El cheapo kit dressup.... (Porter or similar)

[Ash]

Hey guys,

Money is a bit tight at this time of year so I'm thinking of dressing up a kit (haven't used one in over a year), though I don't have much in the way of stuff to dress it up with at the moment & can't really spare too much more money.

I have 30g Saaz & 15gm Spalt hops, 450gm of choc grain (900ebc stuff), about 400gm of a draught kit left over from yeast culturing that I can boil with, about 500gm of dex & plenty of US56 yeast & a single SO4 packet.

I was thinking of using honey in the brew as I have plenty of it, 500-750gm as last time I only used 300gm & couldn't taste it.

So, I was thinking a honey porter, I know Saaz & Spalt are out of style for it so I might have to buy some EKG or something, though I'm prepared to be a weirdo & use what I have.

What kit would you base it off? Should I get a dark kit & only use maybe 50-100gm of choc grain in it or a lighter kit & use 300+gm of choc grain?

Remember, it has to be a tightarse but tasty K&K option guys.

[drsmurto]

Still have a few bottles left over of this porter. Not overly strong so its stilleasy drinking at this time of the year. Any lager kit will work, coopers lager is normally <$10 from the supermarket.

1 can Black Rock Colonial Lager
1 kg LDME
450 g Chocolate Malt
50 g roast barley
15 g POR @ 30 mins
20 g Fuggles @ 25 mins
20 g Fuggles @ flameout
Safale S-04 - 18degC

Roast barley isnt altogether in style for a porter but this is subtle.

[Boonie]

Hey guys,

Money is a bit tight at this time of year so I'm thinking of dressing up a kit (haven't used one in over a year), though I don't have much in the way of stuff to dress it up with at the moment & can't really spare too much more money.

I have 30g Saaz & 15gm Spalt hops, 450gm of choc grain (900ebc stuff), about 400gm of a draught kit left over from yeast culturing that I can boil with, about 500gm of dex & plenty of US56 yeast & a single SO4 packet.

I was thinking of using honey in the brew as I have plenty of it, 500-750gm as last time I only used 300gm & couldn't taste it.

So, I was thinking a honey porter, I know Saaz & Spalt are out of style for it so I might have to buy some EKG or something, though I'm prepared to be a weirdo & use what I have.

What kit would you base it off? Should I get a dark kit & only use maybe 50-100gm of choc grain in it or a lighter kit & use 300+gm of choc grain?

Remember, it has to be a tightarse but tasty K&K option guys.

Try a Cascade Porter Kit...........Remember it's only about $4 more than the Homebrand Draught.

.07c per schooner difference.

[Ash]

If I buy a porter kit, how much choc grain can I add without going overboard?

I assume by Cascade kit you mean that Choc Mahogany Porter? Heard good things about it, some local blokes in the brew club made a couple of varients based off it & you'd be hard pressed to tell it was a kit in the first place.

That said, I kinda like the look of what drsmurto posted too.

Decisions decisions!

[earle]

When I get to my next porter I'm planning

Cascade Choc Mahogany
1kg Morgans MB Choc Malt
+ honey and some other stuff (can't remember right now)

Apparently the Morgans choc malt has equivalent to 200g choc grain and 1150g munich. I think the munich sweetens the choc up a bit, tastes really chocolatey.

How much choc you add will probably depend on how you like your porter, there's a bit of room for movement. The above will probably end up being a bit on the sweeter side.

The idea of a twocan with the Cascade (19IBU) and a coopers dark ale (32IBU) also occured to me, though that may end up a bit too bitter. On the other hand there's lots of malt

[Stubbie]

Am about to put down the last of my kits, a Cascade CMP as follows:

1.7 kg CMP kit
2kg Maris Otter
150g Carafa I
100g Melanodian
100g Crystal
Willamette hops for flavouring.
1056 yeast.

I know it's a partial, but substituting 1.5kg LLME for the 2kg of base malt is an easy swap. Don't know about the melanodian in a K&K, though, which I think is a kilned malt and needs to be mashed.

I am deliberately erring on the light side (I think?) with specialty grains; my last dark ales have been overdone IMO.

Cheers

[Boonie]

If I buy a porter kit, how much choc grain can I add without going overboard?

I assume by Cascade kit you mean that Choc Mahogany Porter? Heard good things about it, some local blokes in the brew club made a couple of varients based off it & you'd be hard pressed to tell it was a kit in the first place.

That said, I kinda like the look of what drsmurto posted too.

Decisions decisions!

Yeah that's the one Ash..........Agree Doc's recipe looks good.

