I just brewed a similar beer using midnight wheat and it turned out fantastic. I used Imperial’s Darkness that left a nice residual sweetness as well. I was glad to see that our recipes were very similar. I had a great teacher. Thanks Steve!!!🍻
Had a Robust Porter last night at a bar and I definitely tasted that specific roasty flavor you were talking about. Love your vids, I don't homebrew, but watching the process gives me a better appreciation for beer.
Glad you enjoy the channel! Knowing how these beers are made certainly elevates the tasting experience. Hopefully you can try making a batch some time!
That's a damn nice looking beer! I've dropped the ball this winter and didn't brew anything really dark (the darkest was an Altbier). Maybe there's still time! Cheers!
Lallemand London doesn't consume maltotriose (same as windosor and fermentis s33 they are from the same family but london it's the cleanest of them), so 1.020 FG it's pretty normal mashing at 67, i go down on mash temp if i want more attenuation simplyfing the sugars extracted, cheers.
Hi Steve. Made this one a few weeks ago and just opened the first bottle (1st day of winter in Aus). Lovely beer, rich, but roast is gentle. London yeast stalled on me (London, Windsor and MJ Empire have all stalled on me in various beers so I am suspicious of using them). Temp rises, and dancing the hokey-cokey with the fermenter didn't work. So used Old Faithful (US05) to rectify the prob and end beer is great. Mouthfeel prob not quite as luscious but still a lovely drop. Thank you!!
I love your site because you always give the recipe and brewing specifics. Just got back from Belgium and have to find a recipe for De Garre best Triple i've ever tasted. Can you help ?
Great video, beer and information Steve! I just recently made my first porter and it renewed my appreciation for the style. Not as thrilling to me as a bigger stout but the drinkability of a dark ale was a nice change of pace from all the barrel aged stout I've been drinking. 😂 cheers man!
Haha thats true, that RIS will put your lights out pretty quickly! I love both styles equally I think, but the smooth chocolate flavor was really calling my name! Plus it was ready to drink very quickly! Cheers Gnome!
Hi Steve I'm brewing a Porter very soon, and I have always followed your recipes. I would like to know how you enter the last two dark malts into the brewing software mash profile. I assume that the reduced heating time for these malts will change the IBU substantially. I am using Brewfather but I guess it'll be much the same with whatever software is in use. Thanks
I also recently made an English brown porter with Lallemand London. I definitely got very good results. I got good results even though I made it with melonoidin malt because of the lack of brown malt in my country (Turkey). All my friends who tasted this beer, even my wife who doesn't like dark beer, liked it very much. I got the result I wanted. It is a yeast that works very well, and those who use this yeast only for bitters should give other species a chance to show their potential. Cheers 🍻
I’ve been having issues with the PH being too low on both this recipe & your Irish Red. I use bottled spring water bc have whole house filter system and follow your recipe & water profiles. Using Clawhammer 120v system…any ideas??
Hmm, my initial guess is that you might not have as much residual alkalinity buffering in your base water. If it's only 0.2 pH off or so though not a huge deal. Otherwise maybe try adding a tiny amount of baking soda to the water salts before doughing in and see if that helps
I tried a stout with kveik and i can't really recommend it. Kveik leaves some fruity esters behind that just don't work really well in this cathegory. Fermenting on the lower side didn't help that much with that issue, cause kveik makes the beer really dry which makes the slightest hint of fruitiness very noticable. English ale yeast suits way better, cause it doesn't eat up all the sugars entirely. So you end up with a little malty sweetness, that covers the fruity esters quite well. In hindsight, this wasn't a stout, it was the dark version of a pale ale.
That would have been my first take if I hadn't brewed a Vanilla Porter 3 months ago. Hands down, the best beer I have ever made. I used a good amount of dark adjunts. To me, it was perfect. I used lutra and fermented under slight pressure at room temperature. If I'm not wrong, ph at time of fermentation is kinda important
I think kveik would work OK in these kinds of beers but you would need to pay attention to the pH drop during fermentation since you don't want it to be too tart. If fermenting under pressure as well I believe the fruitiness would be contained. Just seems like it might be a bit too much work in my opinion though.
