A Tale of Two Historic Porters
I have recently been a part of brewing two historic porters on a commercial scale. The first was a re-creation of a specific historical brew at Brewport Brewing Co. in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The second was a modern creation at Springdale, the ale department of Jack’s Abby Brewing in Framingham, Massachusetts that was along the lines of what might have been brewed in England two centuries ago. The two brews illustrate how porters have evolved over the years from the early days in England to what we now think of when we brew a porter.
Dr. Foster’s Bridgeporter
Brewport’s Brewmaster Jeff Browning and I have been lucky enough to have acquired a series of brewing books from the Hartmann Brewery in Bridgeport and Home Brewing Co. (which Hartmann became in 1912). The books cover the years 1901 to 1917, and the porter recipe came from 1904.This was a time when pale ±5% ABV lagers had become the most popular beers in the U.S., but New England brewers were still turning out plenty of ales and porters as well as lagers. Indeed, the output from Hartmann/Home was split about 50:50 between ales and lagers throughout the period covered by the books. For a while, their regular ales were a pale and a dark, but they also did stronger specials occasionally. So it is not surprising that they brewed a porter, except for the fact that they did so only once in the 16 years of the books. In addition it was only a small brew at 56 barrels, when they normally produced 130 barrels of their ales.
Some brewers of the time made an ersatz porter by simply coloring a standard pale ale with a caramel product called Porterine. But others preferred to use black malt, which provided bitterness as well as color and which was a common approach by 19th century English porter brewers. For example, The National Brewers Academy and Consulting Bureau of New York City put out a book called Practical Points for Practical Brewers in 1909 that gave ingredients for brewing porter as follows:
70% high dried malt*
20% sugar**
10% black malt
* This was probably equivalent to a modern pale ale malt, kilned at a slightly higher temperature than a lager malt.
** This was “grape sugar,” or dextrose.
This resulted in a wort with an original gravity (OG) of 1.070 (17.1 °P) and the beer with a final gravity (FG) of 1.024 (6.1 °P) and 6.1% ABV (I have put these in modern terms as they used the now outmoded Balling scale for gravity and ABW instead of ABV.)
This beer would approximate to being a modern Robust Porter in terms of alcohol content, but somewhat higher in OG with a high FG. It was also suggested that it should be dry hopped, which is optional for a robust porter.
The Hartmann recipe was:
2,210 lbs. (1,003 kg) pale malt (59.2%)
850 lbs. (386 kg) flakes (22.8%)
442 lbs. (201 kg) black malt (11.8%)
230 lbs. (104 kg) caramel malt (6.2%)
5 lbs. (2.3 kg) salt
70 lbs. (32 kg) hops
There were 73 barrels of wort post-boil, but only 56 barrels into the fermenter (quite a significant loss) at an OG of 1.055 (13.6 °P).
The “flakes” were flaked corn or maize, which in 1904 U.S. brewers were using for a variety of reasons, such as giving a crispness to lagers, permitting the use of cheaper native 6-row malt, and being cheaper than 2-row malt. Many modern craft brewers do not like to use such adjuncts, seeing them as merely diluting malt flavors in the beer. It is not an argument I wish to take further here, but I must point out that the cost of flaked maize is often higher than that of base grain malts.
Hartmann cooked the flakes with a portion of the malt, then added this to the main mash to give a conversion temperature of 148 °F (64 °C). In fact, cooking the corn is not necessary, as the corn starch has already been hydrolyzed in the flaking process, so it can be used directly in a straight infusion mash. Which is just as well as at Brewport we have only a mash tun and no cereal cooker.
There are some other points about this recipe, the first being that the brew book gave no indication of the finishing gravity of this beer. A reasonable assumption would be that it was about one-quarter of OG, or around 1.014 (3.6 °P), leading to an alcohol level at 5.3% ABV.
The addition of salt was common at that time since it added some palate fullness to the beer and I think that this works well in a porter, especially in one with such a high level of black malt bitterness. For the record, before we brewed our version, I would have said 5% on the total grist would be the maximum proportion of black malt I would use — more on that later.
Hops are the next point, or rather, problem. You see “hops” was the only piece of information the Hartmann brewer gave us, with no indication of the variety and, of course, nothing about their alpha acid content. If they were U.S.-grown hops, they would probably have been Cluster, though they could also have been European hops, which were in common use in the U.S. at that time. At any rate, my best guess is they would likely have contained around 3% alpha acids. Hartmann’s recipe does say they were added in three portions, though it did not say what those portions were. The first lot went into the kettle 45 minutes before the start of boiling, the second 15 minutes after the start and the third 45 minutes before the end of the boil. That means they might have achieved about 30% alpha-acid utilization. Given that and assuming 3% alpha, and a total addition of about 1 lb. per barrel, an approximate calculation suggests the beer had an IBU level of 35. That is obviously a guess, but Jeff and I felt that would be an appropriate level for this beer. We also felt that the mode of addition would result in only hop bitterness with no hop aromatics in the beer. Therefore we opted to use an American hop for bittering and to throw in an English hop at the end of the boil; we are of the opinion that this latter procedure adds no hop aromatics to the beer but decided to go ahead with it as the Hartmann brewers thought it did so.
