Porter needs extended aging like a stout?

[Teufelhunde]

I am a hop head, so don't usually brew dark beers. I have made a couple of black IPA's and a stout in the past. With those, I found that the collective was correct in that they will improve with a longer conditioning time than, let's say a pale ale, or IPA.

I am planning on brewing a honey porter in the near future. Will I need to plan for extended conditioning time for it as well?

TIA

Lon

 

[z-bob]

I just found a 6-pack of porter that I bottled in January. Not particularly hoppy, and no flameout or dry hops. It's not nearly as good as it was in March; there's nothing specifically wrong with it, just the taste is gone. Perhaps it was oxidation from air that diffused in through the plastic bottles. But it seemed more like it's over-attenuated now but without more fizz. I used Nottingham yeast.

 

[Protos]

Historically, many English Porters were aged for extended times, like half a year or a full year (so called Keeping Porters, in contrast to Running Porters drunk fresh). With the long aging in mind, they often had insane hopping rates, higher than most of the modern AmIPAs.
Last year I thoroughfully recreated a 1855 Porter recipe (70IBU) and it's a year old now. It's much better than my "Running Porters". The hops are now probably half as bitter as they were when the beer was fresh. So, I have now a great aged Porter of, tastewise, 35-40IBUs which is right in the ballpark for the style.
Generally, I'd say aging had always benefitted my Porters, whether Keeping or Running. It somehow mellows out the rough ashy/burnt edges which a liberal use of roasted malts might cause.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

I have a stout fermenting right now that after packaging will be aged for 5-6 months in the keg before serving.
I naturally carb all my kegged beer and have my serving system set up as to emulate a cask system, so all my "mild" beers get about a month of conditioning/maturing before serving.
But my modus operandi for normal strenght stouts and porters (~1.050-65 range) is to bitter at a 0.7 bu:gu, use about 1.5g/L late hops split evenly between 20 min until end of boil and chucked in the fermenter with the yeast and then aging for about 6 months.
Although I brew mostly historically inspired stouts/porters with a lot, in fact what modern dogma would call too much, roasted malts so the ageing is necessary now just as back then to smooth out the flavours.

 

[tracer bullet]

It's not nearly as good as it was in March; there's nothing specifically wrong with it, just the taste is gone.

Just agreeing with this, or that at least it can happen. Basically - time changes things. If it changes for the better depends, at least partially, on the recipe.

If a lot of dark malts are used, time probably benefits. If brown and lighter malts are used, and perhaps we want to taste some of what the yeast or hops offered, we should consider not waiting too long.

 

[hottpeper13]

I've been brewing my black beers with different mash pH's and have come to the conclusion that light beers are crisp and clean between 4.9 and 5.2, amber , 5.2-5.4, black 5.5-5.6.
When the black ones were done under 5.5 they took 6 months or more to mellow,especially the RIS high alcohol ones. I was trying to get squid ink black and that one was 5.2 and took a year to come together(8%).

Try it,you'll thank me later. Don't go over 5.6!!!

 

[kevin58]

Yes, age your porter. It will get better.

 

[Bramling Cross]

While the recipe and gravity play a big part, I'll argue that your carbonation level and cellarmanship play an equally big, if not bigger role.

Writer's Preemptive Strike: It's been a while since I was in my 20's, so I seldom brew above 1.055 and very rarely cross the 1.060 threshold. I happily acknowledge that bigger beers do require more conditioning.

That said, I used to subscribe to the notion that a porter, especially a porter with a decent dose of brown malt, required at least a month to relax, better two. It used to drive me nuts how I would consistently keg a beautiful porter and then it would become quite unpleasant for a week, then gradually improve. It made no sense.

Eventually, while chasing the ideal bitter, I learned to keep my UK ales off the gas and barely carbonated. At serving time, I hit them with enough gas to liven them up as they pour, then immediately dumped the gas, via the PRV, once I'd finished the session. UK beers have a reputation for being warm and flat for a reason--they taste better that way because they're designed to taste good when served warm and flat.

