Brewing a Porter

I'm planning on brewing a porter this weekend using an extract kit. I made some mistakes brewing a scotch ale recently (it ended up thinner than I'd like), so I'm trying to avoid a similar mistake this time. When I transferred from primary to secondary, I was impressed by the flavor and body. When I bottled, I was impressed by the flavor and body. After I stored at room temp for 4+ weeks and opened one up, I was terribly disappointed.

Does a porter improve if you allow it to ferment at lower temps (similar to lagers)? Is this pretty much mandatory?

Should I age it at lower temps or should I age it at room temperature (roughly 72 degrees)?

The recipe kit doesn't have too many details and the instructions are pretty similar to all other recipe/instruction kits I've seen.

Thanks in advance.

tubbfan said:

After I stored at room temp for 4+ weeks and opened one up, I was terribly disappointed.

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Can you describe what you were dissapointed about? Usually the beer improves over the time it's in the bottle.

I haven't done anything special for my porters. My room temperature runs around 68F this time of year. 72F is also ok, if it is in the yeast's range. I use dried yeasts in porters and they can handle it.

I think your porter will come out fine if you have reasonaby cool temps there. Cool temps and a longer aging time will likely make a better one, especially if you also slosh in a bit of Makers Mark when you rack to the secondary.

tubbfan said:

(it ended up thinner than I'd like)

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The body was not as full as I had tasted when transferring from primary to secondary or from secondary to bottle. The taste (even 6+ weeks on) is rather weak/thin too.

I have never found a porter kit that I liked. In fact, this is exactly what pushed me to partial mashing and all grain brewing.

For many darker beers, especially porters, stouts, and even IPAs (not so dark, I know), the first rule with those kits is that they don't make as much beer as they say they will. You either have to cut way back on the amount of water you use and/or steep grains or perform a partial mash to build up the fermentables/flavour. Or that's my personal preference, anyways.

I brewed a taddy porter clone recently. I gave it an extra week in both primary and secondary. I also added a little extra molasses to the recipe and it turned out pretty well, drinking one now.

The porter we brewed is by far the best dark ale i've ever had. Fermented at 70-75* (the fermentation action actually raised it 5*, and had a blowoff), then when we went to secondary we left it in a room that was around 55-60* and bottled and let sit for a whole month at 70* before we drank it... boy is it good...