would be a match for this one.

London Porter

  • 8 lb. Maris Otter ale malt (Crisp)
  • 1 lb. brown malt (Warminster)
  • 1 lb. Crystal 60 malt (Warminster)
  • 0.75 lb. Munich Light malt (Chateau)
  • 10 oz. chocolate malt (Dingemans)
  • 6 oz. Crystal 80 malt (Warminster)
  • 1 oz. Fuggles hop pellets (4.7% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. East Kent Goldings (EKG) hop pellets (5.0% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. London ESB English Style Ale Yeast (Lallemand)

Target Parameters

  • 1.051 s.g., 1.013 f.g., 5.0% abv, 23 IBU, 27 SRM
  • Full volume infusion mash, 153°; 60 minute boil
  • Claremont water, with 2 g of gypsum to get water profile with 96 Ca, 64 SO4; added Campden tablet to remove chloramines.

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.5 gallons of water at 160°, to achieve a mash temperature of 153°. After 60 minutes, I raised the heat to 168° and held it there for 15 minutes before removing the grains.
  • In total, I got 6.45 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.043, for 65% mash efficiency. I had used the small-batch adapter ring for my Foundry, because some have anecdotally said it made a difference. I didn’t notice any change, at least for this batch.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding finings and such per the recipe.
  • After a 60 minute boil, I chilled and transferred to the fermenter.
  • Starting gravity was 1.050, with 5.5 gallons transferred into the fermenter.
  • I brewed this beer on 8 January 2021.
  • I fermented at 66° for the first two days, which was ambient in the garage. The temperature dropped a bit on the third day, so I moved it inside to ~65° on 10 January 2021.
  • I kegged the beer on 24 January 2021, after 16 days of fermentation. Gravity at this point was 1.025, way higher than I expected. I suspect the yeast had crashed out a bit early. I added 3 oz. of corn sugar boiled in 1 cup of water, for carbonation.
  • It seems that the beer kicked off fermentation in the keg again, because gravity measured 1.020 on 4 February, when I checked it again. That works out to 4.0% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • The beer pours with a thick tan head that subsides moderately quickly, with good retention. The beer itself is dark brown, with a fair bit of yeast haze. I’m pretty disappointed with the lack of clarity…I suspect this is due in part to the ESB yeast (which has given me issues previously), and a potentially stalled fermentation that kept things in suspension longer than usual.
  • Aroma
    • There is a roasty toasty malt character at the forefront–really nice. The hop character is slightly earthy, with a low level of dried stone fruit (?cherry) in the yeast character.
  • Flavor
    • The beer has a roasty, slightly nutty flavor, with a medium-high level of maltiness. The balance is tilted towards the malt, with a medium-low bitterness on the back end. The beer brings out a bit of a caramel character along with an interesting dried stone fruit character as it warms up in the glass. There is a very slight sweetness, as well as a subtle licorice character.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-full body, with medium-low carbonation.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is a good enough beer, but not fully to my tastes. The malt and hop character are pretty great (I would use Warminster malts again for any English beer!), but the yeast was a complete disappointment. I am fairly shocked that it was still in suspension nearly 6 weeks after kegging and conditioning in the keg. I probably should have used a bit of gelatin earlier in the process; but that’s just not typical for my dark beers! I might make this recipe again, but would probably stick with Nottingham or something that clears up a bit more quickly.
  • Overall
    • 6/10 (main deductions for clarity)

Kitchen Sink Porter

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Continuing in my “kitchen sink” series of beers, I brewed a porter recently; it was really a session porter in the end, which has been nice for easy quaffing during the winter months.

Kitchen Sink Porter

  • 7 lbs. Maris Otter malt (Crisp)
  • 1 lb. Munich II malt (Weyermann)
  • 0.75 lb. caramel 60°L malt (Briess)
  • 0.5 lb. pale chocolate malt (Crisp)
  • 5 oz. caramel 120°L malt (Briess)
  • 2 oz. chocolate malt (Bairds)
  • 1 oz. roasted barley (Bairds)
  • 2 oz. Bobek hop pellets (4.5% alpha), first wort hop and 30 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Windsor dry yeast (Lallemand)

Target Parameters

  • 30 minute full volume infusion mash, 155°
  • 1.044 o.g., 1.012 f.g., 4.3% abv, 26 IBU, 23 SRM
  • Claremont tap water

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.5 gallons of water at 159.5°, to hit a 154° mash temperature.
  • After 30 minutes, I vorlaufed and collected 6.3 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.039, for 68% efficiency.
  • I brought everything to a boil, boiling for 30 minutes and adding hops and finings as required.
  • After a 30 minute boil, I turned off the heat and chilled down to 70°, before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed this beer on 3 January 2019. It had a starting gravity of 1.043.
  • The beer was fermented at ambient temperature of around 60°. I pitched the yeast immediately after transfer into the fermentation vesel, and fermentation took off pretty quickly.
  • On January 6, ambient was down to around 58°, so I moved the fermener into the fermentation chamber, where I applied some heat and set the temperature for 66°.
  • I cold crashed the beer on 13 January 2020.
  • I kegged the beer on 15 January 2020. Final gravity was 1.015, for 3.6% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Medium brown color, mostly clear (slight haze), with persistent tan head.
  • Aroma
    • Chocolaty, clean aroma. I’m not picking up much of the bread and biscuit aroma that a good English porter should have.
  • Flavor
    • Roasty, chocolate flavor, with a distinct (but not harsh) bitterness that persists on the tongue. As the beer warms up, some of the biscuity malt notes start to come through.
  • Mouthfeel
    • This is a little thinner than I would like; it needs some extra body, I think. Moderate carbonation, smooth and off-dry finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • There’s a fair bit happening in dark malt flavor, but the mouthfeel department needs some serious augmentation. I also feel like the lighter character malts (e.g., crystal malts) could be expanded a bit more, because the dark malts really take over. It’s not unpleasant, just a bit one-dimensional. This is a pretty drinkable beer–and the low abv certainly helps with that–but not a recipe I’m likely to do again. For a future iteration of this type of beer, I would definitely mash at a much higher temperature (maybe 158°?) and perhaps add in some biscuit malt and/or more crystal 120.
  • Overall
    • 5.5/10

