It's a damn fine looking beer and no mistaking. It tastes pretty good too, but not as good as it could and I have learned a number of lessons in the brewing of this porter; there is a limit to the amount of dark malt that can be added to a beer with the hope of making it black. Roasted barely or patent black malt will black it up a treat but you'll struggle with chocolate malt, even heroic amounts of it. I didn't want to use any of the more acrid malts so opted for brown and chocolate which accounted for around 15% of the grist. Despite this the roasted notes aren't what they might be and the beer is also a bit thin, much like home brew made with too much sugar. This is down to the the high percentage of dark malts which don't add much in the way of fermentable sugars and so left the beer a little thin with insufficient pale malt to pad the whole thing out. Next time I plan to ease back on the roasted malt, but add some black malt which is potent stuff and shouldn't be required in large amounts to darken the beer and add roasted character. I'm determined to crack porter brewing. I want a full beer with decent malt character complemented with a rich roast flavour and perhaps a hint of hops. Is that too much to ask?
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Dream Porter
It's a damn fine looking beer and no mistaking. It tastes pretty good too, but not as good as it could and I have learned a number of lessons in the brewing of this porter; there is a limit to the amount of dark malt that can be added to a beer with the hope of making it black. Roasted barely or patent black malt will black it up a treat but you'll struggle with chocolate malt, even heroic amounts of it. I didn't want to use any of the more acrid malts so opted for brown and chocolate which accounted for around 15% of the grist. Despite this the roasted notes aren't what they might be and the beer is also a bit thin, much like home brew made with too much sugar. This is down to the the high percentage of dark malts which don't add much in the way of fermentable sugars and so left the beer a little thin with insufficient pale malt to pad the whole thing out. Next time I plan to ease back on the roasted malt, but add some black malt which is potent stuff and shouldn't be required in large amounts to darken the beer and add roasted character. I'm determined to crack porter brewing. I want a full beer with decent malt character complemented with a rich roast flavour and perhaps a hint of hops. Is that too much to ask?
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Thom, have you ever tried dehusked black malt (like Carafa from Weyermann)? I got some with the intention of making a black IPA (an idea I discussed with the Billings almost a year ago), figuring that it would blacken the hell out of the beer and add a more gentle roastiness without the acridness. I still haven't used the stuff. Might be good in a porter though.
If you're at the B&C tasting you'll get to try my "His Master's Vice" which was meant to be a take on Clotworthy, but is more like a bitter porter. Would be interested in your thoughts on it.
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