Brewday - 14/01/2019 American Porter

You Want it Darker*

I haven't brewed porter or stout for a while, which is odd since mostly I tend to drink the darker stuff, so when I got a chance to brew I thought I'd have a go at an American Porter. I'm not sure what exactly defines an American Porter but I guess it's got to be a dark beer with lots of American hops. I tried making my own hop extract for this beer. To do this I boiled some water, let it cool to 75°C and then added 750ml to a cafetiere (or French press) with 20g of Pacifica hops. I let it steep for 20 minutes and then pushed down the plunger and added this "hop extract" to the fermenter. I did this at the same time as dry hopping with 50g of Cascade. 

Recipe (BIAB):

• Mash for 60 mins at 67°C
• Boil for 60 mins
• Mash water volume 29lt
• Maris Otter 3.85kg
• Rolled Oats 480g
• Crystal 45L 125g
• Chocolate Malt 235g
• Black malt 115g 
• Northdown 7% (leaf) 30g (60 mins)
• First Gold (homegrown leaf) 15g (15 mins)
• Cascade 6.5% (pellets) 50g whirlpool 75°C for 30 mins
• Cascade 6.5% (pellets) 50g dry hop for 3 days 
• Pacifica 5.8% (leaf) 20g "hop extract" for 3 days
• Gervin GV12 English Ale Yeast 11g pack
• Recipe in Brewer's Friend

Results

OG 1.046
FG 1.010
ABV 4.7%
IBU 48
Efficiency was disappointingly low at only 65%, originally I was anticipating over 5% abv. Apart from that I'm very happy with this beer, there's definitely a good hoppy aroma and it's very smooth and easy to drink.