I’ve experienced exactly what you’re mentioning. Brewed a few kveik stouts and porters, didn’t mind the ph, and was left with tart-ness that was out of style and not enjoyable.
Awesome recipe dude! I have an opposite problem where my attenuation goes through the roof quickly and I usually need to pull my beer to secondary/keg in under a week or it gets too dry. Turns out very tasty but I’ve wondered why with my water, Ph, harvested yeast I get such fast fermentations? Ph is almost always 5.3-5.4 I know it’s a good problem to have so I’m not complaining 😆
Hmm, have you tried using lower attenuating yeasts? Might also be a thermometer calibration thing - maybe you're mashing at a lower temperature than indicated?
I've used Lallemand London ESB a bunch in stouts that I want to have a bunch of residual sweetnes because it's the lowest attenuating yeast that I have ever used.
I think in my experience Windsor is a little less attenuating but both of them are pretty low attenuators. Great for leaving that bit of sweetness in those styles.
I watch all your videos beginning to end brother because your content is great! Always enjoy your presentation and tasting impressions and your recipes always teach me some new approach to a style.
Edit: (ugh...after posting this, I saw you kind of addressed this...haha). If one doesn't have (cool) temperature control...could you maybe still use the Lallemand London ESB, but do it under a bit of pressure, like maybe 5-8 PSI and keep the flavors in the same range of what you described? Thank you in advance!! CC
Hi Steve, since you added the dark malts towards the end of the mash, did you add the bicarbonates just then? Or do the dehusked dark malts not really lower the pH? Great video as always :)
Delicious looking pint! It would be interesting to replicate London Porter from the 1700s which was a blend of stale acidic beer and Mild, both brewed using smoked brown malt and blended by the drinker in the pub from Mild and Stale.
I did a similar recipe but used chocolate wheat and midnight wheat for my roasted grains. Too bad I left an opening in the fermenter and a couple of bugs ended up in there. Might have to try it again. For now though, I'm about to start trying out some lagers. I'm about to do a Marzen since it's March.
But I do love some brown malt in a porter, but can be easily overdone. Great choice with midnight wheat- beautiful grain. Totally agree about the quality of English crystal malts. In terms of yeast for dark beers, my favorite is Wyeast 1469 (West Yorkshire). Looks like a very classy pint you made there. Enjoy, sir.
I'm a big fan of the midnight wheat. It really come through with a soft chocolate and coffee flavor. I need to try the Yorkshire yeasts especially with an open fermentation. Plenty of English styles planned!
I’ve noticed in many videos that you have an inline sight glass to look at during recirculation. Which one did you get and how did you install it into your line? Any help would be appreciated!
Another great vid. Ive tried that yeast a few times, never got lower than 1.022. Ive had a lot of trouble with lallemand yeasts. I get down to 1.014 with s-04, so I stick with that when I want an English yeast.
Definitely depends on the sugar complexity of the wort, if you get less complex sugars from less specialty malts or lower mash temps will give you a lower FG with English yeasts. Most of the liquid versions of these strains will do similar stuff.
The video states to add the Willamette at 10 minutes left in the boil, which would make it an aroma hop, but the writeup says 30 minutes, which would make it a flavor hop. Which one is correct?
i used kviek with a porter style and it wasnt bad but it wasnt the best idea i cant recall what my thoughts were because it has been a while but i like using s-04 yeast and i got to say i love them fuggles! and dont forget the ekg or youll be forsure missing out on a delicious treat . esb will be in my next batch because i have not tried it so im curious how the end result will be
Did you re-measure pH after adding the dark grains? Always wondered about that part when I hear about that technique. Wondering if at that point, the buffering capacity of the wort is just so large that it wouldn't drop...
This looks like a really awesome beer, I think it might be my next brew. If I wanted to knock the IBUs down a touch, do you think the beer would hold up with IBUs in the mid 20s?
It's autumn now where I live, in aus and I've been enjoying Guinness Arthur's recipe stout. more ABV and a much heavier roast character. Also an extract version of a baltic porter using dark dme as well and a California lager yeast my mate brewed last year and even saporro black label in those nice 650ml cans. 2.6 units of alcohol per can haha!
