Category Archives: porter

Citation Porter Bottled

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After one month in the secondary fermenter, I bottled my Citation Porter on January 5. Final gravity was 1.014; with a starting gravity of 1.054, this calculates out to 5.3% abv. I primed the beer with 1/2 cup corn sugar dissolved in 2 cups of boiling water. This is a little less than I normally do, but some of my other batches have been more carbonated than I like. Plus, porters are supposed to be on the low end of carbonation.

The final yield was 25 12-oz. bottles, 10 18-oz. bottles, and 5 22-oz bottles. At bottling, the flavor was rich and toasty, pretty close to what I had expected. I can’t wait to try this one!

Citation Porter Update

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Tonight I transferred the Citation Porter over to the secondary fermenter, in which I will leave it for about 9-10 days before bottling (it was in the primary for 9 days). At 66°, it had an s.g. of 1.014; this translates to 1.014 s.g. at 60°, so no real difference there. Down from an o.g. of 1.054, I am now at 5.3% abv.

The beer is really nice; a clean taste (no overly bitter aftertaste or any off flavors), and you can really taste the roasted notes from the roasted barley coming through.

Citation Porter

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It’s time for the 2013-2014 brewing season! My last few batches of the 2012-2013 tended on the lighter side (English-style bitters, wheat beers, etc.), so I have a hankering to do some porters and stouts. I rather like the Edmund Fitzgerald Porter from Great Lakes Brewing, so I found a clone recipe and modified that. The first batch is called….Citation Porter! So named because I brewed it on the night when I saw the first two citations on Google Scholar for a paper I published earlier this year. Now will this new batch increase the impact factor of my brewery?

Citation Porter

  • 12 oz. 60°L crystal malt
  • 8 oz. chocolate malt
  • 8 oz. roasted barley
  • 3 lbs. amber dry malt extract
  • 3 lbs. light dry malt extract
  • 1 oz. Northern Brewer pellet hops (9.9% alpha acid, __ beta acid)
  • 0.5 oz. Cascade whole hops (estimated 5.5% alpha acid)
  • 1 tsp. Irish moss
  • 0.5 oz. Cascade whole hops (estimated 5.5% alpha acid)
  • 1 vial White Labs London Ale Yeast #WLP013 (35 mL)

Directions

  • Steep crystal malt, chocolate malt, and roasted barley in 5 quarts of water at 154° for 45 minutes. Sparge with 2 quarts water. This is a smaller steeping volume than I normally do, but I saw a recommendation indicating that this would reduce tannin leaching (i.e., use a maximum of 3 quarts water per pound of grains). Based on the taste of the final wort, I am inclined to agree. 
  • Top up brew pot to 4 gallons, bring to a boil and add dry malt extract.
  • Once wort is boiling, add Northern Brewer hops.
  • At the 30 minute mark (post-boil), add 0.5 oz. Cascade whole hops.
  • At the 50 minute mark, add 1 tsp. Irish moss
  • At the 60 minute mark, turn off the heat and add the final 0.5 oz. of Cascade whole hops
  • Coil, transfer into primary fermenter (leaving behind most of the trub), (3 gallons into primary) and top up to 5 gallons.
  • Starting gravity was 1.053 at 74°, corrected to 1.054 at 60°. This is spot-on with what Beer Smith 2 calculated for the recipe.
  • Starting temperature, when I pitched the yeast, was 74°.

The wort is quite delicious, suggesting a nice final product is around the corner.

Vanilla Voay Porter Update

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My vanilla porter has gone through the first stage of fermentation, and after one week I have now transferred it into a glass carboy for secondary fermentation. At the time of transfer, the gravity was 1.024, down from the starting gravity of 1.056. I expect that the gravity will go down a little more over the next two weeks before bottling.

The beer is nicely flavored, with no off character that I can detect. Dark color (see photo at left), lighter body, and heading towards the direction of a very drinkable porter. Interestingly, the yeast strain I used (White Labs California V ale yeast) produced a mild sulfurous aroma in the early stages of fermentation. I have read elsewhere that this is a normal characteristic for that strain, so I didn’t worry about that too much. It’s not detectable on tasting, either.

I also started some vanilla beans in vodka, to make an extract for the porter. At the recommendation of my brewing colleague Greg, I split the pods, scraped the seeds into the vodka, and then cut the pods up and threw them in too. In one week, I plan to add them to the secondary along with the rest of the beer.

Vanilla Voay Porter, in the secondary fermenter