Porter Conditioning

I'm getting ready to bottle my first porter after 10 days in the primary and 2 weeks in the secondary. Does a porter need longer to bottle condition? I ususally wait 3 weeks before I even think about trying one. I think I have read somewhere that porters need longer ....

The longer you wait the better they will have melded all the flavors. I bottled my porter July 30th and didn't crack the first one until well after Labor day. I still have over a case left as I am only drinking a bottle here and there to see how it is progressing. I'm planning on drinking the majority of it for Thanksgiving.

Was it a robust or a brown porter? What was the OG? What was the FG? Did the recipe have any special adjuncts? What was your grain & hop bill like? These are things that we need to know, because surely, an "Imperial" robust porter with 80 IBU's is an entirely different beer than a 1.045 Brown porter with 35 IBU's. You have the recipe handy?

It was Palmer's Port O'Palmer Porter ... Extract with some grains. I didn't take hydrometer readings but according to the recipe it's OG 1.048 Total IBU's.

I've made that, took 8 weeks total to settle in. It was a little harsh at 6 weeks.

8 Weeks. Man .... It's gonna be hard to wait!

That's 8 weeks from brewsday, not bottling.

Ahh ... Thanks for clearing that up. Much Better.

I was tasting some of my bottled brews and the porter that I bottled in April
is starting to taste perfect. It might not see christmas after all. It was harsh
when I bottled it. i must say that I'm not a fan of black malt. Black malt reminds me of tasting ashes.

Here was my recipe. Tasted for 1st time today, 8 weeks from brew day, and was pretty good. I was hoping it would be a little more smooth but it could be the IBU at 26 and/or the Black Malt. I am going to leave my remaining 2 cases until fall I think.

My recipe (critique if like):

East River Scum [Brown Porter]
Pilsen LME 6.6# (3.3# added at 50 min)
Steeped: Caramel 60 0.5#, Chocolate 0.5#, Black Malt
0.25#
Chinook Hops 0.75 oz. - 60 mins
Glacier 1.00 oz. -2 mins
Wyeast London 1028 Liquid Yeast (added pack of Coopers dry yeast)

OG - 1.041
FG - 1.011
ABV 3.94% (too low per BJCP - my OG didn't hit expectations)
IBU 26
SRM 27-28
Brew Day: 6-17
Bottle: 7-4-12

Opened 2 bottles on 8-4 and both gushed completely out. I feared gusher infection but also didn't fridge either bottle long. Refridgatered 1 bottle for 1 week, no foam/gushing at all. Porter was pretty good, a little bit of a bitter bite at first. But after a few sips it wasn't too bad. I think was hoping for a little smoother taste, but maybe more time is the key...or add like vanilla beans next time.

Give it another 8 weeks and try again. I'll bet you find it to be a lot more smooth and fuller too.

RM-MN said:

Give it another 8 weeks and try again. I'll bet you find it to be a lot more smooth and fuller too.

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Yeah I think that's a good idea. It seems like porters are better if given more time and another 2 months puts us into October when this beer will be more in season anyway. So I will keep this one stashed away and try again in another 8 weeks.

I think the slight harshness is just the 26 IBUs in a slightly less than 4% beer. My Porter had a 1.061 OG and is 5.5%...also at 26 IBUs and just right.

I tried an extract attempt at Revvy's Mexican chocolate porter, it's getting better and better every week...the aging is much more noticeable than they other lighter beers I've made.

strambo said:

I think the slight harshness is just the 26 IBUs in a slightly less than 4% beer. My Porter had a 1.061 OG and is 5.5%...also at 26 IBUs and just right.

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That very well could be. I missed my OG more than I wanted. I'm going to let it sit awhile and if it's still slightly bitter I'm going to chalk it up to above.

rifraf said:

I tried an extract attempt at Revvy's Mexican chocolate porter, it's getting better and better every week...the aging is much more noticeable than they other lighter beers I've made.

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Wow, really? I can't wait to hear how it turns out.

Revvy said:

Wow, really? I can't wait to hear how it turns out.

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Yeah it was one of my craziest brew days. I did a recipe recipe conversion attempt and then on brew day I realized how horribly wrong it all was so started reconverting in crisis mode in the middle of heating water etc. Had to dial down cayenne (a couple friends can't handle spicy at all) and didn't have as many tablets of chocolate as I wanted but all in all it actually came out pretty good.

It's been bottled for about 8 weeks now. Very hard to be patient. Much better when it warms up, but so far everyone loves it. I think I remember you saying it gets really good after a few months so I'm trying to stash some away. Will definitely brew again, and only plan on adding more tablets. Pretty happy with the base porter flavor....thanks for posting the recipe in the first place!