Polacanthus Porter

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IMG_20190829_193848Dark beers! They’re seemingly banished from the summer months, and yet I often have a craving for one even on the hottest days. Not a triple imperial barrel aged chocolate stout, of course–that’s best dumped in the sink during the month of December. I’m thinking of those more drinkable dark beers, a bit lower on the alcohol but still robust on flavor.

An end-of-summer porter seemed like a good way forward. They’re flavorful, but not necessarily gut bombs. They’re relatively easy to brew, and turn around fairly quickly. Also, they’re a “traditional” style that’s just a bit harder to find, overwhelmed by trendier beers on tap lists. If I want a mediocre hazy IPA, I don’t need to make my own; there is no shortage in area breweries!

This recipe is based on the American porter from Gordon Strong’s Modern Homebrew Recipes. My version fairly closely follows that by Strong, with the modifications primarily on the hopping and malt brands. The name recognizes the combination of American and English ingredients, because Polacanthus is a type of armored dinosaur that had relatives on both sides of the Atlantic.

Polacanthus Porter

  • 11 lb. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
  • 12 oz. 1823 Heritage Crystal Malt (Bairds), 75°
  • 10 oz. chocolate malt (Bairds), 500°
  • 5 oz. roasted barley (Bairds), 600°
  • 0.65 oz. Magnum hop pellets (13.2% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (~5.5% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (~5.5% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Safale American Ale Yeast (US-05)

Target Parameters

  • 1.058 o.g., 1.014 f.g., 5.8% abv, 36 IBU, 34 SRM
  • 60 minute infusion mash, 154°, batch sparge
  • Claremont tap water

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 4.25 gallons of water at 164.5°, to his a mash temperature of 155°. After 45 minutes, I added 1 gallon of water at 185°, and collected first runnings after a 10 minute rest and vorlauf. I then added 3.5 gallons of water, let rest for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected second runnings.
  • In total, I collected 7.1 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.048, for 73% efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and such per the recipe.
  • After 60 minutes, I turned off the flame, chilled, and transferred to the fermenter (with aeration). I had to let the wort rest in the fermenter for a few hours, to chill down to the fermentation temperature of 66°.
  • I brewed this beer on 13 July 2019. Starting gravity was 1.057.
  • I kegged the beer on 14 August 2019. Final gravity was 1.013, for 5.8% abv. This was exactly on the dot for my targets!

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Deep brown, with garnet tones when illuminated from behind; clear; persistent tan head
  • Aroma
    • Roasty, chocolately aroma; very nice.
  • Flavor
    • Roast malt character at the front, with a slight chocolate and coffee tinge; slight citrus aspect; moderately bitter, with a finish that tilts towards the bitter rather than the malty side.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, medium carbonation; off-dry finish (probably due to the roast character). It could maybe have a touch more body, but I think overall it’s okay on this end. Too much body would make this harder to drink.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Yes! This is a nice and simple recipe, with a pleasant flavor. As porters go, this definitely is towards the roasted and bitter side, but I’m okay with that. This is really drinkable as a summer porter! I would add it to my regular repertoire.
  • Overall
    • 9/10

Gravel Bottom Porter

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Our upcoming club competition focuses on porters of all types. My own entry is a bit of a last-minute affair; this is coupled with a need/desire to use up some ingredients in the brewing stash.

For this batch, I wanted something more on the English end of porters. I’ve done a lot of American porters and robust porters, but it’s been a long time since I’ve deviated from those. This one isn’t a true English porter–the base malts are decidedly German–but the overall feel is on the west side of the Channel.

20171104_153434

Transferring the wort into the fermenter

Gravel Bottom Porter

  • 5.25 lbs. Munich I malt (Weyermann)
  • 1.5 lbs. Vienna malt (Great Western)
  • 1 lb. crystal extra dark malt 120° (Crisp)
  • 1 lb. pale chocolate malt 225° (Crisp)
  • 6.4 oz. flaked barley
  • 4 oz. caramel 120° malt (Briess)
  • 3.2 oz. flaked wheat
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (5.5% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.85 oz. Willamette hop pellets (4.9% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Empire Ale dry yeast (Mangrove Jack’s M15)

Target Parameters

  • Infusion mash to hit target of 152° for 60 minutes, batch sparge
  • Claremont tap water
  • 1.049 o.g., 1.013 f.g., 4.6% abv, 27 IBU, 29 SRM, 5.5 gallons into fermenter

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 3.25 gallons of water at 165°, to hit a mash temperature of 153°. After 45 minutes, it was down to around 151°.
  • After 60 minutes, I added 1.37 gallons of water at 185°, let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the first runnings. Then, I added 3.5 gallons of water at 185°, let sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the second runnings.
  • In total, I collected ~6.25 gallons of wort. This was below my target, so I added RO water to get to 6.8 gallons. This equates to around 79% efficiency.
  • I brought the wort to a boil, adding hops and Whirlfloc at the appropriate times.
  • After 60 minutes, I turned off the flame and began chilling. Once I was down to ~78°, I transferred to the primary fermenter and pitched the yeast.
  • Starting gravity was 1.049; right on the nose!
  • I brewed this beer on 4 November 2017, and will be fermenting at 68°.