English Porter Black Pearl Porter (AG)

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i wouldent say so,
malto-dextrin is the same as carapils, its for body and head rententation

lactose is unfermentable sugar, its more for sweetness
 
Brewing this in a couple of days, had to switch out the munich for vienna and subbed 40L for 30L, thinking that would make up for the difference. mashing at 156? Really excited to make this, my girl is crazy for porters and stouts, so now I finally won't have to hear "it's too hoppy!" anymore :ban:
 
My pops and I are going to attempt a 'Pumpkin Pearl' - any suggestions:

10 gal

14.15# 2-Row
3.5# Munich
1.77# 40L
1.77# Chocolate
1.77# Oats
2# Dark Brown Sugar

1oz Fuggle @ 60
1oz Fuggle @ 10

2 cup malto
8 oz of lactose

7# roasted Libbys caned pumpkin roasted:
3.5# in mash
3.5# in boil

2 tsp pumpkin spice with a 'dash' of clove mixture (in vodka) 15 min left in boil

Any thoughts/suggestions?
 
ended up making it today, gravity came out to 1.058, but i'm using a new method to keep the carboy cooler, so hopefully that will make up for my lack of efficiency! tasted great going into the fermenter, cant wait to try in a few weeks!
 
so i've had this baby fermenting for a week and a half, and I thought I was sooooo smart trying to use a swamp cooler... but temps in chicago have plummeted and I'm worried my yeasties went into hibernation, as my carboy thermometer is currently reading 57. Think I'm still ok if i bring it up to ~65 and shake the hell out of it? I got a good looking fermentation the first 3 days, but after that, nothing.
 
Ok, so I brewed this up the other day and man did it smell exquisite during the mash!


Anyway, I pitched the Wyeast London Ale without making a starter. The bag said max was .060 and I know that the batch is supposed to be .062 but I thought it would be ok, just slow to start. Fermentation started around the 13-14 hour mark so I was a little concerned. But I was happy to see a nice krausen forming and didn't worry about it. I don't have a fermentation chamber and just tried to keep it as cool as possible in the basement here in VA. Probably stayed around 65-68 degrees at all times. The fermenter itself was a bit higher due to fermentation. After about 24 hours (since fermentation started) the krausen has fallen back and is almost gone. I am beginning to see the top of the beer again. I'm not sure what this means exactly or if it means anything at all since I have never: 1. Brewed a porter or anything this high in gravity. 2. Used a Wyeast Smack Pack or London Ale yeast. Does anyone have any insight?

Also, I did aerate the wort by rocking the carboy back and forth for several minutes before and after pitching.
 
I had the same experience with my fermentation... my fermentation temps started in the mid 50's, then came up to around 67 with several degrees in change due to our heat being on and off. Got a nice krausen after 24 hours, but after that it settled pretty quickly after another day or so. been fermenting for 3 weeks, will take a gravity reading and report back. Hoping for somewhere around 1.030
 
Well, I am glad to hear that I suppose. I would be more than happy with .030. I mean, it's still gonna taste good I'm sure, just was hoping for around 6% ABV. I just hope it doesn't get infected when I transfer. My sanitation is methodical and strict but I am worried that with not enough alcohol something else will take hold. Thanks for the response!
 
Well, I am glad to hear that I suppose. I would be more than happy with .030. I mean, it's still gonna taste good I'm sure, just was hoping for around 6% ABV. I just hope it doesn't get infected when I transfer. My sanitation is methodical and strict but I am worried that with not enough alcohol something else will take hold. Thanks for the response!

I'm leaving mine in the primary simply for that reason, although I'm sure since it's near the end of fermentation it will be fine...

right at 1.020!! A little lower than called for, but I can already tell this is my best brew yet. tastes incredible straight outta the carboy, I would happily drink as is. I mean... I took a second sample just to "double check" my gravity readings were correct cause the first sample went so fast, it was hard to tell :D
 
I bottle this recipe Nov 15 and chilled one last night for a sip this evening.

The taste was fantastic. Wife liked it too. Plans are to give most of it away as Christmas presents.

I reckon I will be brewing another batch this weekend.

My FG came in at 1020 with an calculated ABV of 5.78%.