Awe man it cut off just before the trademark downing of the glass! Secondly, When you just can't find anything wrong, You must have done something right.
I’m curious why you keep referring to porter as a winter beer. That’s not really the origin of the style, and this kind of misplaced emphasis and expectation can lead you to miss the core characteristics of the style. Historically, porter is not some sort of winter warmer light, but rather was the 24x7x365 working-class beer.
I didnt refer to it as a "winter beer" at all when talking about its history. It has a lot of variations however this variation of porter has always been a bit higher in alcohol and body than the historical porters of England, making it a decent choice for a winter beer.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Yeah, it’s probably my fault for trying to make “porter” actually make sense and to have historical relevance. I mean, when “stout” just meant strong and “stout pale ale” and “stout porter” were things, I have a hard time making modern styles like “robust porter” or “imperial porter” mean anything different from “stout porter”, which is now just “stout”. It doesn’t all make sense at the same time, and I’m more a fan of preserving the historical meaning of beer styles like “porter” than the current practice of making a bazillion BJCP and marketing microstyles that as often as not just confuse matters.
Thanks! Bringing Malty back!
Dude, thank you so much!!
Gonna try this one! Thanks, Steve.
I just brewed a similar beer using midnight wheat and it turned out fantastic. I used Imperial’s Darkness that left a nice residual sweetness as well. I was glad to see that our recipes were very similar. I had a great teacher. Thanks Steve!!!🍻
That sounds like it would turn out very nice as well, cheers!
Looks like I need a beer at lunch on this beautiful Monday
Haha sounds like a plan!
Nicely done. Any Porter rocks. Cheers!
Some of my absolute favorites!
Had a Robust Porter last night at a bar and I definitely tasted that specific roasty flavor you were talking about. Love your vids, I don't homebrew, but watching the process gives me a better appreciation for beer.
Glad you enjoy the channel! Knowing how these beers are made certainly elevates the tasting experience. Hopefully you can try making a batch some time!
Just made my yeast starter a few minutes ago. Tomorrow, I'll take a stab at brewing your recipe. Thanks for helping out your peeps!
My pleasure and good luck!
Water: I have been interested in the fact that you also include your water profiles. Can you throw some light on how you choose/ design them?
I'd point you to this video - I need to make a new one I think but this still hits the core ideas. ruclips.net/video/lxP1OuLwVk4/видео.html
That's a damn nice looking beer! I've dropped the ball this winter and didn't brew anything really dark (the darkest was an Altbier). Maybe there's still time! Cheers!
Thanks James! I'm very happy I made one this year, it's really hitting the spot!
@@TheApartmentBrewer excellent work hi 👋 from 🇨🇦 #YSW respect back to you 🙏
Lallemand London doesn't consume maltotriose (same as windosor and fermentis s33 they are from the same family but london it's the cleanest of them), so 1.020 FG it's pretty normal mashing at 67, i go down on mash temp if i want more attenuation simplyfing the sugars extracted, cheers.
Yeah, I've gotten it down to 1.023 before but under different mash and grist circumstances of course. Its a very nice yeast!
Hi Steve. Made this one a few weeks ago and just opened the first bottle (1st day of winter in Aus). Lovely beer, rich, but roast is gentle. London yeast stalled on me (London, Windsor and MJ Empire have all stalled on me in various beers so I am suspicious of using them). Temp rises, and dancing the hokey-cokey with the fermenter didn't work. So used Old Faithful (US05) to rectify the prob and end beer is great. Mouthfeel prob not quite as luscious but still a lovely drop. Thank you!!
Mmmm Porter!!!! Sounds delicious Steve, cheers 🍻
It was! Cheers Brian!
I love your site because you always give the recipe and brewing specifics. Just got back from Belgium and have to find a recipe for De Garre best Triple i've ever tasted. Can you help ?
I can't say I've had that one before. Was it different than the flavor of other tripels?
Great video, beer and information Steve! I just recently made my first porter and it renewed my appreciation for the style. Not as thrilling to me as a bigger stout but the drinkability of a dark ale was a nice change of pace from all the barrel aged stout I've been drinking. 😂 cheers man!
