How to make porter

While Ben McCormick explores the dark and mysterious history of porter in iPad issue 3, he's also been kind enough to share his own adapted recipe of the ale that's proving popular on many a taste bud

Illustration: Louise Wyatt

This all-grain recipe is one I adapted from a Kernel Brewery Export India Porter, which itself was a homage to a porter brewed by the Durden Park Beer Circle – a society founded to resurrect old beer styles. 

It is designed to be brewed on a 23-litre set up, so can be scaled up or down accordingly. Best racked in bottles, although it could handle kegging. Once bottled, leave for at least three weeks to condition. Can be kept for several months afterwards and develops different flavour characteristics over time. 

Grain ingredients

4kg Maris Otter pale malt

1kg Crystal malt

1kg Pale Chocolate malt 

1kg Chocolate malt

500g Caramalt

*Mash at 67°C for 75 minutes, assuming 2.5 litres of water per kg of malt.

*Sparge with 74°C water.

Boil for 90 minutes.

Hop schedule

At start of rolling boil: 15g Magnum  

15 mins from end: 4g Chinook and 4g Columbus 

10 mins from end: 16g Chinook and 8g Bramling Cross

5 mins from end: 39g Challenger

*Flame-out: 18g Chinook

Ferment at 20°C for 10 days.

Dry hop with Columbus and Chinook pellets three days before bottling.

*Prime with 3.5g sugar per litre.

OG: 1073 

FG: 1022

ABV: 6.8%

Brewing glossary

*Mash: steeping grains in hot water to extract the sugars that will eventually be turned into alcohol by the yeast

*Sparge: rinsing the mashed grain with more hot water to maximise the amount of sugar in the 'wort' (wort being the liquid that results from the mash and sparge)

*Flame-out: the point at which you turn the boiler off, generally a good time to add hops for aroma

*Prime: adding sugar to the beer before bottling so it carbonates naturally while bottle conditioning

You can read a history of porter in iPad issue 3, available to download now. 

Ben McCormick seeks out the extraordinary in his three main fields of interest: beer, cycling and music. He regularly pens articles for Caught by the River and Ransomnote as well as two blogs. 

beeradventcalendar.blogspot.com

In a glass, darkly.

New to the rich, dark and mysterious world of porter? Ben McCormick recommends three dark tipples from indie brewers to wet your whistle...

Almanac Sour Beer Porter, 6%

Smelling more like a Belgian lambic-style beer than a porter, this effervescent Californian ale is lightyears away from the original recipes and those unfamiliar with sour-tasting beers might think it off. While only having colour in common with its namesake, Almanac’s offering is very tangy and could cut through a thirst like cheese through a goose.

Brew by Numbers 03/01 Original Porter, 6.1%

A six-grain porter of considerable complexity, this is loosely based on original recipes – as the Bramling Cross hops hint – but is embellished by the addition of Columbus hops too. A deep, dark, rich, brooding beer, Brew by Numbers Original Porter is both smooth and sharp, with just the right levels of carbonation to keep it refreshing and moreish.

Kernel Brewery Export India Porter, 5.8%

Probably the country's finest porter brewer at the moment, Kernel has taken a 200-year-old beer and updated it with an American twist. This exceptional beer combines a roasted coffee aroma with a thick thud of molasses and lastly a gently cascading Columbus-hop bitterness that trickles effortlessly towards the back of your throat.

Read about the dark history of porter in Ernest Journal iPad issue 3, available to download now.

Ben McCormick seeks out the extraordinary in his three main fields of interest: beer, cycling and music. He regularly pens articles for Caught by the River and Ransomnote as well as two blogs. 

beeradventcalendar.blogspot.co.uk

How to cook meat underground

The smell of meat baking on hot rocks: there's nothing more satisfying than cooking your food out in the wild, and if there are a lot of you, a ground oven is the best way of ensuring a hearty and flavoursome feast

Image: raymears.com

1. Dig a pit large enough for your food (a 60cm cube will be enough for a couple of chickens, a leg of lamb, some sweet potatoes and other root vegetables). make sure the ground is not peat and that it is clear of large roots so the fire remains contained.
    
2. If the hole is damp, light a fire inside it to dry it out. Make another fire next to the pit to heat your stones.You will need plenty of firewood to obtain a fierce and sustained burn.The stones can of course be heated in the pit fire but this means more shovelling later!
    
3. Choose your stones carefully. so that explosions and toxins can be avoided, they must not be glassy, soaking wet or limestone. once you’ve found suitable rocks, place them at the heart of your fire and heat until they glow.
    
4. Shovel any ash out of the pit and place enough red hot stones inside to cover the bottom, using either a shovel or a couple of long forked sticks. Remove ash from the stones.
    
5. Place your food straight on top of the stones. Large pieces of meat may benefit from a rock placed on top of them.
    
6. Cover the pit with stout green sticks, then a good thick layer of foliage ensuring both are from non-toxic plants. on top of this, shovel the soil that you removed while digging the pit. This will seal in the heat and steam.
    