Carbed it with 147g of dextrose.

The sample could certainly use another couple of weeks under carb.

thanks for sharing the recipe BierMuncher!
 
Brewed this on Nov. 12 with the addition of New Mexico red chile (mild) and cocoa. I ended up slightly low on OG, and nailed FG as of Nov. 26. The sample was awesome, and I should bottle sometime this week.

I'm looking for popping a few on Christmas.
 
Well, my final gravity was about 1.031 which means it came in at about 4.32% but I'm not complaining. Why you may ask?

Because I tasted the sample I took for my reading and it was so good I offered the rest to some guests who were over learning to brew. We poured it in glasses and drank it! Incredible flavor!

Thanks again for posting this recipe!!!
 
Well, my final gravity was about 1.031 which means it came in at about 4.32% but I'm not complaining. Why you may ask?

Because I tasted the sample I took for my reading and it was so good I offered the rest to some guests who were over learning to brew. We poured it in glasses and drank it! Incredible flavor!

Thanks again for posting this recipe!!!

My thoughts exactly. I've never had such a tasty treat come straight out of a fermenter...
 
My pops and I are going to attempt a 'Pumpkin Pearl' - any suggestions:

10 gal

14.15# 2-Row
3.5# Munich
1.77# 40L
1.77# Chocolate
1.77# Oats
2# Dark Brown Sugar

1oz Fuggle @ 60
1oz Fuggle @ 10

2 cup malto
8 oz of lactose

7# roasted Libbys caned pumpkin roasted:
3.5# in mash
3.5# in boil

2 tsp pumpkin spice with a 'dash' of clove mixture (in vodka) 15 min left in boil

Any thoughts/suggestions?

After bottle conditioning for 3 weeks popped the first today (after it being in the fridge for 10 hours) and shared with coworkers - nice subtle spice notes with slight pumpkin undertones, surprising since we used 7# of pumpkin for a 10 gal batch... a really smooth drink...
 
Brewed this yesterday. Used an ounce of Northern Brewer at 60 min, and an ounce of Fuggles at 2 min. Didn't have time to do a starter of London, so used S-04.

It's been going since this morning. Smells great!! Can't wait to keg this! Thanks BM!!! :mug:
 
stoked on the hype around this beer. Here is my recipe draft due to current inventory & starters : )

Notes: this version has more IBU's(switched hops) and i cranked up the grain count to try to estimate for a 6 gal batch and higher gravity. My boil off amounts have never reached what it should be. Does anyone think this will be too bitter for the highly praised Black Pearl Porter?

Yeast:White Laps English Ale WLP002

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs 6.6 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 61.5 %
2 lbs 5.6 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 15.4 %
1 lbs 2.8 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 30L (30.0 SRM) Grain 3 7.7 %
1 lbs 2.8 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4 7.7 %
1 lbs 2.8 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 5 7.7 %
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 7 -
1.00 Cup Malto-Dextrine (Boil 5.0 mins) Other 8 -
1.0 pkg English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) [35.49 ml] Yeast 10 -
0.53 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.31 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 9 1.0 IBUs
0.53 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.31 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 11.8 IBUs

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.065 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.024 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.3 %
Bitterness: 12.8 IBUs
Est Color: 30.6 SRM
 
I just picked up the ingredients for this one, but made a few substitutions. My LHBS had no Crystal 30, so I went with Bairds Carastan 30-37 instead. I have no fuggin' Fuggles at the house, but I do happen to have a bunch of Willamette. So I'm subbing in the Willamette. I can't wait to see how this one turns out...from reading this entire post, it seems to be a huge hit! I have to say, though, I'm hoping to get the FG down a little under 1.020. Anything more than that is a caloric punch to the face, unless it's offset by a bigger ABV! In that case, the punch to the face is worth it.
 
I'm thinking about making this my first kegged beer...nice way to warm the lady up to the idea of a kegerator in the house;)
 
Copied this quoted post from the Centennial Blonde thread, had a question about it and didn't want to derail anything over there:

I've brewed a few batches of my Black Pearl Porter and added 6 ounces of fresh ground vanilla coffee beans (Eight O'Clock Brand) to the primary after fermentation for about one week.

