Batch #10-11: Porter

Summary: This will be a repeat of last year’s Porter recipe, which was killer good !!

The original yeast for this recipe was a London Ale from White Labs.  It died before it could make the yeast starter.  So this second attempt is using Munton & Fison Gold dry yeast, started with a 5oz pack of dry malt for about 18-20 hours.

Wed 12/7 @ 11:00PM — Yeast starter created with the the dry yeast.

Thu 12/8 @10:00PM — Brewing went very well.  No boilovers, and the yeast was very active when it was pitched.  Fermentation this time is using the wick method again.  This is a very reliable way of keeping the wort at least 5 degrees below room temperature.  I love it.

As a side note: I attempted to make a grain bread from the spent grains, using a recipe I found here: http://www.realbeer.com/discussions/showthread.php?threadid=11228.  The result was more like a brownie texture, than fluffy bread.  Too bad: the texture really detracted from the taste, which was delicious.  Since this batch already had one yeast failure, it makes sense that this trend would continue.    I will attempt this again with the next batch of beer I make, and hopefully it will come out better.

Thu 12/15 @8:00PM — Yield was 1x 2L Growler, 2x 1L snap-tops, and 45x 12oz bottles. The wort had a wonderful aroma and smoothness. For a the priming sugar, I boiled 1/4 cup of corn sugar in 1/2 cup of water for 5 minutes, then cooled it to 80 degrees.

Thu 1/12/2012 @ 10:00 PM — I tried a bottle at the end of one week, and another bottle at the end of two weeks.  Both times I was worried since there was almost no pressure released when the cap was pulled.  And the pour in the glass was producing almost no head.  I was not feeling good.  Nonetheless, the taste was great.  I just wanted a good head on the beer to present a good feeling on the mouth and the lips.

Today, I poured two bottles after the full four weeks had passed for conditioning.  and I was so happy.  Each bottle had a good amount of pressure released, and made about 1 to 1.5 inches of head in the glass after it was poured.  The overall taste and presentation is fantastic and as good as last year’s batch.

I am so relieved and happy that my favorite beer style (porter) came out right.