First Time All Grainer Trying to Save a Porter!

[noahjk89]

My first all grain attempt was Denny Conn's vanilla oak bourbon porter. My first concern is that it's finishing gravity is around 1.026 after staring at 1.065. My second concern is that it doesn't taste that great, and I'm pretty sure it's because I deviated from the recipe when adding hops. The underlying malt base tastes great but there's just something wrong about the hop taste.

Here are my questions:
1) Could the off taste I'm perceiving really be caused by the unfermented sugars in the batch rather than the hops? If so, could pitching more yeast affect the taste and improve the batch?

2) This is a long shot - I have about 3.5 gallons of beer right now. Say I boiled a gallon worth of new wort with no hops and added it to the batch, THEN pitched more yeast, would that subdue the less than desirable hop flavor?

3) I haven't added the vanilla or my bourbon soaked oak chips yet, and I'm hesitant to do so if the current taste is mediocre at best. However, might these flavors overpower the off taste?

Thank you for any advice!

 

[insubordinateK]

What are you IBUs?

Letting your beer sit can work wonders. I would hesitate adding more wort. Do the calculations and record your thoughts and better luck next time when you have more insight.

 

[D_Struct]

Well, it's quite possible that the off taste is due to the fact the ingredients in the recipe were made to work in unison, and they were balanced accordingly. When one part of a puzzle is lost, you're not going to get the whole picture.

It's possible that there is another problem at hand, but I just wanted to throw that out there. It's hard to diagnose a problem when all we know is that there is "something wrong with the hop taste." Try and describe the off flavor, and you might get more advice.

 

[noahjk89]

My IBUs are 37. I used .5oz Kent Goldings(15min), .5oz Nugget(15min), and 1oz Willamette (1hr). I do realize the error with my hop selection and proportions, I changed my mind and rushed the decision during the brewing process. Bad planning.

I definitely recognize that certain ingredients are used for a reason and deviating from the recipe can ruin the batch. It appears that may have happened here. It's hard for me to describe the off taste better, but if I had to I'd say there's a piney, fresh taste that clashes with the dark malt base.

 

[flabyboy]

How long has it been fermenting. I would just give it a lot more time. This beer is going to take some time to mellow out. I wouldn't deviate too much from a recipe when you first start the all grain process

 

[noahjk89]

flabyboy - It's been in the primary for 2 weeks. And yes, next time I'm going to stick to the recipe, plan better, and master the fundamentals.

Any thoughts on pitching more yeast?

 

[insubordinateK]

Your IBUs are not that far off the mark for a porter. Give it time. If anything, you will get an idea of the amount of bitterness 37 IBUs will give you for that style/OG.

On a side note, I would encourage people to deviate from the "standards" once they have a good feel for IBU/OG/grains/yeast. It's your first batch. Practice makes perfect (alcoholics).

 

[Gduck]

flabyboy - It's been in the primary for 2 weeks. And yes, next time I'm going to stick to the recipe, plan better, and master the fundamentals.

Any thoughts on pitching more yeast?

Porters and stouts are beers that benefit from aging. If your FG is stable it's likely that the fermentation has ceased. I don't know what the target gravity is, but I'm guessing you're looking for lower than what the yeast has done so far. You can attempt to rouse it by swirling the fermenter ever so gently (you want to avoid splashing which my introduce oxygen in to the beer), or bringing the fermentation temperature up a couple of degrees. I generally try to avoid pitching more yeast, but if nothing else is working adding more could help knock the gravity down a few more points. Just make sure to use good sanitation practices when adding more.

As for the flavors, as I mentioned, beers like a porter get some of their best character from aging. I generally will leave mine 3 to 4 weeks in the fermenter before packaging, or adding oak/vanilla/etc. to them. Then I'll let them sit for another week or so before packaging. I used to rush all my beers and especially my stouts and porters would come out very mediocre. It wasn't until I practiced a little more patience (something I am horrible at) that my dark beers started tasting much more like I envisioned them.

 

[D_Struct]

Given your description, I'm going to agree with the advice to just give it more time.

The hop flavor will take a step back and even out with two or three more weeks.

 

[noahjk89]

Thanks to everyone for all quick and constructive advice. I have much to learn....

 

[flabyboy]

I have found that when fermentation has stalled in my primary, that the transfer to secondary will reactivate it. I like to use a long primary for the mist part, but if I were you I would give it another week and transfer to secondary with your wood chips and let it age for a month or more. Hopefully the transfer will get it going

 

[noahjk89]

I'm still mulling over adding another gallon of wort to even out the taste and then refermenting. Is this just a terrible idea or could it be done? I would scale down my grain bill to 1gal, possibly add a small amount of sweet flavored hops, and get it fermenting. Once it's krausening I'd add it to the existing batch and hopefully I'd end up with a better taste and maybe even a lower FG.

Does anyone see any major problems with this approach?

 

[flabyboy]

Your adding too many variables. You just need to give it time

 

[Hernando]

I think your best approach has already been said; be patient, complete the ingredients that you have not added and give your beer it's proper conditioning time. You keep wanting to muck with it and you still have no idea what the end result is. You beer is still green which could be another reason you are getting off flavors. If you really want to add more wort and possibly oxidize your batch, go for it. But, I agree with flabyboy withthe fact that you are adding to many variables and points of failure.

 

[Ravenshead]

What temp was your mash? You can get a lot of unfermentables from a hot mash (>150). That's not necessarily a bad thing in a porter. I'm drinking one now that stopped at 1026, it's very rich and full of vanilla and chocolate flavors.

 

[noahjk89]

The thing that I find hard to believe is that the bad hop flavor, that I'm pretty sure occurred because of my Nugget addition, will dissipate with time. I've tasted it twice over a week and a half period and the bad hop taste stayed the same. I recognize that the overwhelming consensus is wait, but will time really help this situation if the original problem is a hop flavor that does not belong in the recipe?

 

[noahjk89]

What temp was your mash? You can get a lot of unfermentables from a hot mash (>150). That's not necessarily a bad thing in a porter. I'm drinking one now that stopped at 1026, it's very rich and full of vanilla and chocolate flavors.

I was able to keep my mash in the low 150s for the entire hour, and the recipe calls for 153.