Finally, we know nothing about the yeast used and there is nothing to help us in any of the other Hartmann brew books to give us any clue. So we had no choice but to go with our standard ale yeast.
Without further ado, here was our recipe for Dr. Foster’s Bridgeporter
(15 barrels):
Ingredients
495 lbs. (225 kg) Crisp ale malt (4 °L) (57.6%)\
200 lbs. (91 kg) flaked maize (1 °L) (23.3%)
110 lbs. (50 kg) Crisp black malt (680 °L) (12.8 %)
55 lbs. (25 kg) Crisp caramalt (35 °L) (6.4%)
5 lbs. (2.3 kg) Centennial hops (9.3% alpha acids) 60 minutes
2 lbs. (0.9 kg) Wye Challenger hops (6.8% alpha acids) 0 minutes
1 lb. (0.45 kg) salt
2 lbs. (0.9 kg) SafAle S-04 yeast
Our grain percentages don’t match exactly those of Hartmann because we always use whole bags of malt when possible. Now, I must confess I was doubtful about this beer because of the high percentage of black malt used, but Jeff Browning was adamant that we should do so. When we sampled it from the fermenter my fears were realized, for it was too bitter. However, when it had rested for two weeks, been transferred to the serving tanks, and properly carbonated, the black malt bitterness was muted and we had a very nice robust porter.
Find a homebrew clone recipe for this beer below
Brow Brau Porter
This beer was initiated by Jack Hendler of Jack’s Abby and Jeff Browning of Brewport who agreed to do a collaborative brew of a porter. This was to be under the auspices of Springdale Beer Co., the ale-brewing brand of Jack’s Abby, since Jack’s Abby is an uncompromising brewer of only lagers. The Jack’s Abby brewery is of German construction and permits decoction mashing, a traditional German brewing procedure. The glory of Springdale, which is in the same building, is its huge collection of barrel-aged beers.
But let’s get to the porter. The unusual name actually came after the brewing and both Jack’s Abby and Brewport’s staff discussed a number of suggestions before coming up with Brow Brau. The second half reflects Jack’s commitment to lager brewing while the first is based on the fact that the only hair that now grows profusely on my head is that of my eyebrows.
Jack Hendler was keen to brew a historical porter and he made a suggestion as to what the recipe should be, to which I made some modification. In particular I wanted the proportion of brown malt to be increased. Brown malt figured significantly in the origin of porter and I am strongly in favor of its use in a porter as it contributes a unique, nutty, caramel component to the palate. In short, the addition of brown malt adds lots of complexity to what would otherwise be a quite simple beer. We also put in a small proportion of black malt so that the grist would be somewhat similar to that used by English brewers in the first half of the 19th century. English brewers, thanks to the introduction of the hydrometer, had come to realize that brown malt gave a poor extract yield and pale malt had to dominate the grain bill on economic grounds. When black malt was introduced in 1817 the brewers soon decided that adding a proportion of this would help to give them the flavor of porters brewed in the previous century. Our recipe is not a reproduction of any particular historical brew; for a start, the quality of the malts and hops is quite different to that of 19th century ingredients. For example, modern brown malt gives a similar extract yield to pale ale malts. What we were making was a modern brown porter that we felt reflected the character of porters 200 years ago.
I, Jeff Browning, and Jeff Browning Jr. (Brewport’s Brewer) made our way through a December snowfall to the brewery. We were there as overseers/advisers as Jake Wiater, Research and Development Brewer for Springdale Brewing Co. was doing all the actual work. The brewing was only a small one and was carried out in a 7-barrel heated vessel. After mashing, the whole mash was pumped to a lauter tun for wort runoff and sparging. The collected wort was pumped back to the original vessel, which now acted as a boiler. This was a nice, compact set-up; I have seen another such arrangement with a German system installed in a craft brewery in
southern France.