Haha thats true, that RIS will put your lights out pretty quickly! I love both styles equally I think, but the smooth chocolate flavor was really calling my name! Plus it was ready to drink very quickly! Cheers Gnome!
Looks fantastic. I’ll have to brew a porter here in the near future. Cheers
I hope you do! Cheers!
Hi Steve I'm brewing a Porter very soon, and I have always followed your recipes. I would like to know how you enter the last two dark malts into the brewing software mash profile. I assume that the reduced heating time for these malts will change the IBU substantially. I am using Brewfather but I guess it'll be much the same with whatever software is in use. Thanks
The dark malts shouldn't have an impact on IBU as that just hop-derived, so I just enter them normally.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Duh! I should know that right? I'm getting there slowly, with your help
No worries!
I love Porter myself 👍 might have to try that recipe too. Cheers 🍻
I hope you do, thanks for watching!
Looks mouth watering.. Coincidentally I brewed an English Porter today, and pitched Nottingham…
Very nice!
I also recently made an English brown porter with Lallemand London. I definitely got very good results. I got good results even though I made it with melonoidin malt because of the lack of brown malt in my country (Turkey). All my friends who tasted this beer, even my wife who doesn't like dark beer, liked it very much. I got the result I wanted. It is a yeast that works very well, and those who use this yeast only for bitters should give other species a chance to show their potential.
Cheers 🍻
Cheers and thank you! English porters are criminally underrated!
I’ve been having issues with the PH being too low on both this recipe & your Irish Red. I use bottled spring water bc have whole house filter system and follow your recipe & water profiles. Using Clawhammer 120v system…any ideas??
Hmm, my initial guess is that you might not have as much residual alkalinity buffering in your base water. If it's only 0.2 pH off or so though not a huge deal. Otherwise maybe try adding a tiny amount of baking soda to the water salts before doughing in and see if that helps
That looks absolutely fantastic! 👌
Thank you! Cheers!
I tried a stout with kveik and i can't really recommend it. Kveik leaves some fruity esters behind that just don't work really well in this cathegory. Fermenting on the lower side didn't help that much with that issue, cause kveik makes the beer really dry which makes the slightest hint of fruitiness very noticable. English ale yeast suits way better, cause it doesn't eat up all the sugars entirely. So you end up with a little malty sweetness, that covers the fruity esters quite well. In hindsight, this wasn't a stout, it was the dark version of a pale ale.
That would have been my first take if I hadn't brewed a Vanilla Porter 3 months ago. Hands down, the best beer I have ever made. I used a good amount of dark adjunts. To me, it was perfect. I used lutra and fermented under slight pressure at room temperature. If I'm not wrong, ph at time of fermentation is kinda important
Did you try fermenting under pressure?
I think kveik would work OK in these kinds of beers but you would need to pay attention to the pH drop during fermentation since you don't want it to be too tart. If fermenting under pressure as well I believe the fruitiness would be contained. Just seems like it might be a bit too much work in my opinion though.
I’ve experienced exactly what you’re mentioning. Brewed a few kveik stouts and porters, didn’t mind the ph, and was left with tart-ness that was out of style and not enjoyable.
@@TheApartmentBreweryep, have done this with Lutra under pressure at room temp, no fruitiness
I made a porter in December and used a tiny percentage of coffee malt. Gave it an interesting layer of flavor.
Coffee malt is a really interesting malt, and it does make for a nice addition to this kind of beer.
What mash efficiency do you achieve with your Clawhammer system, if you do no or minimal sparging?
I don't know the exact number off the top of my head, but overall I'm looking at about a 70% overall efficiency.
Awesome recipe dude! I have an opposite problem where my attenuation goes through the roof quickly and I usually need to pull my beer to secondary/keg in under a week or it gets too dry. Turns out very tasty but I’ve wondered why with my water, Ph, harvested yeast I get such fast fermentations? Ph is almost always 5.3-5.4 I know it’s a good problem to have so I’m not complaining 😆
Hmm, have you tried using lower attenuating yeasts? Might also be a thermometer calibration thing - maybe you're mashing at a lower temperature than indicated?
