Porter

One of my all-time favorite beer styles. Porter is a rich malty beer, originally made from brown malts and favored by the London river dock workers in the 1800s – hence the name ‘Porter’. As darker malts became used, porter tended towards a heavier, darker beer, eventually diverging into ‘stout’.

Below is my favorite collection of Chocolate Porter recipes, with a version for all levels of brewing.

Recipe Notes:

• The batch size is assumed to be 20 liters (about five gallons).
• Brewhouse efficiency is assumed to be 70%.
• Bitterness and hop contributions are given values at set alpha acid levels, with the assumption that you cool your wort after brewing.

If you need to calculate percentages and make adjustments, try this page for Mac or PC resources.

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Chocolate Porter Kit Beer

• 1.5kg can of Cascade Chocolate Mahogany Porter
• 1.5kg can of dark liquid malt extract
• 200g cracked chocolate malt

Safale S04 dry yeast

For details on the procedure used, please visit my page: How to Improve a Kit Beer. Note that no finishing hops are used with this recipe.

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Chocolate Porter Extract Recipe

ABV: 5.3%

OG: 1.055 – 1.056

FG: 1.015 – 1.016

IBU: 35

Color: 35 SRM

Ingredients:

• 2kg dark DME
• 1KG amber DME
• 400g cracked Chocolate malt (specialty grains)
• 200g cracked Dark Crystal malt (specialty grains)
• 30g Northern Brewer hops @ 8.5% AA (bittering – 60 minutes)
• 20g East Kent Golding hops @ 5% AA (flavor – 15 minutes)
  • Substitute: 20g Fuggles @ 5%AA
• 1 x Whirfloc tablet (finings – 5 minutes)
  • Substitute: 5g of Irish Moss
• Yeast: WLP 002 English Ale
  • Substitute: Safale S04

Process:

1. Using a Medium grain-bag, steep specialty grains in 20 liters of water while you bring to the boil, stirring frequently. Just before the boil, remove specialty grains.
2. Add dry malts, stirring to ensure no clumps remain. Be wary of boil-overs at this time.
3. Add bittering hops. For best results, use a hop-sock.
4. After 45 minutes, add aroma hops. For best results, use a hop-sock.
5. After 10 minutes, add finings.
6. After 5 minutes, shut off boil, create whirlpool, and cool into fermenter.
7. Add yeast and ferment as per usual
8. Low carbonation (6g sugar per liter if priming naturally)

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 Partial Mash Recipe

This one is a little darker, and just a little bit thinner. You can always beef this up with some more amber malt or DME. It uses only fuggles hops and has a bit more bitterness to it.

ABV: 5.3%

OG: 1.054 – 1.056

FG: 1.013 – 1.015

IBU: 40

Color: 38 SRM

Ingredients:

• 2kg light DME
• 1kg cracked Amber malt
• 500g cracked Chocolate malt
• 300g cracked Dark Crystal malt
• 50g Fuggles hops @ 5% AA (bittering – 60 minutes)
• 20g Fuggles hops @ 5% AA (flavor – 15 minutes)
• 20g Fuggles hops @ 5% AA (aroma – 5 minutes)
• 1 x Whirfloc tablet (finings – 5 minutes)
  • Substitute: 5g of Irish Moss
• Yeast: WLP 002 English Ale
  • Substitute: Safale S04

Process:

1. Mash grains at 67.6°C for 1 hour in a Medium grain-bag.
2. Remove grains and add DME
3. Raise to boil and add bittering hops
4. After 45 minutes, add flavor hops
5. After 10 minutes, add whirfloc and aroma hops
6. Whirlpool, cool into fermenter, pitch yeast
7. (Optional) Sometimes I like to dry hop this porter with any remaining fuggles – I usually have about 10g left
8. Low carbonation (6g sugar per liter if priming naturally)

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All Grain Chocolate Porter Recipe

This one is a more robust porter again. Darker, maltier, and hoppier, it’s a great new-age porter.

Photo by JukoFF

ABV: 5.7%

OG: 1.0548

FG: 1.015

IBU: 42

Color: 45 SRM

Grain Bill:

• 2.2kg British Pale Malt
• 2.2kg British Amber Malt
• 600g Chocolate Malt
• 600g Crystal Malt (at 60 liters)

Hop Bill:

• Bittering: 45g Fuggles @ 5% AA (60 minutes)
• Flavor: 10g Galaxy @14% AA (15 minutes)
• Aroma: 10g Galaxy @14% AA (5 minutes)

Mash Schedule:

1. 20 minutes @ 63°C
2. 30 minutes @ 67°C
3. 10 minutes @ 72°C

Finings: 1x Whirfloc tablet or 5g Irish Moss

Yeast: WLP 002 English Ale

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Cheers!

I hope you enjoy trying out my Chocolate Porter recipes. You can find ingredients and equipment for these recipes at my suppliers page.

Please leave a review, an alternative recipe, questions or comments in the space below!