I think that I’m probably being a little over-sensitive on the mocha porter. Everyone who tried it thought it was great - except for me. There are a couple of things I’d do differently. First, that was my first time brewing in the winter. It doesn’t get all that cold here, but the average temperature in our house is about 5 degrees lower than in the summer. I think I didn’t pay close enough attention to when the primary fermentation was done and I racked it to the secondary too soon. I think that contributed to the “maltiness”.

In terms of the recipe, I think I’d skip the cocoa powder and just increase in the chocolate malt. I’d also add more coffee and make sure to use fresh whole bean coffee.

I think I’d also use a yeast starter because I used 8 or 9 lbs of malt extract.