Mike is a keeper of the beer style flame.

He does not want other types of beer to die off under the weight of IPA Mania.

Here we taste a porter that he brewed, chat about it, and discuss tips that you should follow to brew a great one.

Mike’s Porter Recipe

Here’s the recipe for Mike’s Keeping the Flame Alive Porter:

Batch size is 6.5 US Gallons of wort at the end of the boil.

Grains
74% Maris Otter Pale Malt
7.4% Medium Crystal Malt (55°L)
7.5% Victory Malt (25°L)
5.6% Black Patent Malt (525°L)
5.6% Brown Malt (70° L)

Hops

1 ounce of Challenger (7.6% AA) – 60 minutes to go in the boil
2 ounces of East Kent Goldings (6% AA) – 10 minutes to go in the boil

Yeast
Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale Yeast

Predictions

Original Gravity: 1.055
Final Gravity: 1.016
IBUs: 35
°SRM: 31
ABV: 4.9%

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Black color when you looked down at the pint glass. When held up to the light, you could see ruby highlights and a brownish tinge. Head was slightly off-white.

Aroma: Strong toast aroma. A little biscuit malt note as well.
Flavor: More toasty than roasty, some dark chocolate notes, licorice in the end. Rich

Mouthfeel: Medium body. It wasn’t too heavy.

Overall Impression: This beer reminded me a lot of Mayflower Brewing Company’s Porter which is a wonderful beer if you can get your hands on it. This beer had three of four solid flavor notes that worked well together. I didn’t mind not having the caramel note come through, the biscuit from the Victory malt, the bitter chocolate from the Black malt, and the strong toast of the Brown Malt made it great.

Hot Tip For Brewing a Great Porter

Mike says if you want to brew a great porter, you need to go bold with your specialty malt. You need to choose one or two of the flavor characters that you want to be present in the beer and increase the amounts of the specialty malts in your grain bill that will make those characters shine.

Have fun brewing beer styles – especially ones for the colder months.

Brew ON!