Aging Porter

[Pugs13]

Have had a porter in the bottles for about a week. When do you think it will reach its full potential and be ready for tasting? Is two weeks enough like most recipe kits call for?

 

[Smokeater233]

I'd give it two more...longer is generally better...

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Not at all. Don't listen to recipe kits. They're made so they can get in the bottle and drank as soon as possible so that you'll be buying more often. While most of these companies (austin, NB, morebeer, etc.) make great kits, I often think their timelines should be extended.

Leave the porter in the bottle for at least 3 weeks before you even open it. Even then, it won't be at it's best. 2-3 months and it will be perfect. With patience comes good beer.

 

[Pugs13]

This is what I thought...Thanks guys...I also had posted a question that maybe you guys could answer...our porter that we brewed is not as dark as I thought it should...its like a dark nutty clear brown...not black like a porter/stouty should be...not sure what we did wrong...the extract malt was pretty light so I think that may have something to do with it...but not sure...

 

[rudu81]

Have a read of Revvy's thoughts: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/blogs/revvy/159-patience-bottle-conditioning.html

 

[excourier]

The porters and stouts that I have made have probably tasted best after being allowed to sit in primary for at least a month and then to bottle condition for a couple of months. I left a couple of bottles of coffee porter sit for about 6 months and really regretted not saving more to age. I'd say let it sit for another couple of weeks, at least, and then taste a bottle or two. If you are really impatient stash a six pack in the back of a closet somewhere and forget about it for a bit.
Patience has probably been the hardest thing for me to learn while brewing, but tasting the results has definitely helped.

 

[Palefire]

My porters taste good after about a month primary and 6 weeks in the bottle, but they taste great a few months after that. Let it rest and you will be rewarded.

 

[Chris1272]

to be drinkable 6-8 weeks, I age all my porters 6 months. honestly the phrase "all good things in time" is definitely applicable.

 

[Pugs13]

This sounds good guys...thanks...any thoughts on the color issue that we are having with our porter...like mentioned before it is not that dark signature black it more of a dark nutty clear brown...thanks!

 

[Xaphoeous]

This is what I thought...Thanks guys...I also had posted a question that maybe you guys could answer...our porter that we brewed is not as dark as I thought it should...its like a dark nutty clear brown...not black like a porter/stouty should be...not sure what we did wrong...the extract malt was pretty light so I think that may have something to do with it...but not sure...

When I have made porter from an extract kit, the extract was a very dark liquid. Was yours dry or liquid? What did the label say it was called? It's possible that if the kit was put together by your LHBS that they put the wrong LME in there by mistake.

 

[excourier]

Did you steep any specialty grains or was this an all extract batch?

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

This sounds good guys...thanks...any thoughts on the color issue that we are having with our porter...like mentioned before it is not that dark signature black it more of a dark nutty clear brown...thanks!

Porters aren't always black in color. It all depends on the recipe. I've made some that come out more of a brownish color also.

 

[Chris1272]

This sounds good guys...thanks...any thoughts on the color issue that we are having with our porter...like mentioned before it is not that dark signature black it more of a dark nutty clear brown...thanks!

This is mainly an issue with the specialty grains you used. If it isnt dark enough next time up the ammount of chocolate, dark crystal, brown malt. this will lend more color to your beer. The color you are describing is what I experienced with my first extract porter. There are 2 reasons for this. first kits tend to be very basic and give you the bare essentials to make the beer in question as you brew more extract batches try supplementing the specialty grains that come with the kits. For example the last extract porter I made from a kit I also ordered a few extra ounces of chocolate malt, some melanoidin malt, and biscuit malt. These were to adjust the color of the beer and to adjust the beer to my personal tastes. Think of the kit as a buying a cake mix from Betty Crocker if you follow the directions you will end up with a cake but nothing says you cant add a extra teaspoon of brown sugar to make a better cake. Second thing you are fighting against as an extract brewer is dilution. Once you steep your grains in a few liters of water you may end up with a very dark liquid but as you bring it to your boil volume it waters it down. Then again if you are not doing a full boil topping off further dilutes the color. Upping the darker grains will help with this and its generally a problem that will go away when you make the leap to all grain. A recent all grain porter that I made is black as night. Hope that helps.

 

[jdaiker]

Thanks for all the help. This is some useful information that we will use in our future batches of this beer.

 

[SilentAutumn]

This is what I thought...Thanks guys...I also had posted a question that maybe you guys could answer...our porter that we brewed is not as dark as I thought it should...its like a dark nutty clear brown...not black like a porter/stouty should be...not sure what we did wrong...the extract malt was pretty light so I think that may have something to do with it...but not sure...

Have a copy of the recipe handy? Or at least which kit you used?

 

[jdaiker]

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/pam-smith-s-taddy-porter.html

This is the kit we used.

 

[Pugs13]

Have a copy of the recipe handy? Or at least which kit you used?

Yeah check out Jdaikers post just under yours...that is the kit we used...its supposed to be a replica of the Samuel Smith Taddy Porter...Do you think that color will change much with age? If we let age in bottles for 2-3 months will the color lighten or darken at all?

 

[SilentAutumn]

I've never done this kit, but with a half pound of Black malt and a half pound Chocolate malt, I would imagine a pretty dark porter.

1) Did you crush the grains with a rolling pin?
2) How long did you steep?

 

[jdaiker]

We crushed the grains with Midwests crusher at the store. So they were good that way. We just went by the kit guidelines. The only thing i can come up with is that the kit came with DME that was light. When we started our irish stout kit that one ran with LME that was dark. What we may do is swap that light DME with the dark LME.

 

[Chris1272]

Yeah check out Jdaikers post just under yours...that is the kit we used...its supposed to be a replica of the Samuel Smith Taddy Porter...Do you think that color will change much with age? If we let age in bottles for 2-3 months will the color lighten or darken at all?

Im afraid it wont darken up any from here. Honestly I would say don't worry about it. When it is totally done and carbed up let how it tastes be the main thing you judge this beer on. If you find it lacking in that toasty porter taste but is still a great beer just enjoy it for what it is and order more chocolate/Brown malt on your next attempt. My first extract porter was like this instead of being concerned that I failed at making a honey porter I was very pleased that I succeeded in making a very good English honey brown ale.

 

[SilentAutumn]

We crushed the grains with Midwests crusher at the store. So they were good that way. We just went by the kit guidelines. The only thing i can come up with is that the kit came with DME that was light. When we started our irish stout kit that one ran with LME that was dark. What we may do is swap that light DME with the dark LME.

So your grains were crushed, that's good.

How long did you guys steep it? And your temp was ~155 degrees ? I see the kit guidelines say a 10-30 minutes steep. With the .5# black, .5# chocolate, and 1# crystal 60L, a 20 minute steep should have given it a dark color regardless of the malt extract. (I would have gone 30 minutes). Don't get me wrong, the dark extract would help, but the steeping grains alone should give you that dark color.

As others have said, your current batch won't get any darker from this point. I'm sure it will still taste good. It's no big deal. But I understand your frustration in not getting the results you want and trying to figure out why.

Just note if you do brew this kit in the future and swap the DME with LME, there's a slight conversion