American Porter Bert Grant's Perfect Porter tribute
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OP
OP
very nice, just had some last night after not having it for a few weeks. Still got a great smoke flavor with plenty of chocolate.
Finally brewed my batch yesterday, it smelled and looked amazing. I didn't actually taste it yet haha. I learned something very important yesterday, though, that I hadn't even previously considered.
When the time came to pitch the yeast, my friend wanted to do it. He started slowly opening the vial of Edinburgh, and it let out a little "hiss." I didn't think or expect it to be pressurized/carbonated, so I told him to just open it. About 3/4 of the yeast sprayed/spilled out of the vial. I pitched the rest, probably less than 1/4 of the vial. I didn't feel very good about it, though, so I added a spare packed of Safale S-04 (English) to the wort...
Note to self: OPEN YEAST VIALS SLOWLY hahaha.... lesson learned. I'm sure the beer will still turn out good, since fortunately I had an English ale yeast handy. I'll just have to brew it again soon using WLP028 and open it carefully
That way I can see what flavors that yeast gives the beer.
When the time came to pitch the yeast, my friend wanted to do it. He started slowly opening the vial of Edinburgh, and it let out a little "hiss." I didn't think or expect it to be pressurized/carbonated, so I told him to just open it. About 3/4 of the yeast sprayed/spilled out of the vial. I pitched the rest, probably less than 1/4 of the vial. I didn't feel very good about it, though, so I added a spare packed of Safale S-04 (English) to the wort...
Note to self: OPEN YEAST VIALS SLOWLY hahaha.... lesson learned. I'm sure the beer will still turn out good, since fortunately I had an English ale yeast handy. I'll just have to brew it again soon using WLP028 and open it carefully
That way I can see what flavors that yeast gives the beer.
OP
OP
Finally brewed my batch yesterday, it smelled and looked amazing. I didn't actually taste it yet haha. I learned something very important yesterday, though, that I hadn't even previously considered.
When the time came to pitch the yeast, my friend wanted to do it. He started slowly opening the vial of Edinburgh, and it let out a little "hiss." I didn't think or expect it to be pressurized/carbonated, so I told him to just open it. About 3/4 of the yeast sprayed/spilled out of the vial. I pitched the rest, probably less than 1/4 of the vial. I didn't feel very good about it, though, so I added a spare packed of Safale S-04 (English) to the wort...
Note to self: OPEN YEAST VIALS SLOWLY hahaha.... lesson learned. I'm sure the beer will still turn out good, since fortunately I had an English ale yeast handy. I'll just have to brew it again soon using WLP028 and open it carefully
thanks for letting us know not to open them fast
At least you got a little in there, I am sure that will put in some of that Scottish flavor.
Good news and bad news on my recent extract attemp...
Bad news:
I, for whatever reason, just acknowledged that I don't actually get any additional sugars from steeping grains. So my OG (as measured) is 1.035. I might be able to pull 3.5%abv out of this beer
Good news:
I recently became aware that liquid malt extract has a good deal of unfermentables present, so the beer should hopefully still finish at 1.012-13... which IMHO will be great for retaining some reasonable mouthfeel, necessary for a porter with a strong chocolate flavor.
Bad news:
I, for whatever reason, just acknowledged that I don't actually get any additional sugars from steeping grains. So my OG (as measured) is 1.035. I might be able to pull 3.5%abv out of this beer
Good news:
I recently became aware that liquid malt extract has a good deal of unfermentables present, so the beer should hopefully still finish at 1.012-13... which IMHO will be great for retaining some reasonable mouthfeel, necessary for a porter with a strong chocolate flavor.
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
Okay so due to me being busy (See haveing 2 kids) and letting my pipeline run dry I had to keg this beer at 2 weeks to make more room in my fermentation chamber. Its condition in the keg right now and tomorrow will be 3 weeks. Sooooo, just to make sure it was conditioning okay I had to pull a pint (Ended up being 2) last night and WOW this is one of the best porters I have made to date! The vanilla and peat malt go together like peanut butter and jelly. Really smooth and a head (really small amount due to it not being fully carbed) that lasted till the bottom of the pint.
GOOD JOB Humann Brewing, and thank you for posting this. This will now be my house porter. Next time I brew this I am going to add a hint more of Peat and add the Vanilla extract a few days before I keg. This time I added it when I kegged.
If your a Porter fan like me, I highly recommend brewing this.
**EDIT** No more peat, this Porter is perfect. I had some wild temp changes too before I finished my fermentation chamber, but it still came out outstanding.
GOOD JOB Humann Brewing, and thank you for posting this. This will now be my house porter. Next time I brew this I am going to add a hint more of Peat and add the Vanilla extract a few days before I keg. This time I added it when I kegged.
If your a Porter fan like me, I highly recommend brewing this.
**EDIT** No more peat, this Porter is perfect. I had some wild temp changes too before I finished my fermentation chamber, but it still came out outstanding.
After two weeks in primary, mine has now been in secondary for two weeks. Going to check on it today and decide whether to keg or continue to condition. When I racked it over to the secondary, it had a great taste to it, so I'm excited about it. Going to skip the vanilla in this batch, my wife isn't a fan of vanilla porters.
