Porter bound for the Drain?

[Keiff]

Hello everyone... Looking for some advice.

I recently brewed up an English Porter using the following ingredients:
3.5 lbs of Liquid Malt Extract
2 lbs of Pale Ale Malt
3/4 lb of Crystal Malt
1/2 lb of Chocolate Malt
1/4 lb of Black Patent Malt
1 oz. Of Target UK Hops (a:9.5%)
1 oz. Of Fuggle US Hops (a:5.3% b:2.9%)
8 oz. Of Malto-Dextrin
Munson Gold Premium Dry Yeast

After I proofed and pitched the yeast, it took about 48 hours at 68° for things to get active, but things hummed along well enough afterwards. I just took a hydro reading at day 12 (current gravity: 1.022 - orig. gravity 1.056) and tasted it...

Ohh my... It tastes super bitter with no sweetness element whatsoever! I also expected a lower gravity. In light of the addition of the dextrin, I suppose my FG could be higher than normal. Am i just being paranoid? Other ales I've done tend to taste close to the target flavor by the end of week 2. I'm also aware that darker brews take longer to condition.I plan to bottle and prime it with brown sugar, but don't expect that small amount to counter the bitterness, since it should be eaten for carb. I gave the carboy a good swirl and will check gravity in a couple of days but, based on the current flavor, I'm wondering if it's even worth my time to rack to secondary.

I appreciate any guidance offered

 

[freisste]

Don't touch it for a month. Check it again then and determine what to do. Never dump a dark beer (or a light beer) after 2 weeks.

Bitterness will subside and other flavors will come forward.

And you're correct. Priming sugar (even more interesting sugars than standard priming sugar) will likely add no perceptible sweetness.

 

[RM-MN]

I agree, leave the beer right where it is for at least another week, 2 is better, 3 would be fine, 4 would likely improve it, and at the end of week 5 you should bottle it. Then let it sit in the bottles for another month or 2 and if it still tastes terrible, ask for my address and I'll pay the shipping to get it here. Stouts do take some time to get good and lots of time to get superb, at least in my experience.

 

[kh54s10]

I would let that one go for 3 weeks in primary. I would not get too concerned about the taste until it has bottle conditioned for at least a month probably longer. Though I would expect some sweetness especially given the FG, which I don't think is too far off.

 

[Keiff]

Thanks guys for chillin' me out. This is my first partial grain AND my first really dark beer (my favorite kind). Do you think I should leave it in my primary to mellow or can I rack it over to a secondary for the long wait? I didn't expect to lose the service of my primary for so long... I need to get another batch o' brown cooked up.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

The combination of extract (which tends to finish on the high side) and the MD are probably responsible for the high gravity. Also, that much chocolate and black malt will take a while to mellow. By no means should you dump it. Give it 4 weeks in the fermenter and at least 2 months in bottles before you open one. Yes, I know you'll crack one before then but it will probably just stress you more. I had a nut brown - basicall, a brown porter - with similar amounts of dark grains and it became a really nice beer after about 4 months. RDWH ... yada, yada, yada.

 

[RM-MN]

Thanks guys for chillin' me out. This is my first partial grain AND my first really dark beer (my favorite kind). Do you think I should leave it in my primary to mellow or can I rack it over to a secondary for the long wait? I didn't expect to lose the service of my primary for so long... I need to get another batch o' brown cooked up.

Plastic bucket primarys are cheap compared to the price of the batch of stout you have just made. Use your secondary for making a mead which should tie it up for months. That will get you away from the urge to rack any beer to secondary.:cross:


Edited to add: My earlier post about the timeline for waiting to bottle was intended to be somewhat "tongue in cheek" in that you don't need to wait quite as long as I was suggesting before you bottle, but the "can I rack it over to a secondary for the long wait?" answer should be that that isn't a long wait in terms of being in the primary. That question really should be "should I rack it to secondary" and I'd say no. I've seen too many pictures of beer being infected by being racked to secondary without doing it properly. It would be hard to lose this batch to infection when it is doing so well in the primary now.

 

[joshesmusica]

well there you go! great advice. sit on it.
one more thing to add:
when swirling up that yeast make sure you're not knocking off any of the brown residue from the krausen back into the beer.
http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter21-2.html
scroll down to "astringent."

 

[flars]

What was your fermentation temperature? High fermentation temperatures can cause off flavors that may be perceived as bitterness in a beer that hasn't matured.

 

[kombat]

Was this a partial mash brew? Is that what you meant by "partial grain?"

 

[Keiff]

Thanks again everyone...

I have decided to just forget this batch for a few more weeks per BlueHouse and RM-MN's advice - danke fellas!. I stirred up the yeast a bit with my thief last night and it seems to have ushered in a little bit more activity. I ensured that I didn't aerate the surface of the wort and didn't knock any of the krausen deposit back into it (thanks joshesmusica). it looks like the yeast that has settled after the stir is much darker than the rest of the cake. Probably due to the extreme darkness of the wort.

Flars, first 3 days, it was fermenting at a steady 70° F. for the last week and a half, it has been sitting at a steady 68° F.

Kombat, I suppose this could be considered a partial mash. I only steeped the grains at 150°-155° for 45 minutes. I didn't squeeze the bag, but set it on a strainer over the kettle, opened it up and rinsed it with distilled water to extract as much as I could. I then brought to a boil and added the LME and starter hops.

This forum is awesome, full of awesome people... Thank you!

 

[Clonefan94]

Let it ride. I did a chocolate vanilla porter that I was really close to dumping when I kegged it. Carbed it up, let it sit for a month oustide the kegerator. Put it on and tried it again, actually tasted OK, not great, but OK. Drank a little of it, then decided to put on another beer, so out it went again. This time it sat for two months and when I put it back on, it tasted amazing. All the harshness that was there is now gone. It's an easy drinking smooth beer now. it's definitely lost a little of the vanilla, but it's a pretty decent beer.

Moral of the story. If you have the space, go ahead and let it ride and see what happens. If you just dump it, you will never know.

 

[Keiff]

I was actually going to nuance this one with some vanilla as well. I only wanted a bare hint of it on the back-end, so I have one bean I planned to add about 10 days out from bottling. If I let it condition for a much longer time, as you have, you think I should use more than one bean?

Maybe I can make a tincture with the bean and some vodka and add it when I bottle.