My Mr. Beer American Porter has been fermenting for two weeks, and when I took a sample, the color and flavor reminded me more of Newcastle Brown Ale than a Porter. Not bad, just a little weak. Will the flavor get richer as it conditions? I was thinking of batch priming with molasses, maple syrup, or brown sugar. With that add some flavor that I wouldn't get if I just used cane sugar or corn sugar?
My fermenting Porter tastes weak - suggestions?
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maynardtl8
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Mr. Beer seems to be notorious for sub-par kits. They are more like training aids for new brewers. Trying to prime with what you suggested MAY work but i see two potential problems. First, everything youve suggested has a much higher amount of unfermentables (corn sugar is almost all dextrose which is very fermentable) in it so you need to compensate by adding more to get the required amount of prime from it. Second, by having to compensate by adding more, you may run the risk of changing the beers flavor in a bad way. So look at it this way. You could either play it safe and have a weak beer, or take a chance and experiment, you may get lucky. I suggest the later. Sure theres risk involved, but its BREWING! Its fun to go out of your comfort zone and try new stuff. Let me know how it turns out. Good luck!
One of my first beers I had the same question, it was an amber that tasted really weak. Conditioning and carbonation go a long way in improving the balance in the beer. Let it go through the full process before making a final conclusion on how it turns out. Do take taste notes however and that will help you improve down the road if you decide to do it again.
