OnTap Magazine

ENGLISH PORTER E A S Y S T Y L E 03 English porters are rich, dark beers that are often associated with colder climes, but can of course be enjoyed all year round. In fact, the porter style is a big, friendly hug of a beer for beginners to sink their teeth into. Here’s why: Perhaps the ultimate in cover-up-my- disaster grains are at the core of a good Here you will find more than a few imported and local examples to measure your own creation against. The best one to try is Fuller’s London Porter (perhaps the paradigm example). Local versions to sample include Afro Caribbean Brewing Company’s Pirate Porter and Nottingham Road Brewing Company’s Pickled Pig. Much like best bitters, porters do well when fermented at room temperature. If you live in colder regions, you can even get away with a cold-tolerant English or American ale yeast strain. Porters just don’t seem to mind when it comes to HOMEBRU porter: roasted barley, chocolate malts and coffee malts. Because these malts are roasted or kilned, they lend strong barbeque, coffee, chocolate, and ashen flavours to the final brew. Therein also lies the risk in this style: add too much of these specialty malts and it can become an undrinkable burn-fest. But on balance, the porter style is pretty forgiving of the odd error. Like moths to the homebrewing flame Nuts & bolts Batch size: 19 litres Method: Brew in a bag (BIAB) Estimated OG: 1.050 Estimated FG: 1.012 IBUs: 31 Target ABV: 5.1% Mash ingredients 3.2kg pale malt 800g light Munich malt 350g 80L crystal malt Mash your grains in 26 litres of brewing water at a strike temperature of 71°C for a mash temperature of 66.7 °C. Hold for 75 minutes, then mash out at 76 °C for 10 minutes. Boil ingredients 15g Northern Brewer (8.5% AA) @ 60 min 22g Northern Brewer (8.5% AA) @15 min 35g Northern Brewer (8.5% AA) @ flameout Ferment ingredients Use a classic German Lager yeast, such as Fermentis’s W-34/70 or similar. Ferment at room temperature for 14 days before bottling. Bottling and aging Bottle the batch using 140g of dextrose. This brew is best consumed while fresh but will cellar up to 6-8 months. EASY ROLLIN’ CALIFORNIA COMMON RECIPE you’ll find some good imported examples like the Fuller’s range. Some local breweries like Clockwork, Afro Caribbean and Triggerfish have all delivered credible and well-brewed examples. fermentation temperature (or at least, they mind less than most). 60 | Spring 2021 | ontapmag.co.za