7. Cooking time varies depending on ambient temperature, the heat of the rocks, what’s in your oven and the size of the pit. A good guide for this sized oven is 1.5 to 2 hours.
    
8. Once cooking time is over, the soil can be carefully scraped back and the foliage gently rolled up like a mat. You’ll now be savouring the smell in anticipation of the feast as you remove the hot supporting sticks.
    
9. Lastly, remove the contents of the oven and place on fresh foliage ready for the hungry crowd. Enjoy!

You can learn the ground oven technique alongside other bushcraft skills on a Woodlore course. For more info visit raymears.com. Buy Ernest iPad issue 2 for Ray Mears' guide to building a birch bark canoe.

A wild day out with Hunter Gather Cook

Get your hands dirty on an action-packed day of wild meat butchery, hedgerow foraging and bramble beer brewing. It's all in a day's work for the chaps at Hunter Gather Cook

Image: Greg Funnell

As we approach the final 24 hours of our Kickstarter countdown, we still have a few places left on one of our most awesome incentives: a wild day out with Hunter Gather Cook and the Ernest team.

Nick Weston of Hunter Gather Cook will throw you in the deep end with a wild meat butchery field camp, teaching you how to skin, gut and joint meat in preparation for lunch. You'll then embark on a foraging walk in glorious Sussex woodland and meadows, learning how to identify seasonal wild edibles along the way. Then it's back to Nick's new treehouse HQ to smoke your food and prepare a wild banquet, before rounding the day off with a wild brewing workshop and stories around the fire. You'll also get a copy of our first printed issue, a few surprise thank you gifts and, of course, a treehouse high five from the Ernest team. 

Expect a good dousing of wood smoke and an opportunity to learn outdoor skills that will stay with you forever. What on earth are you waiting for?

To whet your appetite for the wild day out, have a gander at Hunter Gather Cook's thirst quenching Bramble Brew recipe, as featured in print issue one:

Image: Greg Funnell

Bramble Brew

Ingredients

Bramble leaves (carrier bag full)
21⁄2 gallons (12ltr) water
3lb (1.4kg) sugar
2oz (50g) cream of tartar
1⁄2oz (15g) brewer’s or beer yeast.

Method

1. Pick your bramble leaves and give them a quick wash, then place in a big pot of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. 2. Strain the liquid into another pan or bucket and discard the leaves.

3. Bring the liquid to the boil again and add the sugar and cream of tartar, simmer and stir. 4. Remove from the heat, transfer into a brewing vessel or bucket and allow to cool to body temperature.Then add the yeast and stir.

5. At this stage, most recipes suggest covering the bucket in muslin and bottling after 24 hours, which could well lead to exploding bottles. Instead, take a hydrometer reading every two days until the reading has dropped below 1.000.You are now safe to bottle your brew.

6. Leave to brew for 2-3 weeks before drinking.

7. Serve chilled in a jug with a sprig of mint.

Back our Kickstarter campaign and join Team Ernest and Hunter Gather Cook on this wild day out on Wednesday 9 July, £135.

Royal Tea cocktail

It's tea but even more awesome. We're proud to introduce the first in our series of tea cocktails courtesy of Joe's Tea Company. Fancy a brew, dear?

There’s been a huge appreciation for quality tea over the past couple of years and we’re seeing more and more chefs and cocktail connoisseurs using the unique and complex flavours of the humble leaf in their food and drinks.  

Our range of organic black and herbal teas can be used in some fantastic cocktails and iced teas all year round, with chilled Ever-So-English Breakfast and The Earl of Grey providing a great base for long cocktails and the herbal range making unusual and vibrant iced teas for thirst quenching summer drinks.  

 Our Royal Tea was the first cocktail we created and it's remained a firm favourite amongst Joe's Tea Co fans. The delicate flavour of the bison grass infused Zubrowka vodka alongside the bergamot notes from the chilled Earl of Grey tea provide delightful layers of flavour on top of the apple juice and lime. It's incredibly moreish and a perfect way to liven up a Spring party.

Ingredients

6-8 Earl of Grey tea bags

2 litres of water

50ml Zubrowka Vodka

Fresh apple juice to taste

Good squeeze of lime

Method

Brew 6-8 Earl of Grey  teabags in 2 litres of boiling water for 4-5 minutes (very important not to over steep!).  We suggest slightly sweetening the tea by adding  sugar to taste while the tea is hot, or sugar syrup when cold. Allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating.

Pour the vodka over a good amount of ice into in a tumbler sized glass, add 50ml of the chilled Earl Grey and top up with the apple juice. Add a good squeeze of lime and garnish with a thinly sliced lime round. 

Joe's Tea Company was born in 2012. His dream? To bring us our favourite hot drink in its finest form, to take the ‘toff’ out of fine tea, to tingle our taste buds with quirky and colourful concoctions but keep it real, and celebrate moments shared over a quality cuppa. joesteacompany.com