Here was the malt bill for a 7-barrel mash tun (all from Crisp):
255 lbs. (116 kg) Maris Otter pale malt (80.2%)
55 lbs. (25 kg) brown malt (17.3%)
8 lbs. (3.6 kg) black malt (2.5%)
3.2 lbs. (1.5 kg) rice hulls
The mash was made with 2 qts. (2 L) water per lb. grain, and the resulting 3.7 barrels (114 gallons/431 L) of water was treated with 1 oz. (28 g) calcium chloride, 2 oz. (56 g) gypsum, and 1 oz. (28 g) lactic acid. That amounted to the following ionic content of 53 ppm Ca++, 72 ppm SO42-, 41 ppm Cl–, 65 ppm lactic acid in the mash (it is probable that 19th century porters contained some level of lactic acid). That treatment was pre-ordained by the Jack’s Abby brewers as suitable for their water and this beer and the mash had a 5.2 pH as targeted. Mash temperature was 152–153 °F (67 °C) for 1 hour, when it was raised to 170 °F (77 °C) for mash out. After transfer to the lauter tun, the mash was allowed to sit for about 20 minutes before run-off and sparging to collect 6.1 barrels. In the boil East Kent Goldings were added to achieve an IBU of 25 and the final wort volume was 5.7 barrels at a gravity of 1.049 (12 °P). This was fermented with the brewery’s yeast and FG was 1.018, with a resulting ABV of 4%. Note that the FG is quite high and the beer had an apparent attenuation of 63%, lower than might be expected for a beer at this OG, but is quite typical of a beer brewed with a significant amount of brown malt.
Brow Brau was released at Springdale in January 2020 and a second release was held at Brewport a month later, just before we locked down because of COVID-19. The beer was at the correct OG to fit the modern brown porter style and that was pretty much how it tasted; smooth, with good palate fullness and just a hint of bitterness from the hops and black malt, all backed up by the characteristic nutty, caramel, even vanilla-like flavors from the brown malt. It was, in fact, exactly as I hoped it would be.
So, satisfied as I was, I set out to produce a couple of clones. The all-grain one was easy enough, but the extract-based one was not so simple because the use of brown malt requires a partial mash. Find these clone recipes on page below.
Tail Piece
So there you have it — two porters of similar OG but very different in character and flavor. Both have historical roots and remind us that our ancestors knew how to brew good beer even though they may not have known as much about the science of brewing as we do today.
Recipes
Brewport Brewing Co.’s Dr. Foster’s Bridgeporter clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.054 FG = 1.013
IBU = 37 SRM = 49 ABV = 5.3%
This recipe is Brewport Brewing Co.’s interpretation of a porter recipe from 1904 found in Hartmann Brewery’s recipe archives (the now defunct Hartmann Brewery was in the same city of Bridgeport, Connecticut as Brewport).
Ingredients
6.75 lbs. (3.1 kg) pale malt
2.75 lbs. (1.25 kg) flaked maize
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) Briess black malt (500 °L)
0.9 lb. (0.41 kg) Briess caramel malt (40 °L)
10 AAU Centennial hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 10% alpha acids)
5 g table salt
Wyeast 1099 (Whitbread Ale) or SafAle S-04 yeast
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by step
Mash the grains and flaked maize at 148–150 °F (64–66 °C) with 3.5 gallons (13 L) of water. After 60 minutes, run off and sparge with water at 160–170 °F (71–77 °C) to collect 6 gallons (23 L) of wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding the Centennial hops and salt at the start. Cool to about 70 °F (21 °C) and pitch the yeast.
Ferment seven days at about 65 °F (18 °C), then rack to secondary for a further 5–7 days before racking to keg or bottling and carbonating to 2.0–2.5 psi. I recommend keeping this beer 3–4 weeks before drinking. It will be very bitter due to the large percent of black malt immediately, but a little age mellows that bitterness, resulting in an enjoyable historical porter.
Tips for success:
There is no water treatment in this recipe. That is because we used essentially the same Bridgeport water as in the original recipe from 1904 in which Hartmann made no adjustments. You should check the pH of your mash, which should be 5.4–5.5.
This will be somewhat darker than the original because of the lower
brewhouse efficiency (65%) and I have kept the malt ratios the same as in the original so there is a greater color contribution from the black malt. Feel free to adjust the malt bill weights to fit your brewhouse efficiency, keeping the grain ratios the same.
I have also not included a late hopping stage for simplicity since I do not think it added anything to the original. We did add Wye Challenger hops at flameout in the Brewport version, however.