Wow, did that make a difference with porters! I quickly learned that brown malt wasn't, in fact, a surly malt that needed extended aging to chill out. Rather, I had just been hitting a malt that will not tolerate any kind of carbonic bite with too much gas. With this new method of cellarmanship, I'm able to go grain to glass within a week and my porters are as well-behaved as any other UK ale.

This technique works equally well with N. American stouts/porters, except for the fact that you're serving a lot colder.

Also, remember that you want your beers that rely upon roasted malts to mash at pH 5.5+. I've found it makes a real difference.

That's what I've learned about this. I hope you found it useful.

 

[Teufelhunde]

I had just been hitting a malt that will not tolerate any kind of carbonic bite with too much gas.

I bottle, so I'm thinking the only thing I can do about this is to keep my priming sugar low. Brewfather calls for 1.8-2.4 volumes of CO2 for the style, so I should likely prime for the bottom end of the range....

 

[Protos]

Exactly, bottom end. English ales weren't designed to take a lot of gas. No kegs on the Island, historically. Just hand pumped systems and also bottles, gassed very modestly by the modern standards. 2v is the standard, and 1.8v is even better.

 

[TheMadKing]

While the recipe and gravity play a big part, I'll argue that your carbonation level and cellarmanship play an equally big, if not bigger role.

Writer's Preemptive Strike: It's been a while since I was in my 20's, so I seldom brew above 1.055 and very rarely cross the 1.060 threshold. I happily acknowledge that bigger beers do require more conditioning.

That said, I used to subscribe to the notion that a porter, especially a porter with a decent dose of brown malt, required at least a month to relax, better two. It used to drive me nuts how I would consistently keg a beautiful porter and then it would become quite unpleasant for a week, then gradually improve. It made no sense.

Eventually, while chasing the ideal bitter, I learned to keep my UK ales off the gas and barely carbonated. At serving time, I hit them with enough gas to liven them up as they pour, then immediately dumped the gas, via the PRV, once I'd finished the session. UK beers have a reputation for being warm and flat for a reason--they taste better that way because they're designed to taste good when served warm and flat.

Wow, did that make a difference with porters! I quickly learned that brown malt wasn't, in fact, a surly malt that needed extended aging to chill out. Rather, I had just been hitting a malt that will not tolerate any kind of carbonic bite with too much gas. With this new method of cellarmanship, I'm able to go grain to glass within a week and my porters are as well-behaved as any other UK ale.

This technique works equally well with N. American stouts/porters, except for the fact that you're serving a lot colder.

Also, remember that you want your beers that rely upon roasted malts to mash at pH 5.5+. I've found it makes a real difference.

That's what I've learned about this. I hope you found it useful.

Fully agree with all of this!

In my experience porters tend to be at peak flavor at 6-10 weeks in the keg and I prefer to only carbonate my American porters to about 2 vols instead of 2.5

I'll also add that lower carbonation tends to increase the richness of the beers texture, whereas a more highly carbonated beer tends to feel brighter and lighter.

The flip side is that roast and brown malts dull from oxidation readily. So it's Important to minimize the cold side oxygen with these beers.

So in short OP, yes I advocate for aging a porter for a few weeks with lower carbonation and only if you're careful about oxygen ingress. If you don't feel comfortable with your oxygen control I would recommend drinking it as soon as maybe because it will just get dull the longer it sits

 

[ncbrewer]

A lot of good recos about aging. But I suggest trying some fairly fresh to see which you like better. Maybe it's just me, but I find that with some styles that are normally better aged, I prefer them fairly fresh. Something about the "in your face" impression.
(It probably really is just me.)

 

[Teufelhunde]

A lot of good recos about aging. But I suggest trying some fairly fresh to see which you like better. Maybe it's just me, but I find that with some styles that are normally better aged, I prefer them fairly fresh. Something about the "in your face" impression.
(It probably really is just me.)

Yeah, I always try a bottle at 5-7 days just to make sure it is carbonating, plus I can't wait to try it!