My first brew: Brewer's Best Pumpkin Porter

[MyNameIsMud]

Hi all - I recently bottled up my first brew, Brewer's Best Pumpkin Porter; I let it ferment for 3 weeks at around 68 degrees using equipment from this beer brewing kit from Northern Brewer. I had to taste it while bottling, and it really didn't taste too great - it almost tasted more like watery wine, kinda vinegary, wasn't dry though. I'm keeping in mind, I'm tasting a warm flat beer - and its my first time, so my bar was set pretty low to begin with. Definitely has alcohol content, felt a buzz after just a few small samples.

I plan to try a bottle each week to see how it matures, and/or, to see how ruined it might be lol. Anyway I'll post updates here. Meanwhile, if anyone has tried this pumpkin porter kit before, let me know what your experience was with the pre-bottling tasting.

 

[IslandLizard]

kinda vinegary

Did you happen to use a secondary? If so, don't use those anymore. Not needed for 99.9% of all (regular) straight up beers.

At a 1.058 original gravity (OG) it should definitely not taste watery.

Carbonation will give you much better mouth feel. So yeah, 2-3 weeks from now it may be a totally different experience.

 

[MyNameIsMud]

cool, I didn't use a secondary! 3 weeks in the primary and was never opened up, had good bubbling from the airlock after about 20 hours...and after 2 weeks I felt it was still too active based on the airlock bubbling, so gave it another week.

I made some mistakes that I know of so far, here's my list of things I'll do differently next time:

- I steeped my specialty grains too hot, because I misread my new thermometer (not digital). They steeped at 190°F-160°F , the internet says I should maybe expect a puckering dry taste from tannins. remains to be tasted
- I didn't oxygenate my wort enough, maybe. I chilled my wort using an ice bath, and poured it into the fermenter so that it oxygenated splashing about as I poured. But I didnt shake for 1 minute, or airstone it.
- I didn't starsans my distilled water jugs! Wish i had thought of that at the time, I opened them up and poured 2 1/2 gallons into the sanitized fermenter with my cooled 2 1/2 gallons of wort. The only contamination mistake I can think of. I was anal about sanitation, but sadly, didnt even dawn on me to sanitize the damn jugs.
- I didnt buy a hydrometer. I said f**k it initially, "its my first brew", but now I wish just had done it cause i don't know the gravities to talk about them. So, I dont know my gravities

 

[RM-MN]

1. Steeping temperature can be much higher than suggested without extracting tannins. It all depends on the pH of the solution. Unless your water is high in alkalinity it isn't real likely.
2. Your kit should have included dry yeast. Lack of oxygenation doesn't faze that as it contains the nutrients it needs for propagation. Your beer did ferment.
3. While Starsan would have been a good idea, the jugs were probably pretty sanitary. In any case, the yeast you added would quickly overcome any bacteria and the activity of the yeast prevent the bacteria from propagating.
4. With an extract kit the original gravity is what the kit says if you were correct on the volume of water. The final gravity can vary but not usually by very much so what the kit predicts is close to what you got. If you intend to continue with brewing as a hobby, buy a hydrometer. Better yet, buy two because if you only have one of those fragile glass items they get lonely and so depressed they commit suicide by falling onto your table or floor. (just kidding about the suicide) Having two means that if you do break one you have one to use for this beer.

From my experience, porters don't taste right at bottling time, nor do they taste their best after the 3 week carbonation time but come into their own at 3 to 4 months after bottling. I like your idea of trying a bottle each week as you then get to experience how a porter changes as it matures.

 

[MyNameIsMud]

First, thanks for so much for the opinions/info.

"..Unless your water is high in alkalinity [tannins].."
I used distilled water for everything since I was using an extract kit, so I'm assuming I won't have a any ph issues, but also, I took no readings ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Dry yeast does not require alot of oxygenation? I haven't read or seen anywhere, so BIG thanks on that. So, sounds like I did fine - I watched alot of clawhammer supply videos on youtube - and they always use liquid, so this makes sense. I don't recall it being mentioned in Palmer's book

great new info to know RM-MN *cheers*

With that said, I just had my 1 week tasting(s) - it's definitely more of a beer now. Very little carbonation, but I do have a slight bubbling around the edges of the beer in the glass, so its there. The taste is goooood, it definitely tastes like a porter now, and it has a very "green" after taste that I assume will mature with age as you all say. This blew my expectations completely out of the water though! Very clean and drinkable after only a week - very happy brewer today.

 

[BSheridan]

Sounds like its on its way to becoming a really good beer. I brewed a pumpkin ale for the fall that isn't quite ready to taste yet (still carbonating in the bottles) but I'm thinking maybe I'll do a pumpkin porter next year

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

It's going to get better as it ages