Imperial Porter Recipe

Iliff Avenue Brewhouse

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Any thoughts? Planning to brew this on Saturday and think I'm close to the final recipe. Not trying to nail a style but thought it would be closest to an imperial porter.

A couple of questions. What water should I use? Planning on something close to Black Malty.
Also, is 50 IBUs about right for a beer like this? Just looking to balance out the sweetness a bit.

10.5# Golden Promise
3# Weyermann Munich II
3# Extra Light DME (purely to boost OG due to lack of mash tun space)
1.5# Brown Malt 65L
10 oz Chocolate Malt 450L
10 oz Carafa III Special
8 oz Caramunich III

OG ~1.093
Bitter to 50 IBUs with something high alpha on hand (Magnum, Bravo, Nugget)
2 packets of Nottingham
adjuncts: cinnamon, cocoa nibs, vanilla
 
For porters and stouts, I like to pull off a half gallon or so of the first running and boil that down to almost syrup, then add that to the boil
Your recipe looks to be pretty good, maybe a little on the roasty side for what a porter is to me
 
Not sure, but like you i'd be thinking about that sweetness balance. I guess you're relying on the Munich and cara-thingy malts for the sweetness, so about 15%? Then i'm guessing you're close to 15% again with the roast malts with the brown and chocolate. Doesn't sound that sweet. Does the Golden Promise add some sweetness? Never used it myself.

So the hops could be on the heavy side, but not obviously so. Have you done it as a recipe on the site? The bitterness units to gravity units is really helpful (in the more section).
 
For porters and stouts, I like to pull off a half gallon or so of the first running and boil that down to almost syrup, then add that to the boil
Your recipe looks to be pretty good, maybe a little on the roasty side for what a porter is to me
Only recently heard of this approach and sounds interesting. Do you think it works if you go into the imperial/double side of the dark beers, say over 7% ABV? Or just a way to add body/flavour to the more standard gravity dark beers?
 
Not sure, but like you i'd be thinking about that sweetness balance. I guess you're relying on the Munich and cara-thingy malts for the sweetness, so about 15%? Then i'm guessing you're close to 15% again with the roast malts with the brown and chocolate. Doesn't sound that sweet. Does the Golden Promise add some sweetness? Never used it myself.

So the hops could be on the heavy side, but not obviously so. Have you done it as a recipe on the site? The bitterness units to gravity units is really helpful (in the more section).

I'm just expecting a 9.5% abv beer to be sort of sweet I suppose since it should finish in the 1.020s. Most those malt you mentioned are to add more malt depth. I limited crystal malt to limit unfermentables and additional sweetness. I suppose I shouldn't say sweetness as much a maltiness...
 
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For porters and stouts, I like to pull off a half gallon or so of the first running and boil that down to almost syrup, then add that to the boil
Your recipe looks to be pretty good, maybe a little on the roasty side for what a porter is to me

I didnt think 7.5% roasted malt especially with half of it being dehusked would be too much. How much would you recommend?
 
Only recently heard of this approach and sounds interesting. Do you think it works if you go into the imperial/double side of the dark beers, say over 7% ABV? Or just a way to add body/flavour to the more standard gravity dark beers?
I've only done it a few times and they were fairly standard gravity beers so can't say for sure. I'd still think it would work though for higher gravities
 
I didnt think 7.5% roasted malt especially with half of it being dehusked would be too much. How much would you recommend?
Well, when you put it into percentages that doesn't seem so bad. If you link to the full BF recipe directly, it does give more information than just grain bill, which would also help us give a bit better feedback
It was hard for me to do maths after handing out candy and beer last night :D
 
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/307791/imperial-porter

Hopefully that works. First time posting here. Thanks for the feedback gents.

Planning to get grain today for it. I would say the only thing that I am little caught up on is the amount of specialty malts and if 50 IBUs will be about right.

doh, looks like there's a permission error on the recipe

since it's an imperial style, i think it'll be fine with a bit higher IBU than a "standard" porter. with the higher OG and ABV, the IBUs have to be bumped up to help compensate. the beer will probably age a bit before it's fully ready too, so the hops will fade a bit anyway. is 50 within the style guidelines? fwiw, i try to shoot on the lower to middle end of the range if i'm trying a style i've never brewed or really tasted before
 
as far as the amount of specialty malts, wiser brewers than me have said something along the lines of "no more than 5 types of malt and 3 types of hops" in a recipe. anymore than that will really muddy the brew, either turn it "brown" tasting or cover up some of the more subtle characteristics of the ingredients
 
Recipe has been shared.

Since Imperial Porter isn't really a style there are no guidelines. The max IBUs for Baltic Porter is 40 however I am going for something more robust. The minimum IBUs for an Imperial Stout is 50.

Looks like I ended up with 6 malts (excluding DME) and 1 hop so maybe it is slightly muddled. It was hard to leave out the munich because I love munich. Too late now as I bought the grain today.
 
Recipe has been shared.

Since Imperial Porter isn't really a style there are no guidelines. The max IBUs for Baltic Porter is 40 however I am going for something more robust. The minimum IBUs for an Imperial Stout is 50.

Looks like I ended up with 6 malts (excluding DME) and 1 hop so maybe it is slightly muddled. It was hard to leave out the munich because I love munich. Too late now as I bought the grain today.
It'll still turn out good I'm sure. Like with cooking, there's a whole lot of general guidelines to brewing but also a whole lot of exceptions or reasons to do something a little differently than tradition or others
You brew you man
 
Recipe has been shared.

Since Imperial Porter isn't really a style there are no guidelines. The max IBUs for Baltic Porter is 40 however I am going for something more robust. The minimum IBUs for an Imperial Stout is 50.

Looks like I ended up with 6 malts (excluding DME) and 1 hop so maybe it is slightly muddled. It was hard to leave out the munich because I love munich. Too late now as I bought the grain today.
Good luck with it! Another big difference: Baltic Porter is lagered. Five grains is general guidance, not gospel. Depending on the five, you could come up with something awesome.
 
Good luck with it! Another big difference: Baltic Porter is lagered. Five grains is general guidance, not gospel. Depending on the five, you could come up with something awesome.

Thanks. I am happy with the recipe so we'll see what kind of beer it makes. You should of seen the first draft...
 
I think I did, and I think I mentioned something about a "brown" flavor....
 
I think I did, and I think I mentioned something about a "brown" flavor....

Well the original draft was messy and never was posted here. It had flaked oats, brown sugar, molasses, and whatever else. Moot now.

It was good to get some feedback here. I don't have much luck other places...
 
Well the original draft was messy and never was posted here. It had flaked oats, brown sugar, molasses, and whatever else. Moot now.

It was good to get some feedback here. I don't have much luck other places...
Yeah, we might give you a little ribbing here or there, but I think the criticism on this site is overwhelmingly constructive. And we've got a good mix of people doing different types of brewing and processes, so you're sure to find some good advice that's relevant to how you brew
 
Yeah, we might give you a little ribbing here or there, but I think the criticism on this site is overwhelmingly constructive. And we've got a good mix of people doing different types of brewing and processes, so you're sure to find some good advice that's relevant to how you brew

Good to hear. In my experience a lot of people seem to want you to do things the way they do and discount that you know anything. If you ask for help with a recipe, they will just give you one of their own because apparently no beer that I could make would be any good. I have been brewing for about 10 years now and know a thing or two. Just ranting...haha.
 

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