1872 Porter – Homebrew the Champion Beer of Britain!

The Homebrew Emporium is a supporter of NERAX, the New England Real Ale eXbition held several times a year in the greater Boston area. At the recent NERAX North, Regional Manager (and NERAX Cellarman) Randy Baril met Elland Brewery’s headbrewer Martin Ogley. Their discussion of distinctive British malts lead to the development of this homebrew take on Elland’s 1872 Porter, winner of the Champion Beer of Britain at the 2013 Great British Beer Festival.

Here’s the recipe:

All-Grain version:

10 lbs of UK Pale Malt
6 oz of Amber Malt
11 oz of Brown Malt
11 oz of Chocolate Malt

2oz Challenger hop, pellets (6.7%)
2oz Target hop, pellets (9.8%)

Mangrove Jack’s M03 Newcastle Dark dry yeast, White Labs 022 Essex Ale, or Wyeast 1098 British

Mash using a single-step infusion using 2 qt/lb to rest at 149’F for 90 minutes. Sparge with 170’F liquor for 60-90 minutes to collect 6.75 gallons of sweet wort. Bring to a boil. At the start of boil, add:

.4oz Challenger hop, pellets (6.7%)
1.5oz Target hop, pellets (9.8%)

Boil for 90 minutes, then add:

.6oz Challenger hop, pellets (6.7%)
.5oz Target hop, pellets (9.8%)

Boil for 10 more minutes (100 minutes total). Knockout. Chill to pitching temp and pitch.  Ferment for two weeks and package. Cask-conditioning with a 5L mini-keg is preferred but bottles & kegs will work.

Extract option:

Replace the 10 lbs of UK Pale with 6.6 lbs of Munton’s Light LME and 1 lb of Munton’s Light DME. If doing a concentrated boil, shift .2 oz of Challenger and .1 oz of Target from finishing strike to bittering strike.