Home Brewer’s Ultimate Recipe Book

Hell Gate Porter

I don’t know how other people decide what they are going to brew, but often I will begin a recipe because I like the name of the beer; especially if the ingredients are unique or interesting to me. The name “Hell Gate Porter” catches they eye because it just sounds cool, and the recipe itself is intriguing. Aside from the unusual combining of both honey and molasses in a porter there is a detailed hops list with very specific call times which appealed to me. Admit it, sometimes just standing over the pot and watching it boil for an hour gets a little stale…

So, this recipe fit my criteria for “sounds cool, looks fun to cook and has some interesting ingredient variations”. Decision made, I gathered all the supplies and started cooking. Don’t start this one unless you are ready to stand over the pot, watching the clock, the hop addition times are specific and although I have no idea what happens if you vary the call times, I do know that following this recipe to the letter produces a delicious porter.

The end result is a nice clean porter with a rich dark cola color and a creamy dense tan head. It has a sharp beginning taste with a very light mouth-feel. The flavor quickly smooths out but maintains a nice clean bitter taste with a slight bite. There is almost no nutty character to this one but the molasses is more noticeable in the smell than in the taste. Because of the light mouth-feel, this is a dark beer that would be very enjoyable in the summer time.

Overall this is a good porter; most of the people who tried it liked it and went back for more, but there weren’t any rave reviews or requests for another batch. I think that it would benefit from some malto-dextrine just to give it a little more substance.

SG 1.066
OG 1.019
ABV 7%

Fermenting temp 66º-69º
1 Week Primary
2 Week Secondary
10 days bottled