Tumultuous Porter (Goat Scrotum Ale)

This recipe is for a dark, spicy porter ale. The original version of the recipe is from Charlie Papazian's homebrew book, but after trying a batch Charlie's way I modified the recipe a bit to make it a little less bitter and add a little more body.

This beer has lots of different ingredients and is a lot of fun to make (and to drink... burp!... hic!!).

About two hours before you plan on making the beer, make a yeast starter. In a small pot, bring 2-3 cups of water to a boil. Dissolve in about one tablespoon of malt extract and boil for a minute or two. Put on the lid, remove it from the heat, and let it cool. When room temparature, put in a mason jar and add the yeast. By the time you're done making the beer, your yeast should be very bubbly and active. When recipe calls for you to pitch the yeast, pour the contents of the jar into the fermenter. This gives the yeast a head start, which reduces the probability of any undesireable organisms contaminating your beer.

Crush the crystal malt, roasted barley, and black patent malt Crush the licorice.

Add Crystal Malt to 1 gallon of water, bring to 150-degrees, cover, and let stand for one hour. Sparge into boiler; use enough water (150-degrees) for runoff to be clear.

Dissolve malt extract, sugars & molasses into the water in the boiler. Stir & bring to a boil; then add 1/4 of the boiling hops and licorice. Let boil 15 minutes.

Add 1/2 of the boiling hops. Let boil 15 more minutes.

Add the dark malt and roasted barley. Boil 15 more minutes.

Add the last 1/4 of the boiling hops and the Irish Moss. Boil 13 more minutes.

Add the Flavor Hops. Boil for two more minutes.

Cool, Sparge immediately into fermenter, and pitch the yeast when it's about 80-degrees.