all grain porter more bitter than it should be

the recipe i found online and looks like most of the other porter recipes on here but this on tastes more bitter that it should. here is the recipe

5 gallon batch

8lbs 2 row malt
2lbs munich malt
1lbs black patient malt
1lbs chocolate malt
1lbs crystal 40 malt
.50oz northern brewer 60min.
.50oz centennial 45min.
.25oz centennial 5min.
london ale yeast

mashed temp was 150 deg. fermentation temp was 75 deg.

not sure but this beer tastes very bitter for the amount of hops that are put into it i was wondering if its something in the recipe or if its something else.

When did you brew it? The hop bitterness dies down as the beer matures.
Also, the London Ale yeast can give some very bitter flavors in green beer, but is fine once the beer matures.

-a.

How long has it been in the bottle/keg before drinking it?????

Porters really really improve in age...give it some time

A full lb of black patent seems like it could be a bit aggressive with that overall recipe. I'll join the how long has it been in the bottle chorus?

brewt00l said:

A full lb of black patent seems like it could be a bit aggressive with that overall recipe. I'll join the how long has it been in the bottle chorus?

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That was my thought- a whole pound of black patent sounds like about 4 times too much to me. I think bp can be harsh and bitter. If that's the cause, it should mellow quite a bit, though.

brewt00l said:

A full lb of black patent seems like it could be a bit aggressive with that overall recipe. I'll join the how long has it been in the bottle chorus?

Click to expand...

I was going to say the same. I have been studying tons of recipes for porters the past few weeks for myself to brew and have yet to come across a 5gal that calls for 1lb of bp.

why centennial hops? I would save then for an American beer and use english hops for a porter.

I would cut the black malt back to about 1/3 of a pound or less. If you need more color then you can use a higher lovibond crystal. I once used a pound of black malt in a 5 gallon batch and I think this is your problem. It wasn't bitter like too much hops, it was bitter like overextracted coffee. If that is the kind of bitterness you are getting I would say we have found your problem.

Did you do the 45 min hop addition to hit your IBUs? I would say you could have bumped that up to 20-30min and gotten a bit of flavor out of it too. But I think centennials in a porter sound great, you got me thinking about doing an American version of my robust english porter now.

+1 on letting it mellow, and maybe call it a stout instead.

YooperBrew said:

That was my thought- a whole pound of black patent sounds like about 4 times too much to me.

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+1 on this diagnosis.

Yup. That's a crapload of BP. The good news is that this kind of bitterness tends to mellow over time, so put it in a dark corner and wait.

Designing Great Beers has a nice analysis of porter. Our idea of porter today is quite different from the stuff that was produced in London back in the day which would have been pretty strong, slightly sour, and fairly bitter. It's a matter of personal taste and your interpretation of the style. Me, I like hops, and I like American hops in a porter or stout. It may not medal in the BJCP style category, but it'll still be good. I'll save my fuggles and KGs for bitters.

I let my darker brews age at least 10 days per 10 gravity points which is about two months. At least to me, sooner than that the flavors of the dark and light malts don't meld and the beer tastes twangy rather than smooth. The bitterness will mellow out with age.

All of the porter recipes I looked at had about .25lbs of black patent for 5 gals. I used .15lbs for a 3 gallon batch I have kicking right now.

i have made a few porters with .50lbs of bp and i didnt think it was enough. this recipe i found and thought it looked good so i decided to try it. its very new only a few days after keging and carbing so its still green but i was wondering what it was that made it bitter now i have some good ideas. the recipe called for cascade hops but the store was out so i used what i could get as a substitute.

xiang said:

I was going to say the same. I have been studying tons of recipes for porters the past few weeks for myself to brew and have yet to come across a 5gal that calls for 1lb of bp.

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+1 Centennial is pretty high in IBU, and I find it odd that its in the recipe for anything other than bittering for my taste. Some might disagree.

1# of roasted barley, I could see. 1# of black patent, yeeeeech! I usually stick to 4 oz or less!