To Dry Hop my Porter or not to dry hop my Porter?

[PaisleyExport]

Afternoon guys. I’ve got a Robust Porter fermenting nicely but I’m considering dry hoping it? This is my third brew so don’t want to wreck it - and I’ve put some chilli and ginger in the boil at 30mins. My head says leave it be there’s enough going on but the mad alchemist in wants to bung in some hops for an additional depth ....... thoughts?

 

[Banbeer]

Have you made this Porter before? What I tend to do is make it as the recipe suggests and then I have an understanding of what it hopefully should be like. If I then tweak it and it 's better or worse I know the addition either worked or failed.

 

[Hagrid]

Have you got a second FV? Could you rack half over and dry hop one half?

 

[terrym]

I thought Porters were more about malty chocolate toasty flavours rather than hops. Its not an AIPA.

 

[user 18729]

I thought Porters were more about malty chocolate toasty flavours rather than hops. Its not an AIPA.

Porters historically are packed with hops. So personal preference really

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Hops are a preservative too so you might want some hops in there to help with longevity if you didn’t add any bittering or flavour hops.

Beyond that it might depend on the strength of the flavours you’ve already added and of course, what you want from your beer.

 

[terrym]

Porters historically are packed with hops. So personal preference really

Maybe so.
But I was in part guided by this, for what its worth
https://www.brewersassociation.org/edu/brewers-association-beer-style-guidelines/#18British Origin style Ales:-
Brown Porter
Perceived Malt Aroma & Flavor: Low to medium malt sweetness. Caramel and chocolate attributes are acceptable. Strong roast barley or strong burnt or black malt character should not be present. Perceived Hop Aroma & Flavor: Very low to medium
Perceived Bitterness: Medium

Robust Porter
Perceived Malt Aroma & Flavor: Medium to medium-high. Malty sweetness, roast malt, cocoa and caramel should be in harmony with bitterness from dark malts.
Perceived Hop Aroma & Flavor: Very low to medium
Perceived Bitterness: Medium to high

An American Porter, of course may be different

 

[user 18729]

Maybe so.
But I was in part guided by this, for what its worth
https://www.brewersassociation.org/edu/brewers-association-beer-style-guidelines/#18British Origin style Ales:-
Brown Porter
Perceived Malt Aroma & Flavor: Low to medium malt sweetness. Caramel and chocolate attributes are acceptable. Strong roast barley or strong burnt or black malt character should not be present. Perceived Hop Aroma & Flavor: Very low to medium
Perceived Bitterness: Medium

Robust Porter
Perceived Malt Aroma & Flavor: Medium to medium-high. Malty sweetness, roast malt, cocoa and caramel should be in harmony with bitterness from dark malts.
Perceived Hop Aroma & Flavor: Very low to medium
Perceived Bitterness: Medium to high

An American Porter, of course may be different

Modern porters are as you say more malt foreword. If you go back 100 years they were really hoppy. Well worth looking at some historical recipes. Interesting to see how things have changed

 

[PaisleyExport]

Have you made this Porter before? What I tend to do is make it as the recipe suggests and then I have an understanding of what it hopefully should be like. If I then tweak it and it 's better or worse I know the addition either worked or failed.

First time for this one Banbeer, like the idea of getting a baseline though, cheers.

 

[PaisleyExport]

Have you got a second FV? Could you rack half over and dry hop one half?

I do Good thinking! I wouldn’t have thought to split it cheers.

 

[PaisleyExport]

Hops are a preservative too so you might want some hops in there to help with longevity if you didn’t add any bittering or flavour hops.

Beyond that it might depend on the strength of the flavours you’ve already added and of course, what you want from your beer.

Thanks Hazelwood. Chinook as my bittering hops and Cascade at 15 mins. I’m now considering splitting like Hagrid suggests and dry hoping one batch and comparing to see what works best.

 

[chthon]

Maybe so.
But I was in part guided by this, for what its worth
https://www.brewersassociation.org/edu/brewers-association-beer-style-guidelines/#18

I think the only style guides that matter are the ones reported by Ronald Pattinson and Martyn Cornell, based upon real research and original historical brewing records.

 

[terrym]

I think the only style guides that matter are the ones reported by Ronald Pattinson and Martyn Cornell, based upon real research and original historical brewing records.

I'm sure that The Brewers Association Guidelines matter a lot to the people who have put them together, and to their members and perhaps others who use them.
However I haven't got a strong view on it one way or another, unlike yourself apparently.
But if you want to be helpful and enlightening, why not share what Messrs Pattinson and Cornell say about porters in general, historical and modern, which may conflict with what I have said, which is fair enough. Certainly in the UK, porters almost died out 30 years ago, and in my view have only seen a renaissance due to their promotion by the craft brewers looking for something different.

 

[chthon]

I'm sure that The Brewers Association Guidelines matter a lot to the people who have put them together, and to their members and perhaps others who use them.
However I haven't got a strong view on it one way or another, unlike yourself apparently.
But if you want to be helpful and enlightening, why not share what Messrs Pattinson and Cornell say about porters in general, historical and modern, which may conflict with what I have said, which is fair enough. Certainly in the UK, porters almost died out 30 years ago, and in my view have only seen a renaissance due to their promotion by the craft brewers looking for something different.

You can find it all here:

• Shut Up About Barclay-Perkins
• Zythophile

You might need to dig and read much, but these two do a thorough research in historic records, and have already debunked a whole lot of brewing myths (like peaty Scottish beer, but you will find a whole lot of other things). You will find places where they went head to head (figuratively) with the BJCP e.g., about the historical growth or origins of certain beers.

The short of it is this: beer styles are fluent through the ages, and sometimes even are just what the brewer liked to call his beer (like IPA and Pale Ale, Ronald Pattinson has a whole lot of brewing records from a whole lot of brewers, from 19th to 20th century, and there seems to be no correlation between ingredients and strength and the names of these beers).

Yeah, I am an iconoclast.

 

[PaisleyExport]

Morning gents bit of an update/follow up question. So I decided against dry hopping as work went mental last week. Recipe said to single ferment and bottle after a week. I did this but got a FG of 1.022. Fear is this way too high and out of the recipe target (1.016 ish) I was racking to the bottling vessel which was primed with dextrose solution so I felt I was in too deep to back out and leave it to secondary ferment. Or was I? I bottled it and have gone off for a two week holiday so we will see what I return to (fear is too much fermentable stuff leading to bottle bombs?) Could I / should I have just left it with the priming sugar to secondary ferment for a week or so? Lesson is to take the FG before set up for bottling, but it’s my 3rd brew so putting it down to experience!