Hands down, the favorite dark beer of everyone who's tapped my beers. :rockin:

Sounds amazing. I'm almost two weeks into primary on Denny's BVP and this might be next.

I've brewed coffee pretty regularly using a press and the grounds float, do you siphon from under the grounds and do your best to avoid the top layer? Do you put the grounds in something?

And without reading the full 27 pages, anyone tried MO instead of 2-row? Make a difference?
 
Copied this quoted post from the Centennial Blonde thread, had a question about it and didn't want to derail anything over there:



Sounds amazing. I'm almost two weeks into primary on Denny's BVP and this might be next.

I've brewed coffee pretty regularly using a press and the grounds float, do you siphon from under the grounds and do your best to avoid the top layer? Do you put the grounds in something?

And without reading the full 27 pages, anyone tried MO instead of 2-row? Make a difference?

I used a coffee grinder set on a pretty coarse setting and just dumped them into the 2-week old primary. When siphoning, I used a pant strainer around the tip of my racking cane. :mug:
 
BierMuncher said:
I used a coffee grinder set on a pretty coarse setting and just dumped them into the 2-week old primary. When siphoning, I used a pant strainer around the tip of my racking cane. :mug:

Nice. Definitely trying this at some point.
 
Finally got this brew keg and carb'd to perfection. Let me just say, fantastic beer, thanks so much to BM and others here. I followed recipe exactly, omitted Lacto, got a OG of around 1.060, and finished around 1.018 or so. Mashed around 154 with a single batch sparge. Used a yeast starter of a london ale strain I had from my 1st ESB brew. Sat in primary for a few weeks, bada boom. I'm drinking it out of my ceramic stein now, but I'll post a pic out of a pint glass later. Salud.
 
Any advantage or disadvantage to cold crashing this while in the secondary? I didn't have the equipment to cold crash until my last beer, which was a Belgian pale ale (granted very light in color) but it seemed work very well. Thoughts?
 
I have to build my pipeline up again. This is next on my list. My 1st porter. I have a # of other items fermenting.

I'm not a big fan of dark beers but my palate had been expanding since I've been brewing for over 1 year now. I was trippin' on my last visit to Bevmo................... picked up 1 of my favorite commercial brews, and was completely let down on how weak it was. Nothing like I remember it. I remember it being so powerful it would knock my socks off. Not anymore! This home brewing has really spoiled me.

BM has quite the reputation on HBT and I'm encouraged since I've brewed a # of his recipes & have never been let down.
 
Just brewed this with a few changes used 1oz Northdown instead of fuggles and boiled it for the full 60, also added 1 oz ground coffee to the grain bill. Did not add malto dextrin seemed with all the oats i could skip it. Og 1.061 pitched the Safale 04 @78 degrees. Strong fermentation started in 7 hours so far so good well see how it comes out. I guess its a coffee milk porter at this point
 
I brewed a batch of this several months ago, and due to a variety of equipment-related and other factors, didn't get around to to tapping the (primed and naturally carbonated) keg until just now. I tried to tap it last night, but I had a leak under the QD caused by an old O-ring in terrible shape, diagnosed by a little Googling. I'm sipping my first pint right now as I type this, and it is *excellent*. I'd been really looking forward to it based on how good the hydrometer sample tasted, and this just knocks my socks off.

Thanks, BierMuncher!
 
I brewed a batch of this several months ago, and due to a variety of equipment-related and other factors, didn't get around to to tapping the (primed and naturally carbonated) keg until just now. I tried to tap it last night, but I had a leak under the QD caused by an old O-ring in terrible shape, diagnosed by a little Googling. I'm sipping my first pint right now as I type this, and it is *excellent*. I'd been really looking forward to it based on how good the hydrometer sample tasted, and this just knocks my socks off.

Thanks, BierMuncher!

Me glad you like. :mug:
 
You know, I just realized that the other beer I have on tap right now is your Nierra Sevada, and I've got all the ingredients together for the Centennial Blonde, which is in my pipeline. :D :mug: You rock!
 
I did this a couple of months ago. I aged it for about 3 weeks in the keg at cellar temps then put it on tap. At first I was ok. Just sort of blah. To be honest I like really roasty porters/stouts better, but should've known that this Porter wasn't that. It was my first dark beer I brewed btw.

