Did I Ruin my Porter?

[robb117]

Yesterday I brewed a porter for the first time. Here's the recipe I used:

12 lbs pale malt
10 oz chocolate malt
4 oz black malt
1 oz glacier @ 60 min
.5 oz challenger @ 60 min
.5 oz Cascade @ 60 min
Yeast

BeerSmith estimates 36 IBUs.

When I was brewing I got careless and accidentally put 1 oz of all three hops in @ 60 min. The corrected IBU for the extra hops is now at 56. I was hoping to "dry hop" vanilla beans to make a vanilla porter. Question is, is this gonna be too hoppy? Is the vanilla pretty much out of the question now? I'm hoping to have this ready for Thanksgiving.

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

Eh...I'd probably spit it out, but you can find "Porters" in this range commercially.

The hops will mellow with age, but I don't know how stable the vanilla flavor will be, and they certainly won't mellow much before thanksgiving.

Brewing the same recipe with just an ounce of glacier and then blending them might work?

 

[Greytop]

The style guide I have says 25-50 IBUs for an American porter, so according to it, you're only slightly above the max. I'd go ahead with the vanilla and see what happens. However, I don't know if it will be ready by Thanksgiving. My porters need a couple or three months in the keg before they are at their best. Good luck.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Just give it a cool name like "Skid Mark Porter" or "Pond Dregs" then call all your IPA fan friends over. They will love it!

Seriously, 56 is nothing compared to some of the stuff out there lately, even commercially.

 

[thehaze]

The ( excessive ) bitterness - if any - will mellow out with time and darker/complex beers will only become better with time, so I believe you will be good.

Try some once carbonated, write down what you got from it ( bitterness, aroma, flavour ) and report back. Try again in 1-2 months and see how it compares with the first try.

 

[navethechimp]

1 oz glacier @ 60 min
.5 oz challenger @ 60 min
.5 oz Cascade @ 60 min
Yeast

3 different bittering hops plus YEAST. :rockin:

 

[boomslang]

Bit hoppier than a standard porter but you could pass it off as an amplified american porter? Pointless getting rid of, just bottle/keg at a slightly higher carb rate and see what it's like. Possibly not the most amazing porter in the world but certainly interesting. I'd drink it!

 

[thehaze]

Bit hoppier than a standard porter but you could pass it off as an amplified american porter? Pointless getting rid of, just bottle/keg at a slightly higher carb rate and see what it's like. Possibly not the most amazing porter in the world but certainly interesting. I'd drink it!

Same here. :rockin:

Just remember that a bit more bitterness usually goes well with the roasted notes, or at least this is how I feel about it.

Brew on!

 

[RM-MN]

Yesterday I brewed a porter for the first time. Here's the recipe I used:

12 lbs pale malt
10 oz chocolate malt
4 oz black malt
1 oz glacier @ 60 min
.5 oz challenger @ 60 min
.5 oz Cascade @ 60 min
Yeast

BeerSmith estimates 36 IBUs.

When I was brewing I got careless and accidentally put 1 oz of all three hops in @ 60 min. The corrected IBU for the extra hops is now at 56. I was hoping to "dry hop" vanilla beans to make a vanilla porter. Question is, is this gonna be too hoppy? Is the vanilla pretty much out of the question now? I'm hoping to have this ready for Thanksgiving.

No problem. It should be pretty good by Thanksgiving.....of 2018 and even better Thanksgiving 2019. I actually think it could be pretty decent porter by Thanksgiving of this year but even better by Christmas. My recent porters have changed dramatically between 2 and 3 months in the bottle at room temp.

 

[cubalz]

It will be ready for Thanksgiving this year but it will be much mellower if you let it sit for at least a year.

 

[ircbrewing]

Lol OP dont worry about it. No need to wait a year. Thats extreme.

As Aaron Rodgers would say RELAX keg that sucker and call it your version of a hopped up porter. Since youll be in the bitterinv range at that hop schedule you might even be able to pass it iff as a coffee porter with the simulation of bitterness of coffee beans as opposed to a...creative hop schedule.

Itll be fine! Let us know how it comes out!

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

BeerSmith estimates 36 IBUs.

When I was brewing I got careless and accidentally put 1 oz of all three hops in @ 60 min. The corrected IBU for the extra hops is now at 56. I was hoping to "dry hop" vanilla beans to make a vanilla porter. Question is, is this gonna be too hoppy? Is the vanilla pretty much out of the question now? I'm hoping to have this ready for Thanksgiving.

It also depends on the age of the hops used and how well they were stored. Hops stored in plastic bags at room temperature will oxidize and lose alpha acids quicker than hops refrigerated and stored in oxygen barrier packaging. There is a good chance your hop IBU contributions are not as high as calculated, unless the hops were packaged very recently and stored under optimum conditions until used.

