English Porter Black Pearl Porter (AG)

[latium]

I brewed a batch of this several months ago, and due to a variety of equipment-related and other factors, didn't get around to to tapping the (primed and naturally carbonated) keg until just now. I tried to tap it last night, but I had a leak under the QD caused by an old O-ring in terrible shape, diagnosed by a little Googling. I'm sipping my first pint right now as I type this, and it is *excellent*. I'd been really looking forward to it based on how good the hydrometer sample tasted, and this just knocks my socks off.

Thanks, BierMuncher!

 

[BierMuncher]

I brewed a batch of this several months ago, and due to a variety of equipment-related and other factors, didn't get around to to tapping the (primed and naturally carbonated) keg until just now. I tried to tap it last night, but I had a leak under the QD caused by an old O-ring in terrible shape, diagnosed by a little Googling. I'm sipping my first pint right now as I type this, and it is *excellent*. I'd been really looking forward to it based on how good the hydrometer sample tasted, and this just knocks my socks off.

Thanks, BierMuncher!

Me glad you like.

 

[latium]

You know, I just realized that the other beer I have on tap right now is your Nierra Sevada, and I've got all the ingredients together for the Centennial Blonde, which is in my pipeline. You rock!

 

[Callacave]

I did this a couple of months ago. I aged it for about 3 weeks in the keg at cellar temps then put it on tap. At first I was ok. Just sort of blah. To be honest I like really roasty porters/stouts better, but should've known that this Porter wasn't that. It was my first dark beer I brewed btw.

So it's been about 2 months now, and I've got to say this one is turning out really nice. The sweetness is coming out along with the Chocolate malt. The aroma is getting better too.

My wife didn't think much of this at first, but the last couple of nights she has poured herself a few pints. She really likes it now.

Lesson for me is to definitely be patient with dark brews. At least a couple of months in the cellar and this beer would've been great from the start.

Thanks BierMuncher!

 

[jrbeers]

I've been doing nothing but kits until now. Just brewed this yesterday as my first All-Grain. Wow, smelled great, tasted great, can't wait to try this once it's done!

Once I'm ready for the secondary I'm going to split this up into 2 separate buckets and put coffee into one of them. Thinking of putting 16 oz of cold pressed dark roast in for 3 gallons of brew. Then I'll just leave the other 2 gallons.

___________________________________________________

Primary - Black Pearl Porter
Secondary - Weizenbier, Strawberry Hard Apple Cider
Bottled - Honey Ale, Liberty Cream Ale

 

[andycr]

Just picked up the grain bill for this last night, looking forward to it.

 

[BigPicture]

I brewed this as my 1st porter ever & did a few substitutions. I used a cheap specialty coffee I've never had before since I've never had vanilla. The beer turned out sharp & tart, overwhelmed by this coffee. The beer underneath is very good but it's an afterthought after you get by the bitter coffee.

I took it to my beer club last night for a casual taste testing. It took 3rd place! There were 50 judges/members there. I was amazed! I'm a coffee nut & this stuff tastes like a bitter frappuccino, not a porter. They were impressed it was my 1st batch of porter. That's testament to BM's recipe, not my choice of ingredients.

So I'm going to brew this again but cut the coffee in half & use something I really like & have used before! If I must have vanilla, I'll simply just add REAL vanilla I picked up in Mexico. I've used that before in other beer & it's excellent.

 

[BierMuncher]

I brewed this as my 1st porter ever & did a few substitutions. I used a cheap specialty coffee I've never had before since I've never had vanilla. The beer turned out sharp & tart, overwhelmed by this coffee. The beer underneath is very good but it's an afterthought after you get by the bitter coffee.

I took it to my beer club last night for a casual taste testing. It took 3rd place! There were 50 judges/members there. I was amazed! I'm a coffee nut & this stuff tastes like a bitter frappuccino, not a porter. They were impressed it was my 1st batch of porter. That's testament to BM's recipe, not my choice of ingredients.

So I'm going to brew this again but cut the coffee in half & use something I really like & have used before! If I must have vanilla, I'll simply just add REAL vanilla I picked up in Mexico. I've used that before in other beer & it's excellent.

I added a half cup of coarsely ground Eight O'Clock Vanilla Bean Coffee...into the secondary for 5 days, then added another 1/4 cup of the same for two more days. It was SPECTACULAR!!

 

[Doed]

I brewed this on Sunday. I did not make a starter...well, sort of. I split the batch into two carboys. I direct pitched the London Ale yeast into the primary at 60°. On Monday, about 26 hours after pitching, there was the beginning of krausen, so I poured the remaining batch into the primary. This morning the krausen had not reformed but the blow off tube was bubbling and there was definite movement in the primary. So I basically did make a starter out of 2½ gallons of wort, then added the remaining wort.

