Railway Porker
By Steven Blackery
Recipe is part of Recipe Index
BJCP 2021 Style 13C English Porter
I reached out to Greg at Five Points who was happy to share with me the recipe for Railway Porter. Unfortunately he initially typo'd the '64.5%' of MO in the grain bill with '64.5C' mash temp, which I brewed (and won with) but it over attenuated down to 1.011 FG and 1% ABV too high. The judges notes in the competition mentioned the only flaws as being that it was a little too dry and with a very slight astringency, I believe brewing with the correct Mash temp of 71C should resolve those issues.
Awards
LAB Open 2026 (Queens Arms, London)
1st - Dark and Malty British Isles Beers
Beer Statistics
- OG 1.053
- FG 1.016
- ABV 4.8%
- IBU ~35
Ingredients
Water
- At the recommendation of Five Points I actually used my base Thames Water tap water, the only recipe I have using unfiltered water. Treat with Campden and then add 2-3g of Baking Soda and only calcium chloride, no other salts to mash water, aim for 5.5 mash pH (late grain mash additions will drive this down to 5.2 preboil & 5.0-5.1 into fermenter)
- Ca: 130 Mg: 5 Na: 65 Cl: 90 SO4: 45 HCO3: 350
Malt
- 64.5% Simpsons Low Colour Maris Otter (regular MO would be fine as well)
- 12% Simpsons Brown Malt
- 7% Simpsons Munich Malt
- 6% Simpsons Crystal Medium
- 3% Simpsons Crystal Dark
Timing of this addition is critical to final roastiness balance - Five points add onto the sparge, not in the Mash. I add for last 3 minutes of mash and then sparge. For no-sparge you will want at least 5 minutes I would think.
- 6% Simpsons Chocolate Malt
- 1.5% Simpsons Black Malt
Hops
- EKG @ 60 minutes for approx 25 IBU
- EKG @ flame-out/whirlpool 3g/l
Yeast
- Fermentis US-05
- I used 1 pack of US-05 with a 0.8L starter of 1.036 DME & a pinch of nutrient, cold crashed it for 48 hours and then syphoned off the spent wort before pitching. This resulted in an amazingly fast & clean ferment that reached FG in only 2.5 days.
Process
Mash
- 90 minutes at 64.5C (would be better at 70-71C)
- No Mashout, immediately raise to 80C while sparging with 80C sparge water
Boil
- 60 minute boil
Fermentation
- Pitch at 19C, free rise to 22.5C and ferment at 22.5C
- 2 day D-rest, Cold Crash 5C/day to 1C, add gelatin for 36 hours, package