Porter Review

When the weather starts getting cooler, I always crave a nice porter. Dark and malty, they pair nicely with a wide array of dishes and as well as great after dinner beers to enjoy slowly. Last year's batch was well received, so rather than reinvent the wheel, I decided to brew it again.

Recipe
7.5 lbs Marris Otter
1.63 lbs Brown Malt
0.5 lbs Black Malt

1 oz Willamette at 60 min
0.5 oz Fuggles at 30 min

Yeast: WY1968 London ESB

OG: 1053
FG: 1019
Alcohol= 4.3%

Brewed 9/9/13
Kegged 10/9/19

As I mentioned in the post about the brew day, I was concerned with this particular yeast's penchant for  stalling out early. I tried rousing the yeast by swirling the carboy and I raised the fermentation temperature towards the end, but the yeast still under attenuated. With the different yeast last year, the beer started at about the same OG (1052) but finished way lower at 1005.  As a result, this is the lowest  alcohol beer we've ever made. I'm not mad about making a 4.3% beer as I've been gravitating towards more drinkable, lower alcohol beers lately, but I would rather plan on making a 4% beer than making one on accident.

Appearance: pours very dark, a thin cream-colored head that seems to be improving the more the keg ages

Aroma: dark malt, some chocolate and a little bit of roast

Taste: sweet, but not under attenuated sweet (which is good considering it finished at 1019); similar to the aroma with a slight touch of chocolate but a lithe more roastiness. Certainly not a dry finish, but again, not as thick as the final gravity would suggest

Overall: this one is decent; not as good as last year's version, but still a easy to drink, sessionable beer. It's hard to give it a good comparison to last year's version considering the final gravities are so different, but as a result, I wont be using this yeast again in the near future. I know a lot of people have good success with that strain, but I haven't had it myself yet. I will definitely make an English Porter again and use WY1318, but I am also wanting to do an American Porter after having a few good examples last month (Sierra Nevada and Cigar City).