English Brown Porter with Brett? - Page 4

**bigljd** · 01-17-2012, 11:41 AM

Thanks Bier! I'm hoping to get a pellicle since I've never seen one before.

I'm not sure what sub-category to enter this brew into next month. Since I over shot my OG and FG a bit, Beersmith ranges put the brew into the Robust porter range. I originally meant it to be a Brown porter, but technically it's not.

I know some people's robust porters will be a lot bigger than mine so I'm worried it would get lost in the mix - if I put mine in as a brown porter it would probably be a bigger brew than most and might get noticed more? But, mine has more roasty, toasty flavors I think than what a brown porter might have so it may fit the robust description better. Hmm, not sure what to do.

**BoltsFan704** · 01-17-2012, 02:01 PM

Looks and sounds awesome. Don't be surprised if you see me with glass in hand tonight

bierhaus15 · 01-26-2012, 12:06 AM

Gave my two historical porters a quick sample tonight and they are coming along very well. The first batch, the St. Stephens porter, is aging with brett C and is getting mighty tasty. There brett character is starting to develop with a light fruity funk and some of the vinous flavors that I was hoping for. Amazingly, the smoke character has really subsided in the past 21 days. It has developed a very nice bitter chocolate flavor. I am actually somewhat disappointed that the smoke flavor isn't as strong. We'll see how it tastes with another 5 months of aging...

The other batch is still in the primary (11 days now) and shows promise. This one used my cherry wood kilned brown malt and again I was expecting more smoke character. Other than the lack of smokiness, I have high hopes for it. Probably will bottle 1/2 without bugs and brett the other half.

How's yours coming along bigljd?

**bigljd** · 01-26-2012, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bierhaus15

How's yours coming along bigljd?

I've probably polished off half the keg of the non-Brett batch of porter - it's a really tasty beer. I brought a bottle of it to share at a club brew session and it got very good reviews. I've got some bottles of it that will be entered into the Shamrock competition in Raleigh in early March.

I haven't sampled the Brett batch yet - I think next week I'll pull some out and check the gravity and give it a taste. There's no pellicle or anything noticeable going on with it. I have it sitting on my seedling heat pad to hold it at around 72.

I'll post back next week when I try the Brett batch. Sorry the smokiness is missing in yours. Mine came out toastier than I expected (it's a good thing), presumably from the oven toasted grain. I'm going to try toasting 2lbs of rye for a rye IPA that I plan to make in a couple weeks. Hope it turns out as good as the toasted maris otter.

**bigljd** · 02-08-2012, 11:03 PM

My Brett C batch has a pellicle starting and the gravity has dropped a couple points in gravity. I drank the sample and it's starting to get a little funk to it, but not much yet. I think it's got few more months to go, but so far, so good.

bierhaus15 · 03-14-2012, 08:46 PM

Update: I pulled a sample of the brett version for some friends last night and it is really tasty. The brett is still just a light funk, but the beer is starting to take on some of those aged, vineous flavors I was hoping for. Not a lot, but some. Also, the smoke character from my homemade brown malt has decided to show up again. Crazy stuff.

The second batch I made (with the cherry wood brown malt) has been in the bottle for 45 days now and it is really nice. The beer has a pleasant dark coffee-licorice flavor with a slight wood-aged character. Looking forward to trying it when it has some age on it.

Lastly, I'll be brewing another batch of this soon - though I think I'm going to do the Imperial route. I think a big, 10% brett'd porter/stout would be really something special. And with the weather getting better, I'll start kilning brown malt again.

**bigljd** · 03-15-2012, 12:09 AM

Cool! My non-brett batch is mostly gone, there's probably a couple pints left in the keg. I liked this beer better fresh - I think I underhopped it a little bit and it was great at first but has gotten a bit bland as the hops have faded.

The brett C batch is looking really cool - I added about .75oz medium toasted oak about 6 weeks ago, and the brett has formed a funky, bubbly pellicle on top. The last time I tried it a week ago it was developing some oaky flavors that complimented the porter pretty nicely. The brett character was still pretty mild, but it was there in the background. I'll try to get a picture of it posted in the next couple days. When my Irish stout that I kegged recently is finished in a month or so I'll probably keg the brett porter and put in the keggle lineup.

**bigljd** · 03-16-2012, 10:40 PM

It's a little tough getting a good picture of a pellicle, but it's a pretty cool, bubbly, spider web looking thing I've got growing on my porter. I plan to keg this thing in time for it to be ready for a local homebrew competition in the beginning of May.

bierhaus15 · 03-17-2012, 03:20 AM

Hey nice pics! The pellicle on my first batch isn't quite as extensive as yours, still a bit splotchy in parts. I have a small 1 gallon of the second batch aging with brett and lacto and it's looking mighty funky.

Did you ever get a chance to submit your first batch into the you march competition you had mentioned before? I'm thinking I'll submit my bottles for a comp next month.

**bigljd** · 03-17-2012, 03:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bierhaus15

Hey nice pics! The pellicle on my first batch isn't quite as extensive as yours, still a bit splotchy in parts. I have a small 1 gallon of the second batch aging with brett and lacto and it's looking mighty funky.

Did you ever get a chance to submit your first batch into the you march competition you had mentioned before? I'm thinking I'll submit my bottles for a comp next month.

I did enter it in the Shamrock Open last weekend in Raleigh - it didn't ribbon but I haven't got the score sheets back so I'm not sure how it scored. I did take first place for a chocolate stout I entered, and got an HM for a Helles lager, so that was cool. I'll get the score sheets in a couple weeks at our next club meeting, so I'll post the results then.