 

[BigPicture]

HEY........................ just put some more time on the keg................... the coffee is mellowing out............. this stuff is getting GOOD! It smells REAL GOOD. The main reason I brought it to the beer club was to blast thru the keg, since I didn't really like it. I know what good beer tastes like, I don't need anybody else telling me what to think. But, Wow.................... now I'm gonna have to start hoarding this stuff. It still tastes like a frappuccino, but now it's real smooth.

If I brought the beer tasting like it does now to the meeting, they would have taken me out on their shoulders! The beer that took 1st place couldn't hold a candle to this baby. I'm not a big porter fan, just thought I'd experiment & expand my taste buds. THIS beer is INCREADIBLE. I've had a few porters at the fancy pub, but THIS beer is much better than all of them. I'd take this again to next months meeting............................. but I can guarantee it ain't gonna last that long. It's all we're drinking now.

I guess what Revvy says is true. Beer really does improve with age!

Thanks BM. I'm brewing this AGAIN.

 

[mmcouch]

I know it's getting a little warm for this one but I've brewed a lot of APAs and such lately. Going to do. 2.5 gallon batch. Where is everyone getting the lactose and maltodextrine? Can you pick these up at the grocery if not at the LHBS? Also this will be my first half batch. How much yeast should I pitch? Entire smack pack or dry? Thanks and really looking forward to brewing this.

 

[Groner]

I know it's getting a little warm for this one but I've brewed a lot of APAs and such lately. Going to do. 2.5 gallon batch. Where is everyone getting the lactose and maltodextrine? Can you pick these up at the grocery if not at the LHBS? Also this will be my first half batch. How much yeast should I pitch? Entire smack pack or dry? Thanks and really looking forward to brewing this.

You should be able to get those at any LHBS. The grocery store? Probably not so much...

Also, I would just pitch the whole packet of yeast, wet or dry.

I probably needed a starter (but didn't make one) for the 5 gallon version of this and the fermentation stopped early. One packet should be fine for 2.5 gals.

 

[mmcouch]

Yea I found everything at the LHBS. This turned out really great. The white labs London ale yeast worked great, too...most compact yeast cake I've ever seen. Will brew another AG 2.5 gallon batch soon and throw in some coffee beans after primary.

 

[bolus14]

Any thoughts on using Northern Brewer or Perle for hops instead of Fuggles. Looking to get a little mint aroma/flavor into this? How many of either of those hops would anybody suggest. I would prefer the mintyness from the hops to be prevalent but not overpowering, I would also prefer not to use mint extracts, or have to worry about putting mint in the secondary as it doesn't seek like results are consistent with those methods.

I'm looking at this for the holidays so many non craft beer drinkers would try it so if you do truly get mint from those hops, I have yet to use either, it can be a little more pronounced as these people won't have the palet's to pick up on it if it's subtle.

 

[Roughster]

Does anyone know if this beer is a slow starter for fermentation? I followed the recipe to the "T" and it just started slowly bubbling this morning over 48 hours later. Curious if this is normal for this beer?

Not stressed about it, just curious what others experiences are with how quickly this starts fermenting.

 

[sfgoat]

Yeah it is normal I've had some yeasts take up to 72 hours to take off.

 

[Roughster]

It finally picked up to a good sub-1 sec per bubble in the blowoff tube after about 72 hours. So looks like I am on track and fermentation is going strong! Really looking forward to this one!

 

[bzwyatt]

My gravity at pitching was 1.074. I had a little less than 5 gallon of wort, maybe 4.8. I feel like maybe I should pitch more yeast... I got a pack of dry Nottingham, HBS guy said it is similar enough to #1028.

Think I should pitch it?

 

[dhadley]

Quick question(maybe). I am confused about the amount of water used for sparging. I see that 4.06 gal. of 170* water is added to the full grain bill to bring it to 158*. Then, after 45 min, I will add 2.5 gal 206* water to bring the total to 6.56 gal of 175* water. However, doesn't my grain retain its weight in water? If so, when I drain this out of my mash tun, won't I be missing 13 lbs of wort? And don't I want to start at 7gal preboil to end at 5 gal of wort? Am I missing something or am I supposed to just keep rinsing the grain until I have reached my 7 gal mark?

 

[gcdowd]

Quick question(maybe). I am confused about the amount of water used for sparging. I see that 4.06 gal. of 170* water is added to the full grain bill to bring it to 158*. Then, after 45 min, I will add 2.5 gal 206* water to bring the total to 6.56 gal of 175* water. However, doesn't my grain retain its weight in water? If so, when I drain this out of my mash tun, won't I be missing 13 lbs of wort? And don't I want to start at 7gal preboil to end at 5 gal of wort? Am I missing something or am I supposed to just keep rinsing the grain until I have reached my 7 gal mark?

I've found that in my system, the grain absorption is about 0.12 gallons per pound of grain, YMMV of course. So for a 10 pound grain bill, that would be 1.2 gallons of water lost to absorption. If my pre-boil volume is 7 gallons, then I would start with 8.2 total gallons of water, split between mash water and sparge water.