So it's been about 2 months now, and I've got to say this one is turning out really nice. The sweetness is coming out along with the Chocolate malt. The aroma is getting better too.

My wife didn't think much of this at first, but the last couple of nights she has poured herself a few pints. She really likes it now.

Lesson for me is to definitely be patient with dark brews. At least a couple of months in the cellar and this beer would've been great from the start.

Thanks BierMuncher!
 
I've been doing nothing but kits until now. Just brewed this yesterday as my first All-Grain. Wow, smelled great, tasted great, can't wait to try this once it's done!

Once I'm ready for the secondary I'm going to split this up into 2 separate buckets and put coffee into one of them. Thinking of putting 16 oz of cold pressed dark roast in for 3 gallons of brew. Then I'll just leave the other 2 gallons.

___________________________________________________

Primary - Black Pearl Porter
Secondary - Weizenbier, Strawberry Hard Apple Cider
Bottled - Honey Ale, Liberty Cream Ale
 
Just picked up the grain bill for this last night, looking forward to it.
 
I brewed this as my 1st porter ever & did a few substitutions. I used a cheap specialty coffee I've never had before since I've never had vanilla. The beer turned out sharp & tart, overwhelmed by this coffee. The beer underneath is very good but it's an afterthought after you get by the bitter coffee.

I took it to my beer club last night for a casual taste testing. It took 3rd place! There were 50 judges/members there. I was amazed! I'm a coffee nut & this stuff tastes like a bitter frappuccino, not a porter. They were impressed it was my 1st batch of porter. That's testament to BM's recipe, not my choice of ingredients.

So I'm going to brew this again but cut the coffee in half & use something I really like & have used before! If I must have vanilla, I'll simply just add REAL vanilla I picked up in Mexico. I've used that before in other beer & it's excellent.
 
I brewed this as my 1st porter ever & did a few substitutions. I used a cheap specialty coffee I've never had before since I've never had vanilla. The beer turned out sharp & tart, overwhelmed by this coffee. The beer underneath is very good but it's an afterthought after you get by the bitter coffee.

I took it to my beer club last night for a casual taste testing. It took 3rd place! There were 50 judges/members there. I was amazed! I'm a coffee nut & this stuff tastes like a bitter frappuccino, not a porter. They were impressed it was my 1st batch of porter. That's testament to BM's recipe, not my choice of ingredients.

So I'm going to brew this again but cut the coffee in half & use something I really like & have used before! If I must have vanilla, I'll simply just add REAL vanilla I picked up in Mexico. I've used that before in other beer & it's excellent.

I added a half cup of coarsely ground Eight O'Clock Vanilla Bean Coffee...into the secondary for 5 days, then added another 1/4 cup of the same for two more days. It was SPECTACULAR!!
 
I brewed this on Sunday. I did not make a starter...well, sort of. I split the batch into two carboys. I direct pitched the London Ale yeast into the primary at 60°. On Monday, about 26 hours after pitching, there was the beginning of krausen, so I poured the remaining batch into the primary. This morning the krausen had not reformed but the blow off tube was bubbling and there was definite movement in the primary. So I basically did make a starter out of 2½ gallons of wort, then added the remaining wort.
 
HEY........................ just put some more time on the keg................... the coffee is mellowing out............. this stuff is getting GOOD! It smells REAL GOOD. The main reason I brought it to the beer club was to blast thru the keg, since I didn't really like it. I know what good beer tastes like, I don't need anybody else telling me what to think. But, Wow.................... now I'm gonna have to start hoarding this stuff. It still tastes like a frappuccino, but now it's real smooth.

If I brought the beer tasting like it does now to the meeting, they would have taken me out on their shoulders! The beer that took 1st place couldn't hold a candle to this baby. I'm not a big porter fan, just thought I'd experiment & expand my taste buds. THIS beer is INCREADIBLE. I've had a few porters at the fancy pub, but THIS beer is much better than all of them. I'd take this again to next months meeting............................. but I can guarantee it ain't gonna last that long. It's all we're drinking now.

I guess what Revvy says is true. Beer really does improve with age!

Thanks BM. I'm brewing this AGAIN.
 
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