Just found one I did ages ago

No 16 Brewed 29-Apr-07
Racked 10/5 (Threw in 1 Large tablespoon of dex)
Bottled 16-May-07
Cascade Choc Mahogany
Morgans Dark Liquid Malt
Standard Yeast
Fuggles teabag 10 Mins in cup…cause it was there.
16g of Cascade dry hopped at rack
170g Dex Bulk Primed

Wasn't really a porter in taste nor was I aiming for a "Porter" as the hops were just what I had in the fridge.

Was a little bit "Blackish" in flavour, ie Burnt taste not dis-similar to Tooheys Black. OK Beer IMO 6.2/10 ...........but I'd try Docs recipe first.

Cheers

Boonie

[drsmurto]

And just cos you need more recipes to choose from, here is another recipe i used for a porter - this one was quite popular with the mates.

1 can Coopers lager
1kg dark malt extract
500g blue gum honey
500g weyermann carafa special II, steeped
25g POR hops at 45mins
20g cascade at flameout
US56

Cheers
DrSmurto

[Boonie]

Most importantly though doc, how did you rate it?

My mates have shite taste.....well most of 'em. Converting 1 by 1. One bloke will not drink anything but Coopers Vintage and JSGA now .....oh and my HB's.

Cheers

Boonie

[drsmurto]

I actually preferred the 2nd one with all the carafa over the one with choc malt. I think it had more oomph whereas the choc malted porter was more like a dark ale with a slight roastiness to it. If anything, it could do with more IBUs.

[Ash]

Hey guys,

Had a bit of a rethink...

Doing the boil is 1/2 the fun & if I'm using specialty grain I have to boil it a bit anyway so I may as well not bother with a kit, hops aren't that dear.

I whacked this up in Beersmith....

Whacked out Choc Honey Porter
Brown Porter

Type: Extract
Batch Size: 20.00 L
Brewer: Ash
Boil Size: 4.00 L
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
1500.00 gm Pale Liquid Extract (6.8 EBC) Extract 44.12 %
500.00 gm Amber Liquid Extract (24.6 EBC) Extract 14.71 %
300.00 gm Chocolate Malt (900.0 EBC) Grain 8.82 %
250.00 gm Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (145.0 EBC) Grain 7.35 %
100.00 gm Carafa I (663.9 EBC) Grain 2.94 %
10.00 gm Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 7.6 IBU
25.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.60 %] (45 min) Hops 21.8 IBU
750.00 gm Capilano (2.0 EBC) Sugar 22.06 %
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.042 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.15 %
Bitterness: 29.4 IBU Calories: 389 cal/l
Est Color: 61.4 EBC


Sound like a plan?

[KEG]

that's a fair whack of honey in it... you'd have to really like honey.

i'd personally go with 250-500g of honey instead, and maybe 500g more pale liquid extract.

[Trough Lolly]

The recipe looks fine, but it's not exactly a robust porter...I'd drop the final volume to 18L and thus push up the OG from it's fairly mild 1.042.

A 22% addition of Capilano honey may result in a cloying aftertaste - as Keg suggests, you might want to pull the honey back to 300g or thereabouts and add another 500g of extract.

If I was doing this brew, I'd dry hop with 20g of Saaz to give it a fresh lift to balance all the dark malts in the brew - anyway it looks like a goer so let us know how it turns out.

Cheers,
TL

[Ash]

Last time I used 250-300gm of honey I couldn't even notice it, hence going for more this time - might go for 500gm instead of 750gm then & substitute some more malt. I like the dry hop with saaz idea

[Ash]

I put this down yesterday, smells & tastes awesome pre-ferment.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
1500.00 gm Pale Liquid Extract (15.8 EBC) Extract 37.85 %
1000.00 gm Master Blend Chocolate Malt (21.6 EBC) Extract 25.23 % - how awesome does this stuff taste out of the tin? I'd put it on piklets or my oats in the morning!
500.00 gm Left over tin of Lager (15.8 EBC) Extract 12.62 % (in for the boil)
250.00 gm Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (230.0 EBC) Grain 6.31 %
213.00 gm Chocolate Malt (900.0 EBC) Grain 5.37 %
30.00 gm Fuggles [3.80 %] (75 min) Hops 14.7 IBU - I decided to boil longer after I'd started as the leftover lager tin had more in it than I thought & I wanted to keep the IBU up a little more
25.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [4.20 %] (75 min) Hops 13.5 IBU
20.00 gm Saaz [4.00 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops - Should I stick with the Saaz over the pommy hops for this?
500.00 gm Capilano (2.0 EBC) Sugar 12.62 % - As mentioned, last time I couldn't tell I'd added 300gm hence going for a little more
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [Cultured] Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.053 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.054 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.20 %
Bitterness: 32.7 IBU
Calories: 508 cal/l
Est Color: 51.1 EBC

She's got her krausen up but my fermenter has finally decided not to seal properly so for the first time in a year & a half no bubbles, can't wait for this one.