The best Porter I’ve made is a Baltic Porter. Used Lutra Kveik and she was very tasty after just a couple weeks of conditioning.
Baltic porters are fantastic, gotta make one of my own sonetime soon!
@@TheApartmentBrewer I highly recommend using lutra. I fermented at 75 degrees and it was super clean 👌
I've used Lallemand London ESB a bunch in stouts that I want to have a bunch of residual sweetnes because it's the lowest attenuating yeast that I have ever used.
I think in my experience Windsor is a little less attenuating but both of them are pretty low attenuators. Great for leaving that bit of sweetness in those styles.
My man, you know who would use kveik. I like making my porters and stouts with Voss under pressure at about room temp. Great looking AP! Skål 🍻😎
Haha of course! I think having them under pressure certainly helps keep the fruit under control.
I watch all your videos beginning to end brother because your content is great! Always enjoy your presentation and tasting impressions and your recipes always teach me some new approach to a style.
Much appreciated!! Means a lot, cheers!
Edit: (ugh...after posting this, I saw you kind of addressed this...haha).
If one doesn't have (cool) temperature control...could you maybe still use the Lallemand London ESB, but do it under a bit of pressure, like maybe 5-8 PSI and keep the flavors in the same range of what you described?
Thank you in advance!!
CC
I think theoretically that should work great!
Hi Steve, since you added the dark malts towards the end of the mash, did you add the bicarbonates just then? Or do the dehusked dark malts not really lower the pH? Great video as always :)
Nope, I actually added them at the beginning of the mash. I don't think the dehusked malt really did anything for the pH though
Delicious looking pint! It would be interesting to replicate London Porter from the 1700s which was a blend of stale acidic beer and Mild, both brewed using smoked brown malt and blended by the drinker in the pub from Mild and Stale.
That would be very interesting. Would need to partigyle as well!
I did a similar recipe but used chocolate wheat and midnight wheat for my roasted grains. Too bad I left an opening in the fermenter and a couple of bugs ended up in there. Might have to try it again. For now though, I'm about to start trying out some lagers. I'm about to do a Marzen since it's March.
Chocolate wheat is also amazing. Sorry to hear about the bugs, that sucks.
But I do love some brown malt in a porter, but can be easily overdone. Great choice with midnight wheat- beautiful grain. Totally agree about the quality of English crystal malts. In terms of yeast for dark beers, my favorite is Wyeast 1469 (West Yorkshire). Looks like a very classy pint you made there. Enjoy, sir.
I'm a big fan of the midnight wheat. It really come through with a soft chocolate and coffee flavor. I need to try the Yorkshire yeasts especially with an open fermentation. Plenty of English styles planned!
Nice! Interesting stuff. I don't make many porters, but I have friend who usually request them..
I also find myself not brewing them as frequently as I think I should. They're underrated beers!
I’ve noticed in many videos that you have an inline sight glass to look at during recirculation. Which one did you get and how did you install it into your line?
Any help would be appreciated!
Brewhardware.com 1/2 in npt in line sight glass. Just set up some quick disconnects so I can clean it
Been awhile since I have brewed a dark beer... might have to do a summer porter
Cheers
Give it a go!
Another great vid. Ive tried that yeast a few times, never got lower than 1.022. Ive had a lot of trouble with lallemand yeasts. I get down to 1.014 with s-04, so I stick with that when I want an English yeast.
Definitely depends on the sugar complexity of the wort, if you get less complex sugars from less specialty malts or lower mash temps will give you a lower FG with English yeasts. Most of the liquid versions of these strains will do similar stuff.
The video states to add the Willamette at 10 minutes left in the boil, which would make it an aroma hop, but the writeup says 30 minutes, which would make it a flavor hop. Which one is correct?
It's supposed to be 10 min. Fixed the description
Hi there.
Great video as usual.
May be some day you could try a version of a Brazilian style named MALZBIER.
