I prefer stouts over porters but want to take a stab at the recipe in the May/June Zymurgy issue. Has anyone added flaked oats to the recipe to give it more body? I was thinking I would go on the light side and add 5% to the total grain bill. Will I be banned from the message board for trying this?
Why do you assume it needs more body?
Most porters I have seem too thin for my personal liking, which is why I rarely order them.
I’d go ahead and make it according to the recipe and see if there’s enough body for you (it most likely will).
I’m starting to come to that conclusion. Thanks.
Sacrilegious? More like sacrilicious!
Generally though, I’d say anything oats can do, barley does better. Oats give a slickness I don’t care for, so I only use flaked barley now.
But you haven’t tried this one! How do you know it needs anything?
If you want an oatmeal stout you might as well just brew an oatmeal stout from the start, IMHO. I have had a few porters that were too thin for my tastes, but the good ones have the right amount of mouthfeel without being unbalanced.
I also prefer flaked barley over oats for body building.
I think I’ll take everyone’s word and leave the recipe untouched. I brewed an oatmeal stout in April and it came out perfect, which is probably why I figured why not add a little and see what happens.
For future brews though thanks for the barley over oat preference, I’ve only entered the AG world about 8 months ago and still feel like a plebe at West Point.
I’ve brewed Denny’s recipe several times. The “base” beer (before the vanilla and bourbon) is an imperial porter. If you balance the vanilla and bourbon as Denny suggests, the BVIP is a wonderfully rich and complex beer. I’ve done 10-gallon batches and kegged half as imperial porter and the other half as BVIP. Both have plenty of body. Heck, I think you could almost chew the last batch of BVIP I made because my efficiency was a little higher than anticipated. Brew Denny’s recipe with no changes the first time. Then, if you think it needs to be tweaked, have at it. I think you’ll find the original will stand on its own just fine.
If you;re into coffee beers, the base porter works great with a coffee addition.
The base porter also works great if you add a little peated malt to make a smoked porter 
PEATED MALT??? AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!
One more for staying true to the recipe for your first time. I think you’ll find the BVIP has plenty of body.
I think I heard somewhere, it might had been on this forum (can’t remember) that Denny doen’t like peated malt(?).
Could it have been the “discussions” with Mr. Peat on the NB forum long ago? 