HoppinAle — The Craft of Beer

Journal of Homebrewing and Craft Beer

Posts Tagged Porter

Back in the Swing

Aug 2

Posted by Jeff in Homebrewing | 1 Comment

The brewing drought is over. The Centennial IPA is bottled and ready – see review in upcoming post. I also have the Red Eye Rye and the Commuter ESB bottled and should be ready soon, and Nut-O-Brown in the primary. I will review and post recipes for these when they are ready for consumption.

August will be a month of many brews, as I will be starting to brew the IBVP – Imperial Bourbon Vanilla Porter for the holidays. A grand total of 4 batches of this bad boy. I also want to get the Belgian Dubbel I have been itching to make done this month to try and take advantage of the warmer temps for fermenting. Time and weather will tell if I can get 5 brews started in one month, with only 3 fermenters.

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Review – Bell’s Porter

Mar 29

Posted by Jeff in Beer, Reviews | No Comments

Why not launch my first beer review with a nice bold style…Porter. If you have never wandered from light lagers, you are missing out on a whole category of flavor. Afraid of “bitter” beer? No need. This porter is no more bitter than a cup of coffee – actually has some coffee/roasted qualities all its own. 5.6% alcohol/vol.

Bell's Porter 2010

Bell's Porter 2010

From Bell’s website:

A robust porter for all occasions. A blend of dark malts give this beer flavors of coffee and chocolate with subtle roasted notes. Gold medal winner in the Brown Porter category Brewers Association World Beer Cup 2008.

Appearance:

Rich Dark color, this poured with a tan head less than a half-inch and dissipated quite quickly.

Aroma:

Nice chocolate and coffee aromas.

Taste:

Coffee and Chocolate flavors hit you right at the beginning. Slight bitter ending – but no more than regular roast coffee would.

Mouthfeel:

Smooth, but a bit thin mouthfeel. Has a medium carbonation and a lasting dry finish.

Overall:

I think this is a good porter, a little sharp on the carbonation, and a little thinner than I want in a porter. Strong flavor is well balanced between coffee and chocolate flavors. I would buy it again, but may not be the first I would pick.

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The Step Up to All-Grain Brewing

Mar 8

Posted by Jeff in Homebrewing | No Comments

Imperial Bourbon Vanilla Porter

My first all-grain—Imperial Bourbon Vanilla Porter

After making 6 extract brews, I decided to jump up to all-grain brewing, and I went big. That first recipe was an imperial bourbon vanilla porter (Thanks Denny Conn – recipe can be found here).

I ordered the grains crushed, since I didn’t have a grain mill. My homemade mash-tun did pretty good. It kept my temperature for the entire hour. Not bad for a cooler on clearance for $20.00 and some parts from HD or Lowes.

The beer came out very good – but did come up short on efficiency – about 65% and the recipe was for 75%. I will be brewing this again this fall so it is ready for the holiday season – only this time I will make 10 gallons. I shared at the family events and it disappeared too quickly.

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