OP
OP
Thanks, being a fairly low gravity, it is a good beer to sample early
I don't get a lot of vanilla flavor at ~1 TBSP/5 gallons. The smoke and chocolate are more dominant in that ratio
I added 1 TBSP for 5 gallons at bottling, and the gravity sample that I drank afterward was very strongly vanilla. I'm guessing this is just because it was fresh, and will condition to more of a balance? However, it was REALLY good, even with a very strong vanilla flavor.
I'll pop the first bottle at the end of this week and see how it's doing. I didn't get an FG reading because I didn't have enough that wasn't in bottles Guessing it's about 1.015ish.
I'll pop the first bottle at the end of this week and see how it's doing. I didn't get an FG reading because I didn't have enough that wasn't in bottles
Guessing it's about 1.015ish.
OP
OP
anything is worth a shot. I don't think this beer would hold up to a long time in on wood. If I was going to try wood, I would probably just do chips in a secondary or something. I am thinking this because of the low gravity but that is not saying it is not worth a try
2 weeks in bottle with about 1/3 cup dextrose to prime...
The vanilla has substantially faded into complexity, the subtle smoke flavor compliments the chocolate very nicely. I chose Cherrywood malt, maybe I'll try Alderwood next time, peat the time after that, then all three! muahahaha
For sitting at about 3.5% abv, this one has a delicious body with some great character. And actually, the low carbonation is a nice compliment to it! I really can't wait to see how it turns out as it continues to condition. I most certainly will be brewing this again.
Great job Humann!
The vanilla has substantially faded into complexity, the subtle smoke flavor compliments the chocolate very nicely. I chose Cherrywood malt, maybe I'll try Alderwood next time, peat the time after that, then all three! muahahaha
For sitting at about 3.5% abv, this one has a delicious body with some great character. And actually, the low carbonation is a nice compliment to it! I really can't wait to see how it turns out as it continues to condition. I most certainly will be brewing this again.
Great job Humann!
OP
OP
2 weeks in bottle with about 1/3 cup dextrose to prime...
The vanilla has substantially faded into complexity, the subtle smoke flavor compliments the chocolate very nicely. I chose Cherrywood malt, maybe I'll try Alderwood next time, peat the time after that, then all three! muahahaha
For sitting at about 3.5% abv, this one has a delicious body with some great character. And actually, the low carbonation is a nice compliment to it! I really can't wait to see how it turns out as it continues to condition. I most certainly will be brewing this again.
Great job Humann!
Thanks!
wow, 10 days huh? any help or was that all you?
Thanks!
wow, 10 days huh? any help or was that all you?
A little bit of help on the last day. We had a BBQ on Sunday and that was a favorite amongst my friends. I just got my RIMS set up so I think this is going to be my trial batch.
Kegged this over the weekend, tasted stellar. We really prefer a drier porter, which was why I went with the Dry English Ale, and am really happy with it. I tasted it cold today, and really enjoyed it. Only going for light carbonation, should be ready to drink in a week.
Adding this into my rotation, and will be doing two batches of it next month. The first will be to replace the batch I just kegged, although I'm out of synch and it will likely be gone by the time this one is ready. The second will be to do a little barrel aging to see how that changes the flavor.
Great recipe!
Adding this into my rotation, and will be doing two batches of it next month. The first will be to replace the batch I just kegged, although I'm out of synch and it will likely be gone by the time this one is ready. The second will be to do a little barrel aging to see how that changes the flavor.
Great recipe!
sweetpoetatoe
Well-Known Member
So im lookin at brewin up a nice porter, and the only thing holding me back at all from this recipe is the mash schedule. I have a cooler mash tan, and have been toying with the idea of just doing the mash schedule with decoction, rather than tryin to add water in intervals. Any thoughts on this?
sweetpoetatoe
Well-Known Member
I also was curious about the head retention, i love head retention, and was thinkin of maybe some flaked barley or something of the sort to add to it?
OP
OP
Just go for a single infusion. I did that on the last batch and it was fine. In fact I should change that.
sweetpoetatoe
Well-Known Member
I looked into it a bit more and it seems the cooler tun can work pretty effeciently for decoction. I kinda got pumped for the challenge, so i might try ahead with that. Was there really no noticable difference between the step mashed batch vs the single infusion though?
OP
OP
I can't compare specifically because I changed the recipe for my latest version but I don't think so.
sweetpoetatoe
Well-Known Member
hmm, well i might still try it just for the experienc and whatnot. What do you think about the head retention? would i even need to bother adding anything extra?
OP
OP
if you really want head retention you could toss in a 3-5% wheat. The downfall of all this chocolate is weak head retention or lack of a head to begin with.
I dont' mind though.
sweetpoetatoe
Well-Known Member
yeah, i love the head retention that comes with torrified wheat. i was just thinking the flaked barley would fit the profile a little more, if there was even enough of a percent to add to flavor. thanks for all the input, and the recipe!
OP
OP
yeah, the real stars of this show is the peat, chocolate and the Edinburgh yeast. If you have those in there, you should be good.
For those who think the Edinburgh yeast won't attenuate enough, mash lower, it will.
Perfectly summed up this beer in this sentence. Im hopefully gonna keg this tomorrow. I just gotta finish up a american stout I have tonight.
OP
OP
so you brewed your last batch on 6/4 and probably started drinking it around the end of the month. So it lasted 2 weeks?
Must be good.
