Sean Johnson joins me from the Brewing Science Lab at the University of Northern Colorado to discuss brewing the perfect Porter or Stout.
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Topics in This Week’s Episode (38:38)
- Today my guest is Sean Johnson. Sean is Assistant Brewer at the University of Northern Colorado Brewing Science Lab where he works with Dr Mosher teaching a 6 month brewing certificate program. He has a Master’s degree in Hop Chemistry and worked at Annheuser-Busch’s Barley Research team before joining UNC.
- We briefly discuss Porters and Stouts as well as their history which has some shared roots.
- Sean explains how Porter and Stouts evolved to become distinct styles.
- We talk about the popularity of Porters as well as their decline in the 1800’s as lighter beers became popular.
- He discusses some of the different styles of Porters and Stouts that have become popular today.
- We talk about brewing a complex English Porter and where the flavors come from- starting with the grain bill.
- He shares thoughts on good hop varieties to use in a Porter.
- We discuss hop/malt balance and how to achieve the right balance.
- Sean shares his recommendations for brewing yeasts to use with Porters and Stouts.
- We talk about which water profiles are most appropriate to these styles.
- Sean shares some tips for adding flavor complexity to a stout or porter.
- We spend a few minutes discussing the UNC brewing certificate program.
Sponsors
- Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine!
- And also Anvil Brewing Equipment. Anvil is a new line of kettles, burners and accessories from John Blichmann at Blichmann Engineering. They make top quality brewing equipment built to last a lifetime.
- Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.
Thanks to Sean Johnson for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
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