8 lbs Light Extract

12 oz Chocolate Malt

4 oz Black Malt

8 oz Crystal 80L Malt

4 oz Dextrin Malt

2 oz Northern Brewer Hops Total:

1.5 oz @ 60 mins

.5 oz @ 1 mins

2 tsp gypsum 1 tsp Irish Moss, added at beginning of boil

1^st choice Wyeast 1028 London Ale; 2^nd choice Wyeast 1056 American Ale

store yeast tube cold until brew day, allow yeast 3 hours to warm up before pitching

3/4  cup dextrose for bottle priming

Starting Gravity: 1.050-52

Directions: 

Brew day:

                Put your volume of water on to boil, usually 2-2.5 gallons, unless you have a wort

                cooling device.  When water temperature reaches 150, add the adjunct malt grains in

                grain steeping bag.   Hold temperature at 150-160 for 30 minutes.  Stir the grains

                occasionally.  After 30 minutes resume heat.  When temperature reaches 170 remove

                or strain the grain out.  Now add the extract.   You can let some hot water mix with the

                extract to help loosen it up and pour smoothly.  Proceed on to full boil, and stir to

                prevent the extract from scorching on the bottom of the pot. 

At full boil, 60 minute countdown:

At full boil, add the 1.5 oz of  bittering hops, gypsum/moss and begin an hour countdown. As always, stir occasionally.

At 1 minutes:

                Add the .5 oz of hops. 

End of boil:

                Shut off heat and begin to cool your wort as soon as possible.  When wort is about 75

                degrees, or when wort is cool enough to mix with water to reach about 75 degrees,                               pour and strain the wort into your primary fermenter.  When pouring the wort into the

                primary, aerate as much as possible.  You can accomplish this by dipping a sanitized                    container, such as a measuring cup into the wort and pouring back into the wort. 

                Create as much foam and bubbles as you can for about ten minutes.  Double check

                your temperature to be sure it is not above 80 degrees and take a hydrometer reading. 

                Now pitch the contents of the yeast pack into the primary fermenter, cover, set-up the

                sanitized airlock and stopper assembly, and place the primary where it will remain                               around 68 degrees during fermentation.

Next 4 days:

                Your fermentation should begin after about 12 hours.  From then on fermentation will

                peak then subside.  After high krausen, you may opt to rack to glass secondary carboy.

Next 3 days:

                After 5 and 6 days take hydrometer readings.  If no perceptible change in gravity

                occurs, you are ready to bottle.  If the gravity keeps reducing, wait.  If you are unsure

                wait one more day.                

Bottling day:

                Be especially careful about sanitizing and racking at this stage!  Thoroughly clean and

                sanitize bottles and caps.  Preheat 3/4cup corn sugar (dextrose) in a saucepan with 3-4                    cup of water and bring to a quick boil. Carefully rack beer to a bottling bucket and

                swirl in corn sugar mixture.  Be careful not to slosh around the beer, you don’t want to

                oxidize.  Bottle and cap.  Store at room temperate to ensure good bottle fermentation.

10 days after bottling:

Sample a beer.  Be patient, you can try a bottle after about a week, but most beers, especially hoppy medium and high gravity beers, benefit from some aging.  Enjoy!                      

Tips and fine-tuning:

-Try to boil and cool the largest possible volume you can manage.

-Varying the fermentation temperature will result in different flavors.  Fermenting warm (up to 72 degrees)

  will produce fruity, estery qualities.  An LCD stick-on thermometer will allow you to monitor fermentation

  temperatures.   

-Always be sure to sanitize every piece of brewing equipment, after you are finished with the boil.  A 5 gallon

 utility bucket half filled with an iodine based “no rinse” sanitizer is convenient for this. 

-Secondary fermentation in glass is recommended.

-Take notes and keep records of your batches. 

Porter.doc (27.50 kb)