What you see here is the first opened bottle of the porter and one of the last few β1. As well it should be, the porter is the darker of the two. I could have been more patient and meticulous in the staging of this photograph, but I opted to highlight a flaw in β1: there's more head than beer. I'm not sure why, but some bottles of β1 are nearly impossible to pour or drink because of the absurd level of carbonation. The wild range of carbonation doesn't seem to affect the taste, but it certainly does impact the practicality of consuming the beer. All the same, I don't understand what would have caused inconsistent carbonation. Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?
As to the porter, on first sip, it's wonderful. Hmmm. Second sip: still wonderful. Hmmm-mmmm. Gulp. Wonderful!
More specifically, it has lovely body, all kinds of complexity of flavour (chocolate and chili pepper are dominant on my palate right now,) a nice hop/malt balance and a simply professional aroma. In short, it is everything a porter should be. It should also be noted that this is the first homebrew that both my husband and I have liked. That in itself is an accomplishment.
If I can ever get a day off, I'll be brewing my Peter Cotton Ale. (Hippity HOPitty, Easter's on it's way...) I'm already about a week behind where I wanted to be, but the weather is still ridiculously cold too. So I figure if I don't crank out the Easter brew by Easter, it's okay because the weather won't be acting like spring by then anyway. I have all the ingredients and it'll get done when it gets done. In the meantime, I have porter of the gods!
The head, in my experience, depends greatly upon the beer. Seeing this picture, I'm reminded of the Scottish ale that I made several years ago. The joke about it's commercial progenitor is that you pour your second round at the same time as you are served your first round, so that the thing has time to settle.
ReplyDeleteIt's a natural consequence of the style of beer. It has a H. U. G. E. head on it, and it takes its sweet time settling down. Which is fine, because ales should be enjoyed at a slightly warmer temperature than Americans typically have their beer, in any event. It actually amused me to discover that the much-maligned practice of the English, serving "warm" beer, is actually correct for the style.
Goes to show how much we really know, I guess. :)
Also, to answer your question about carbonation...it depends on your method. Did you use priming tabs in each bottle, or did you mix in extra sugar to the batch just prior to bottling. I have done both and found that the tabs are more reliable, if you want my opinion.
ReplyDeleteOn an unrelated note: Porter...and chili pepper? How exactly did that get in there?
The strange thing about the head on this particular batch was that it wasn't at all consistent. Some bottles would be average ale frothy, and some bottles would be Belgian farmhouse ale frothy. Some of them basically exploded on you, and some were just fine. I did mix the extra sugar just prior to bottling, and perhaps I just didn't mix it too well that time. The sugar mixing worked just fine on the porter.
ReplyDeleteThe recipe mentioned dried chili pepper as an optional ingredient, so I threw a few of those in along with some crushed juniper berries, ginger, chocolate malts and probably some other stuff I've since forgotten. The end result is the flavor of the pepper without the heat and lots of other interesting undertones. Actually, I didn't taste the chili until about the second half of the bottle, which was cool. I like the mutating flavor effect.
And I've never heard of these priming tabs. More reliable you say? Hmmm...