At the beginning of the year I brewed a porter. I went to a LHBS with no idea of what I was wanting to brew and just kinda winged it. I grabbed this and that, but tried to keep it simple. When the beer was young, I really liked it. All the flavors were really subtle and it wasn’t too dark. But as it matured a couple more months, it became a completely different beast. Much more robust. Roastier. Completely black. And the hops really started showing themselves. And I fell in love. But it’s a love/hate relationship. This beer is fantastic, but only on days when I’m in the mood for it’s fury. When I’m not, it is just too much.
NDBrew Porter:
- 6 lbs Dark LME
- 1 lbs Dark DME
- .5 lbs Chocolate Malt
- .5 lbs Crystal 120
- .5 oz Columbus pellets (60 min)
- 1 oz Cascade pellets (5 min)
I made a 2L starter with half of the DME and pitched the whole thing. The yeast was the problem with this brew. I picked up a vial of White Labs WLP 001 and pitched it in the starter. After 18 hours I had no activity (after looking at the vial, it was past the exp date by about 2 months). After briefly panicking I remember I had a brown ale downstairs with some Wyeast 1028 in a secondary. So I racked the brown off the cake and added some of the 1028 to my starter with the 001 still in it. I went about the brew day trying not to worry about it. When it was time to pitch, the starter was going crazy. So I can’t really tell you what yeast to use. I’m sure there was a contribution by some of the 001 but the majority of the ferment was done by the 1028. Either way, this is a great beer, and I’m sure that picking either one of the yeast will still yield a very drinkable brew.
Cheers!
