Third batch, London Porter

Hi all. Glad to have found a forum for home brew enthusiasts such as myself. I look forward to learning a lot from the more experienced brew masters.

My first batch was an American Pale that turned out really flat and I unfortunately got some of the yeast sludge in my bottling process. All dry malt extract.

The second I tried a liquid malt extract that just called for a timed boiling. It was a rich Belgian porter that I thought had too much of a wine taste and I wasn't a fan. I had a friend who was a fan though, so that bolstered my confidence.

Tonight, I bottled a London Porter which I have high hopes for. The color was brown/red as described. I'm a little worried about the ABV. If I read it right, it is showing 9.8%. Is that normal for a London Porter?

My next adventure is going to be an IPA.

Wow, 9.8% ABV is a bit on the heavy side for a London Porter IMHO. That sounds more like it's an Imperial Porter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_(beer)
"Early London porters were strong beers by modern standards. Early trials with the hydrometer in the 1770s recorded porter as having an OG (original gravity) of 1.071° and 6.6% ABV."

How did you read your hydro? For you abv you need to know your starting gravity and you finishing gravity. Subtract the starting from the finishing multiply the difference by 131 to get your ABV.

It could be the hydrometer. Make sure it reads 1.000 in room temperature water. It could also be high fermentation temperatures resulting in over attenuation of the beer for the style. London beers, IMHO, are about the malty sweet. Using a low attenuating yeast in a water bath (swamp cooler) near the low end of the temperature range will help with this.

beerman0001 said:

How did you read your hydro? For you abv you need to know your starting gravity and you finishing gravity. Subtract the starting from the finishing multiply the difference by 131 to get your ABV.

Click to expand...

The math I was given with the BrewCraft USA kit was OG - FG / .0075.

I measured my OG at 1.100. FG was 1.026.

Needless to say...I was off on both by a lot.

OG is 1.061 and FG 1.014

My stove is a pain to boil on with large amounts of water. Is it okay to cut down the amount of water to make the wort?

jcrusharr said:

The math I was given with the BrewCraft USA kit was OG - FG / .0075.

I measured my OG at 1.100. FG was 1.026.

Needless to say...I was off on both by a lot.

OG is 1.061 and FG 1.014

My stove is a pain to boil on with large amounts of water. Is it okay to cut down the amount of water to make the wort?

Click to expand...

If you use less water but the same amount of fermentables you will just end up with more concentrated wort, hence the OG 1.100. Stronger beer, but lower volume means less of it. plus you need a yeast starter for gravity that high. It does sound delicious though.
If you are topping off after the boil, that just means less hop utilization and darker wort, but most people do that anyway.

How much wort did you put in the fermenter? How much did the kit say you where suppose to have?

The wort calls for 3 gallons, which is what I used.

Where you suppose to top off to 5 gal in the fermenter?

Yeah. Dump in the wort and bring up the fermenter to 5 gallons.