"In Stock" Porter

I spent some time yesterday hovering over my grain bin, taking inventory of what I had in stock. I did this in order to formulate a recipe for the Porter I am making next. Here is what I have.

8 lbs. Pale Malt
2 lbs. Munich Malt
0.50 lbs. Chocolate Malt
0.25 lbs. Crystal 80L
0.25 lbs. Crystal 120L
0.25 lbs. Black Patent Malt

This makes an 11.25 lb. grain bill, a target OG of 1.055, and an SRM of 29. I may add an extra ounce or two of the black patent malt late in the mash, right before sparging. Given my poor efficiency on my last brew, I may also throw in an extra pound of brewer’s malt depending on how confident I am feeling on brew day.

Normally, on a porter, I might prefer some Fuggles or Willammette in terms of hops, but I need to use what I have in stock before I buy any new supplies or ingredients. So . . .

0.50 oz. Yakima Magnum 15.5% (60)
0.50 oz. Northern Brewers 6.5% (30)
0.50 oz. Northern Brewers 6.5% (15)

This makes for 49.3 IBUs, and the beer should be fairly reserved in terms of up-front hop aroma especially (in contrast to the Victory Pale that will share tap time with this Porter).

In terms of yeast, I plan on throwing this wort on top of the yeast cake from my Victory Pale Ale when it is finished with primary fermentation. This much of the Nottingham yeast will create a quick and violent fermentation, which will be fine with me since I want to get these beers on tap soon.

By the way, I use Promash software to formulate all my recipes. This is an excellent recipe formulation, and I will make it the subject of a future blog entry.