Based on Fullers Porter(latest issue of BYO). I upped the hopping a bit and couldn’t get English chocolate(450 L) malt so added a bit more Briess chocolate (350 L) to hopefully compensate for the 100 Lovibond difference. Was kind of unsure how to go about replacing American chocolate for English chocolate malt. Also,  I could only get a pound of Brown malt so added 6 ounces of Special Roast to compensate. Another shot in the dark. Nothing really seems to be similar to Brown malt. It’s characteristic burnt brown and structure are definitely one of kind.

Another interesting aspect of this brew was my yeast situation. Used Dry English from White Labs on the Pale 31 clone and it worked really well. It fermented rapidly and flocuated crystal clear.I like this yeast a lot. I had washed the yeast for reuse but somehow during the washing process I let it settle too much and I didn’t manage to get a whole lot of yeast when I  poured the liquid off the trub. Anyhow I had three 8 ounce jars with just a light dusting of yeast. Made a 500ml starter Friday morning and pitched a very scant amount of yeast. Took about 18 hours but it really fired up. I continuously swirled it once an hour during waking hours. Saturday afternoon made a 1500ml starter and split it in two and then pitched half of the 500ml starter in each. The two 1L starters were still actively fermenting and with a nice 1/2 inch layer of settled yeast when I pitched them Sunday afternoon. We shall see the outcome.

6 gallons

Estimated OG: 1.050
Estimated FG: 1.010
Estimated Color: 29 SRM
Estimated IBU: 36 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
ABV: 5.3%

Grain
8 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) 63.9 %
1 lbs 9.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt – 60L (60.0 SRM) 12.0 %
1 lbs Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) 7.5 %
14.4 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) 6.8 %
14.4 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) 6.8 %
6.4 oz Special Roast (50.0 SRM) 3.0 %

Schedule
50.00 g  Fuggle [5.50 %] – Boil 60.0 min  29.9 IBUs
27.00 g Fuggle [5.50 %] – Boil 10.0 min 5.9 IBUs

Whirfloc or Irish Moss 20 min
1tsp yeast nutrient 15 min

Mash and Sparge
Half RO water no additions
Half Ventura water(high bicarbonates and sulfates)
Mash in 5.25 gallons 161F and let stabilize to 152F for 75 min
Mash out 168F
Batch Sparge 4.5 gallons 170F

Yeast
Dry English Ale Yeast 2L starter