 

[aprichman]

It also depends on the age of the hops used and how well they were stored. Hops stored in plastic bags at room temperature will oxidize and lose alpha acids quicker than hops refrigerated and stored in oxygen barrier packaging. There is a good chance your hop IBU contributions are not as high as calculated, unless the hops were packaged very recently and stored under optimum conditions until used.

This is a common misconception - although the oxidized alpha acids lose potency they become more soluble and their utilization increases.

 

[Upthewazzu]

Definitely keep it and do add the vanilla beans. I'd say about 3-4 beans would make a very tasty porter.

 

[bowlersp]

Just give it a cool name like "Skid Mark Porter" or "Pond Dregs" then call all your IPA fan friends over. They will love it!

^this^

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

This is a common misconception - although the oxidized alpha acids lose potency they become more soluble and their utilization increases.

Not really. If you've read about Hop Storage Index [HSI] as I have you will see how age and storage method definitely affect alpha acid potential. There is a good information about the subject in the Brewing Hops Storage: Preserving Precious Hops article.

 

[robb117]

Thanks for the advice. The smell coming out of the fermenter actually smells pleasant. I'll just stick with my original plan and add my vanilla beans and hope for the best. I guess even after a few years of brewing I still need to remember RDWHAHB

 

[BIAB-Tim]

A Vanilla Bean will calm it it down and so will time ! I'm drinking a stout that I brewed this past January it's better now then it was in April ! If it was mine I would add some lactose also, the sweet would help it ! If you like a milk Stout ! like Sam Adams cream stout or Buffalo Sweat a vanilla milk porter sounds interesting. Brew On

 

[kh54s10]

I had a commercial "Hopped Porter" recently. It was very good though I think the hop additions were for flavor and aroma as well as bittering.

It will be on the bitter end but the malts will still be evident. The addition of the vanilla will add something.

I would give it a try at Thanksgiving but if it is not great, save it for Christmas. I usually let my Porters and Stouts age at least a couple months.

 

[aprichman]

Not really. If you've read about Hop Storage Index [HSI] as I have you will see how age and storage method definitely affect alpha acid potential. There is a good information about the subject in the Brewing Hops Storage: Preserving Precious Hops article.

Really, although I was a little rusty on the mechanism. Please see below:

"On older hops the method (LCV) gives a higher value than the true value of alpha acids present, but a lower value than the sensory bitterness of hops would predict. This means that during storage of hops alpha acids decline but presumably new bitter compounds are formed, largely from beta acids. These replace the sensory bitterness lost with the alpha acids and, if the alpha acids to beta acid ratio is about unity as is commonly the case, sensory bitterness remains more or less constant with storage."

-Brewing 2nd Edition, Lewis and Young, pg. 261

This is the brewing textbook I used during my study of brewing science (I have a B.S. in Food Science with a focus on fermentation science). It is considered the authoritative text on brewing chemistry.

I always say keep an open mind, you may learn something new every day!

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

Really, although I was a little rusty on the mechanism. Please see below:

"On older hops the method (LCV) gives a higher value than the true value of alpha acids present, but a lower value than the sensory bitterness of hops would predict. This means that during storage of hops alpha acids decline but presumably new bitter compounds are formed, largely from beta acids. These replace the sensory bitterness lost with the alpha acids and, if the alpha acids to beta acid ratio is about unity as is commonly the case, sensory bitterness remains more or less constant with storage."

-Brewing 2nd Edition, Lewis and Young, pg. 261

This is the brewing textbook I used during my study of brewing science (I have a B.S. in Food Science with a focus on fermentation science). It is considered the authoritative text on brewing chemistry.

I always say keep an open mind, you may learn something new every day!

Honestly the book you've sited dates back to 2001, I am certain the BeerSmith article, and recent HSI related articles, contain more recently updated information.

 

[aprichman]

Honestly the book you've sited dates back to 2001, I am certain the BeerSmith article, and recent HSI related articles, contain more recently updated information.

Yes, I'm sure a blog entry is a more credible source than a brewing textbook written by the foremost experts on brewing chemistry in the world.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Sounds like the 1980s Japanese work on non-isohumulone bittering, which seems to have rather overstated the bittering effect of the non-alpha compounds (see eg Wackerbauer & Balzer, Brauwelt (1992), 132(16/17), 734-7 ) - it's also a different, harsher kind of bittering. Then you also have to consider the effect on all the other flavour compounds in the hops.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jib.40/full is some good recent work on the subject.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

Yes, I'm sure a blog entry is a more credible source than a brewing textbook written by the foremost experts on brewing chemistry in the world.

I never meant to suggest that. But a lot has changed, in regard to homebrewing, over the last 10-15 years. I'm not sure what you are disputing. Are you suggesting that frozen hops stored in oxygen free packaging, retain the same percentage of alpha acid as hops stored in an ordinary Ziploc bag at room temperature?