English Porter (November 2023)

About This Beer

Second English Porter in the captured collection. Brewed eight months after the March 2023 English Porter I. Same Gladfield grain template; two notable changes — UK Harlequin replaces Pacific Jade as the bittering hop, and the first captured diacetyl rest in Owen’s brewing.

Grain Bill — Same as English Porter I

6.5 kg total, all Gladfield:

• 4.0 kg Gladfield Ale Malt
• 1.4 kg Gladfield Munich Malt
• 0.4 kg Gladfield Light Crystal
• 0.3 kg Gladfield Light Chocolate
• 0.25 kg Gladfield Shepherds Delight
• 0.15 kg Gladfield Eclipse Wheat

Hops — UK Harlequin Replaces Pacific Jade

Total 80 g. The defining recipe change vs English Porter I: bittering hop swapped.

The notebook annotation “Bittering similar” next to UK Harlequin confirms this was a like-for-like clean-bittering substitution rather than a profile change. UK Harlequin (Charles Faram, 2019) and Pacific Jade are both clean bittering hops with restrained aromatic intensity — a sensible swap for an English Porter where the bittering hop shouldn’t push tropical fruit forward.

First captured use of UK Harlequin in Owen’s collection.

Brew Day — Heavy Water Profile

Mash in 21 L at 67 °C for 60 min, mash out at 78 °C for 10 min. Heavy water profile for the dark grist:

• 4 g calcium chloride
• 2 g calcium sulphate
• 4 g sodium bicarbonate (first appearance in the captured collection)
• 6 g calcium carbonate (significant addition)
• 1 g magnesium sulphate
• 3-4 mL 88 % lactic acid

The sodium bicarbonate and calcium carbonate together represent ~10 g of alkalinity additions — heavy for the system, but appropriate for the dark malt stack which would otherwise acidify mash pH too far.

Fermentation — First Explicit Diacetyl Rest

1 packet of Lallemand Nottingham Hi-Perf Ale pitched at 19 °C. Plan:

• Primary at 19 °C for 10–12 days
• Diacetyl rest at 22 °C for 2 days — first captured explicit diacetyl rest in the Owen collection

Standard English ale practice. FG hit 1.010 vs 1.012 target — Nottingham Hi-Perf running cleanly at 82.1 % attenuation.

Packaging

140 g dextrose for bottle conditioning at 23 L = ~6.1 g/L dextrose (~5.2 g/L sucrose-equivalent).

Bottled 12 December 2023 — 12 days after brew day.

Numbers — Cleanest in the Collection

Hit every target exactly. Cleanest volume execution in the captured collection.

Lineage

• English Porter I (March 2023) — first captured; Pacific Jade bittering
• This brew — English Porter (November 2023) — UK Harlequin replaces Pacific Jade; first diacetyl rest
• English Porter (April 2025) — third brew of this recipe
• English Porter II (April 2026) — fourth in the line