I will be brewing up a Fuller’s London Porter tomorrow. The base malt will be a 50/50 split between Pils and Pale.
How many of you have brewed a Porter using Pils malt?
Someone? Nobody?
If so, what were the results?
I’ve used pils malt in a numbers of styles that usually don’t use it. The difference from pale malt is barely noticeable, it at all. The caveat I might apply is that you’re brewing a British style which would likely use a pale ale malt. It will be a bit more flavorful than pale or pils. But I don’t think you’ll male a bad beer using pils malt in a porter.
I use Pilsner malt in a lot of beers styles and think it would add a good flavor to a porter. It may get lost with the other, stronger malt flavors, but it certainly won’t hurt.
I have subbed Pils for Pale (standard 2-row) and Pale for Pils in recipes without negative issues.
If it was a single malt beer I probably wouldn’t do it but as long as there are other flavorful C malts or roast malts in the recipe I would.
Pils is used in German Porter (like a Schwarzbier): https://www.weyermann.de/downloads/pdf/German%20Porter_neu.pdf
Thanks for the input! We are confident that the base malt bill will work just fine!
With the Crystal, Chocolate, and Brown malts.
I’ve used Vienna malt as the base malt in a porter before with very good results
That is interesting…might give that a try!
[quote=“BeerfanOz, post:6, topic:30591, username:BeerfanOz”]
I’ve used Vienna malt as the base malt in a porter before with very good results
[/quote Good choice.
I used around 30% of the total grain bill of Dark Munich [15 L] along with 50% standard 2- row in an English Porter. It is tasty and sort of adds to the chocolate and crystal malts to mimic chocolate perception in the beer.
On another website (BYO), it stated that while not traditional, you can use Vienna or Munich malts as 100% of the base with very good results.
I love Munich in my porter - especially dark Munich. In fact, dark Munich is a must in my porter recipe. It adds an incredible malt depth.
As far as pilsner - I’d rather use pilsner in my Porter that Maris Otter in my Pilsner - just sayin’.
Sure, in any beer, not just porter. All depends on your goal.
At one point, I used pils malt for everything. If I had to choose just one base malt, it would be pils malt.
I’d be hard pressed to identify the base grain in a porter.
My wife and I (yes, my wife!) are going to brew up a London Porter this week. Might go with a combination of Vienna / Munich in the base grain bill.
Or maybe Pils / Vienna.
2-row and 20L Munich has worked best for me. I like to chew on my Porters and I find 2-row works best for adjunct-heavy recipes. YMMV.
I did a London porter recently with a blend of pils and Munich. Very happy with it.
Although using pils malt is not a bad choice, I personally use Crisp Maris Otter in my porters and stouts because it is a bit richer in flavor than pilsner malt when I chew a sample of the grains. But that is me. The old addage surfaces again. It’s your beer, make it how you want to.
Ive tried to use pils malt as a sub in porters and stouts when I was out of Golden Promise or Great Western (my other base malts) and I found a difference I didnt like, the mouthfeel was leaner and the flavor wasnt as round.
Based on all of the feedback so far, I’ll go with Pils / Vienna / Munich for the base malts.
sounds good. I have a sack of munich malt on the way and am going to experiment using it to replace pale malt in my stout.