{"id":9653,"date":"2022-08-04T14:03:45","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T18:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beersmith.com\/blog\/?p=9653"},"modified":"2022-08-04T14:03:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T18:03:46","slug":"beer-design-case-study-a-robust-porter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beersmith.com\/blog\/2022\/08\/04\/beer-design-case-study-a-robust-porter\/","title":{"rendered":"Beer Design Case Study: A Robust Porter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This week I though I would share a case study in beer recipe design to explore how I approach beer recipe design and some of the critical decisions made along the way. I will be designing a robust porter, which is one of my favorite beer styles.<\/p>

Defining the Robust Porter<\/h3>

Before I start on a new beer, I try to sit down and describe what I’m trying to accomplish. In this case I’m looking for a moderately alcoholic porter that is robust in flavor and has some complexity and depth to the grain bill. I want to create a porter that is complex but still drinkable, and reflects the fresh roast grains used. Bitterness levels will be moderate. I’m not creating a pure English porter, but I do want the beer to reflect the complexity of English ales rather than the clean finish of many American styles.<\/p>

The Malt Bill for a Porter<\/h3>

One of the first things I look at when approaching a new beer is whether it is a malt forward or hop forward beer. This drives the malt bill, hops picked and various brewing techniques used. In this case, the porter I want to brew is clearly malt-forward as its flavor is driven primarily by the malt bill and not hops.<\/p>

The next item to consider is what drives the malt bill for the beer? For the robust porter I have in mind, the dark specialty malts are top in my mind. Also I want to create a beer that has depth of flavor where there are multiple competing dark malts providing a layered finish. I personally don’t like single-dark malt beers as I think they lack proper depth and are boring.<\/p>

As a base malt I choose Maris Otter, mainly because it reflects the grain complexity I’m looking for in the finished beer. Maris Otter is a flavorful English pale malt and I think it fits well with the style. I used Maris Otter as the base (87% of the grain bill).<\/p>

To achieve proper depth of flavor in a robust porter, I personally like to pick grains from different malt groups. From the roasted group I picked a blend of 2% Black patent and 3.6% Chocolate malt. Next I purposely picked two Crystal malts that are in the harsh zone: Special B (3.6%) and Crystal 60L (3.6%). If you have not read my article on harsh zone malts,<\/a> these are malts that have harsh flavors like burnt marshmallow and burnt toast if you overuse them. However, in small quantities, malts like Special B can add some great complexity, dark fruit flavors and depth to your beer. <\/p>

Notice that the entire mix of specialty malts only makes up 12.9% of the malt bill, and the harsh malts make up only a few percent. This fits with my philosophy that most of your malt bill should be base malt. Despite this, the finished beer has a very robust porter flavor, bordering on some milder stouts in terms of flavor.<\/p>

For original gravity I picked a somewhat modest OG of 1.059, which due to the lower attenuation English Ale yeast used gives only a 5.3% beer. This keeps it drinkable but still retains plenty of body.<\/p>

Hops and Yeast<\/h3>

For hops, I did go with a slightly unconventional choice. Normally I probably would have used a traditional English hops like East Kent Goldings. However I enjoy well balanced beers from the midwest like Edmunds Fitzgerald Porter and Bells Two Hearted so I decided to use Centennial as my hop. I have had good results with this hops in other beers, and since this was not a hop forward beer I thought it a good opportunity to experiment.<\/p>

I picked a hop level of 36.7 IBUs for a bitterness ratio of 0.674 which is in the “balanced” range for hop to malt. This is not a hop forward beer, but you still need sufficient hops to offset the high body of the finished beer.<\/p>

For yeast, I went with a traditional English Ale yeast (WLP002 from White Labs). I could easily have gone with an American Ale yeast if I wanted a cleaner finish, but like the pick of Maris Otter above I thought the English Ale would add complexity (esters, diacetyl, etc..) and depth to the finished beer. Also I was shooting for a higher final gravity (low attenuation) to increase body.<\/p>

Water and the Mash<\/h3>

I did not do much in terms of water adjustment for this beer – targeting a balanced water profile that had mid-range numbers for all of the major water ions. Since my base water has low ions I did have to add a few water salts but this was done just to bring the ions up to an appropriate level for brewing.<\/p>

I picked a medium body single step mash profile, and targeted a mash pH of 5.2. This did require a small lactic acid addition up front to achieve my target mash pH but I did not require any additional acid after that.<\/p>

Fermentation<\/h3>

As I had access to a temperature controlled fermenter, I targeted the mid temperature range for the yeast which was around 67 F. Fermentation progressed rather quickly and I removed the trub from the bottom of my conical as it built up. I fermented and aged the beer for approximately a month total before transferring to kegs. <\/p>

Results<\/h3>

I sampled the beer at kegging and it was quite good. After about a week to carbonate, I sampled again and it became even better. Early on it had a very robust but remarkably fresh taste. The flavor and complexity was exactly what I was looking for in the beer. I was particularly happy with how the grain bill came through and created the layers of distinct flavors I was looking for. It was not a one-dimensional malt flavor but instead a cacophony of roast maltiness. It was a great fresh beer, so I put it in the fridge and enjoyed it for several months.<\/p>

After aging for perhaps a month more it did change character slightly – achieving a more mild balanced flavor that was very enjoyable, though it did loose some of the super fresh character it had up front. <\/p>

Thanks for joining me on the BeerSmith Home Brewing Blog<\/a>. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter<\/a> or my podcast <\/a>(also on itunes<\/a>\u2026and youtube<\/a>) for more great tips on homebrewing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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