Brewport Brewing Co.’s Dr. Foster’s Bridgeporter Clone
(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.054 FG = 1.015
IBU = 37 SRM = 49 ABV = 5.1%
Ingredients
6 lbs. (2.7 kg) pale liquid malt extract
0.4 lb. (0.2 kg) pale dried malt extract
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) Briess black malt (500 °L)
0.9 lb. (0.41 kg) Briess caramel malt (40 °L)
10 AAU Centennial hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 10% alpha acids)
5 g table salt
Wyeast 1099 (Whitbread Ale) or SafAle S-04 yeast
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by step
Bring 3 gallons (11 L) of water to about 150 °F (66 °C), put the specialty grains in a muslin bag and steep them for 15–20 minutes. Remove the bag, allowing the liquid to drain thoroughly then stir in the extracts, making sure they are thoroughly dissolved before proceeding. Add hot water to bring the volume up to 5.5 gallons (21 L) and boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops and salt at the start. Cool to about 70 °F (21 °C) and pitch the yeast.
Ferment seven days at about 65 °F (18 °C), then rack to secondary for a further 5–7 days before racking to keg or bottling and carbonating to 2.0–2.5 psi. I recommend keeping this beer 3–4 weeks before drinking.
Note: I eliminated the flaked maize called for in the all-grain recipe so as to avoid the rather large partial mash that would be required. That meant this beer was somewhat more malty than the original, but that ensures
a good balance between the malt character and the bitterness from the black malt.
Springdale Beer Co. & Brewport Brewing Co.’s Brow Brau clone
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.049 FG = 1.017
IBU = 25 SRM = 25 ABV = 4.1%
This recipe may be best described as a modern brown porter that reflects the character of English porters 200 years ago. The resulting beer is smooth with good palate fullness and just a hint of bitterness from the hops and black malt, all backed up by the characteristic nutty, caramel, even vanilla-like flavors from the brown malt.
Ingredients
8 lbs. (3.6 kg) Crisp Maris Otter pale malt
2 lbs. (0.91 kg) Crisp brown malt
0.3 lb. (0.14 kg) Crisp black malt
6.6 AAU East Kent Golding hops (60 min.) (1.3 oz./37 g at 5.1% alpha acids)
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) rice hulls (optional)
SafAle S-04 or Wyeast 1099 (Whitbread Ale) yeast
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by step
Mash the grains (if using rice hulls add them to the tun first) at 152–153 °F (67 °C) with 3.5 gallons (13 L) of water. After 60 minutes, run off and sparge with water at 160–170 °F (71–77 °C) to collect 6 gallons (23 L) of wort. Boil for 60 minutes, adding the Golding hops at the start.
At the completion of the boil, cool to about 70 °F (21 °C) and pitch the yeast. Ferment for seven days at about 65 °F (18 °C), then rack to secondary for a further 14 days before racking to keg or bottling and carbonating as usual to at least 2.0 v/v. Give it another two weeks or so before drinking the beer.
Tips for success:
The reason for the long 14-day conditioning recommendation prior to packaging is to ensure complete fermentation as brown malt often results in slowing the fermentation down in the end and you need to be sure that you have really reached terminal gravity before the final racking. Give it the full two weeks to ensure fermentation completion.
Springdale Beer Co. & Brewport Brewing Co.’s Brow Brau clone
(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.049 FG = 1.018
IBU = 25 SRM = 25 ABV = 4%
Ingredients
4.5 lbs. (2 kg) Maris Otter liquid malt extract
1.8 lbs. (0.8 kg) pale 2-row malt
1.8 lbs. (0.8 kg) Crisp brown malt
0.36 lb. (0.16 kg) Crisp black malt
6.6 AAU East Kent Golding hops (60 min.) (1.3 oz./37 g at 5.1% alpha acids)
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) rice hulls (optional)
SafAle S-04 or Wyeast 1099 (Whitbread Ale) yeast
2⁄3 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by step
Bring 3 gallons (11 L) of water to about 160 °F (71 °C), put the crushed grains in a muslin bag and adjust the temperature so that it is as close as possible to 152–153 °F (67 °C). Cover the pot and leave for 1 hour. Remove the bag, allowing the liquid to drain thoroughly then rinse the grains with a further 2 gallons (8 L) of water at about 160 °F (71 °C). Stir the extract into the collected wort making sure the extract is thoroughly dissolved before proceeding. Adjust the volume to 6 gallons (23 L) and boil for 60 minutes, adding the Golding hops at the start.
At the completion of the boil, cool to about 70 °F (21 °C) and pitch the yeast. Ferment seven days at about 65 °F (18 °C), then rack to secondary for a further 14 days before racking to keg or bottling and carbonating as usual to at least 2.0 v/v. Give it another two weeks or so before drinking the beer.
Tips for success:
The reason for the long 14-day conditioning recommendation prior to packaging is to ensure complete fermentation as brown malt often results in slowing the fermentation down in the end and you need to be sure that you have really reached terminal gravity before the final racking. Give it the full two weeks to ensure fermentation completion.