 

[sfgoat]

Quick question(maybe). I am confused about the amount of water used for sparging. I see that 4.06 gal. of 170* water is added to the full grain bill to bring it to 158*. Then, after 45 min, I will add 2.5 gal 206* water to bring the total to 6.56 gal of 175* water. However, doesn't my grain retain its weight in water? If so, when I drain this out of my mash tun, won't I be missing 13 lbs of wort? And don't I want to start at 7gal preboil to end at 5 gal of wort? Am I missing something or am I supposed to just keep rinsing the grain until I have reached my 7 gal mark?

I've never had more absorption than .32 gal per pound.

 

[dhadley]

I think I got confused between no sparge and batch sparge. Am I draining after each addition of water?
So, I will toss in the grains, add 4 gal of water, wait 45 min vorlauf and drain?. Then I add the 2.5 gal vorlauf and drain again? How do I get to 7 gal then? I feel like I'm missing a step.

 

[gcdowd]

Skip the mash out and just batch sparge with enough water to get you to your pre boil volume.

 

[bzwyatt]

I did 4 gallons mash, 4 gallons sparge and got a little less than 5 gallons, maybe 4.8.

 

[thekage]

Notes from brewing, 8 gallon batch
Brewed 7/28/13
Sg 1.060
Dark in color, like very dark tea to med roast coffee, tastes very sweet, earthy, coffee chocolate and tea
Split batch into 2 four gallon batches, pitched one with 1272, one us05
9/24/13
1272, fg 1.014 - smells of coffee with slight hoppy resin and sulfur, medium brown in color, slight transpance, tastes of coffee, earthy roastiness, slight sweetness, not much hop presence, very light body, dry
Us05, fg 1.018 -earthy fungus smell, almost soy sauce, much less roast on the nose, slightly darker, no hop taste with balanced sweetness with a soy sauce umami, more body
Blended half and half, nice toasty umami with good mouthfeel and balanced sweetness

Can't wait to get this carbed up

 

[bzwyatt]

I started with 1.074, checked gravity yesterday after a week and it is at 1.024. Visible fermentation only lasted about 3-4 days, and I was worried it had stalled, but maybe since it is so dark I just couldn't see it, compared to the other less opaque brews I've done. Sample was really good too, after just a week. I'm relieved it is fermenting nicely.

How much gravity will the lactose and malto-dextrine add? I need to learn more about gravity, there must be a way to calculate how much higher I can expect the FG to be with extra non-fermentable sugar in the wort...

 

[Zubius]

@BierMuncher -
Thanks for the recipe! The wife loves it with French Vanilla coffee and has requested another batch asap..

The only variation I'm making on the second batch is increasing the caramel/crystal & chocolate to 1.25lbs and increasing the caramel/crystal to 60L (from 40L). Should be tasty!

 

[casesensative]

I have a question on this recipe. I am going to brew this one up, but I'm going to push the ABV up a bit and brew a sort of 'Imperial' version of this.


The original 5 gallon recipe (via beersmith) estimates the OG at 1.066 (at 70% eff) and the FG at 1.018. (6.4%) It also estimates the bitterness at 8.7 IBU

I took the original recipe and scaled it to 3 gallons and also scaled up my ABV to where I wanted it to be. It currently estimates the OG at 1.078 and the FG at 1.018. (7.2%). Now I was curious if I should up the bitterness just a bit to balance the increase in gravity and if so, how much should I increase it by? Keep in mind that I am not a fan of bitter beers either, but I also know there has to be a nice balance. I also plan on adding coffee and vanilla bean into the secondary.

Thanks for any input!

 

[BierMuncher]

I have a question on this recipe. I am going to brew this one up, but I'm going to push the ABV up a bit and brew a sort of 'Imperial' version of this.


The original 5 gallon recipe (via beersmith) estimates the OG at 1.066 (at 70% eff) and the FG at 1.018. (6.4%) It also estimates the bitterness at 8.7 IBU

I took the original recipe and scaled it to 3 gallons and also scaled up my ABV to where I wanted it to be. It currently estimates the OG at 1.078 and the FG at 1.018. (7.2%). Now I was curious if I should up the bitterness just a bit to balance the increase in gravity and if so, how much should I increase it by? Keep in mind that I am not a fan of bitter beers either, but I also know there has to be a nice balance. I also plan on adding coffee and vanilla bean into the secondary.
Thanks for any input!

Get your IBU's between 10-11 and you should maintain the original recipe bitterness profile.

 

[casesensative]

Well, brewed this one up the other night. Didn't quite hit the numbers I was looking for, as I didn't get quite the effeciency I wanted. I think I shouldve mashed for longer than the 45 mins stated in the recipe, but I still ended up at 1.064 OG. Then I pitched some us-o4 from a previous pumpkin beer. It still hasn't begun fermentation yet (16 hours later), but maybe its ok. I think I'm just spoiled as my last few beers have taken off within the first 2-3 hours. Will report back and update on how this one turns out.