I'll check it out!
i used kviek with a porter style and it wasnt bad but it wasnt the best idea i cant recall what my thoughts were because it has been a while but i like using s-04 yeast and i got to say i love them fuggles! and dont forget the ekg or youll be forsure missing out on a delicious treat . esb will be in my next batch because i have not tried it so im curious how the end result will be
Very nice!
Did you re-measure pH after adding the dark grains?
Always wondered about that part when I hear about that technique. Wondering if at that point, the buffering capacity of the wort is just so large that it wouldn't drop...
I did not, but I also figured that since all conversion was complete by then and thoroughly buffered
Agreed. You know what. My next planned brew was a London porter. I think I'll hold on to the chocolate malt and do the test myself. Cheers!
This looks like a really awesome beer, I think it might be my next brew. If I wanted to knock the IBUs down a touch, do you think the beer would hold up with IBUs in the mid 20s?
Most likely, it would be far more reminiscent of an English porter at those levels.
Which comps are you submitting this to?
NHC!
Looks so tasty!!!!!
Magic disappearing cat at 2:42
Haha he's always crashing my videos
Can you do a video on harvesting yeast?
OK, I'll put something together in the next few months!
It's autumn now where I live, in aus and I've been enjoying Guinness Arthur's recipe stout. more ABV and a much heavier roast character. Also an extract version of a baltic porter using dark dme as well and a California lager yeast my mate brewed last year and even saporro black label in those nice 650ml cans. 2.6 units of alcohol per can haha!
Very nice!
Looks like a solid brew. Competition? NHC? I have a pretty solid (I think) American Porter going to first round NHC in Philly.
Looks like we will be competing against each other! Although my entries head to NYC for the first round. Good luck!
@@TheApartmentBrewer Good luck to you! Hopefully we both advance out of first round.
I see your name next to two entries that advanced. Congrats!! None of my 4 entries advanced.
I just got the results today! Read through them and I agree. Wish I had more Bittering hops in this to make it a bit more to style!
@@TheApartmentBrewer so a full OZ of nugget?
Looks GREAT!!!!!
😎👍🏻👍🏻🍺🍺
Thank you Tom!
A good brewer doesn't need luck, so here it is 🥇 knock em dead..
Haha thanks!
I will definitely try this one
Prost
Man that looks really tasty!
It really is! Thanks for watching!
Looks and sounds delicious! Which competition did you brew this for?
Thanks! National Homebrew Competition.
@@TheApartmentBrewer awesome good luck!
The cat in the background took all my attention
He always crashes my videos lol
How was the contest?
Won't know until late June! (NHC)
Awe man it cut off just before the trademark downing of the glass! Secondly, When you just can't find anything wrong, You must have done something right.
Its too good to chug!!
@TheApartmentBrewer NONSENSE! sounds like a missed excuse to pour another glass, but thats just me. Lol
Hahaha I'll get it for you next time!
@TheApartmentBrewer sounds good. You cant start somethin and not follow threw! Lol. Cheers my friend.
Cat cat cat cat get the cat
I’m curious why you keep referring to porter as a winter beer. That’s not really the origin of the style, and this kind of misplaced emphasis and expectation can lead you to miss the core characteristics of the style. Historically, porter is not some sort of winter warmer light, but rather was the 24x7x365 working-class beer.
I didnt refer to it as a "winter beer" at all when talking about its history. It has a lot of variations however this variation of porter has always been a bit higher in alcohol and body than the historical porters of England, making it a decent choice for a winter beer.
@@TheApartmentBrewer Yeah, it’s probably my fault for trying to make “porter” actually make sense and to have historical relevance. I mean, when “stout” just meant strong and “stout pale ale” and “stout porter” were things, I have a hard time making modern styles like “robust porter” or “imperial porter” mean anything different from “stout porter”, which is now just “stout”. It doesn’t all make sense at the same time, and I’m more a fan of preserving the historical meaning of beer styles like “porter” than the current practice of making a bazillion BJCP and marketing microstyles that as often as not just confuse matters.
Nothing wrong with that approach!
Mr Apartment Brewer Sir. Haf youv brewed az German bier lately? You must brew morz Germanz bier! ......Either that or you vill be eating zee bugs 🐜🐜🐜🐜
Zer vill be moar