2021-06-25

27A - Historical - Pre-Prohibition Porter


BJCP Style: 27A (Historical) - Pre-Prohibition Porter

From the History section of the BJCP description: 

Commercially brewed in Philadelphia during the revolutionary period, the beer gained wide acceptance in the newly formed mid-Atlantic states, and was endorsed by President George Washington.

Making this reminded me of a mini Imperial Stout. I can't remember the last beer I made with so many different malts and ingredients. 

Full Recipe is on BrewersFriend but here's the TL;DR

  • 2021-6-25: Brew day
  • Malts: Maris Otter, Proximity Munich, Flaked Corn, Chocolate, c60, Brown Malt
  • Other stuff: Black Strap Molasses
  • Hops: Nugget and Cascade
  • Yeast: US-05
  • OG: 11.4°P; FG: 2.5°P; ABV: 4.7%
  • 2021-7-1 (+7): keg secondary
  • 2021-7-7 (+13): tapped
After 24 years in Denver the iconic beer bar Falling Rock is closing its doors forever this week. I went down and got a Trumer Pils sign. Had a Pliny the Elder. Saw Vinnie. You know, the usual. 

The Really Dark Stuff (happened to be what we had in the pantry)

200g ish. not a lot, but hopefully enough to add some character to the final beer

t h i c c c 

Yeah it's not a hoppy beer. But these are old and I needed to use them. 60g in the hopstand should add a bit of hop flavor without overpowering anything. 

Brew session beer is a... Session IPA: House IPA with Mosaic and Simcoe, 5% ABV

5 different grains all mixed up and ready to mill

Flaked corn because no one wants to do a cereal mash.

All together now

Mash temp

Floor Manager Steve having some supervised outside time

Mash complete. Looking dark.

Molasses in. Mmm, looks like used motor oil.

Cascade in for the hopstand. Chilled to <75°C and let these soak about 15 minutes. Fresh hops from the neighbor's garden get the hopstand because the AA% is unknown.  

OG 11.4°P

2021-6-25 (+1): Since I did a quick-chill of the wort to just under 40°C on brewday, it wasn't ready for yeast until the next morning when the temp got down to around 25°C. 

Going with the standard American ale yeast, US-05

Away we go

2021-7-9 (+15): I had planned to put this on nitro but it did a little more self-carbonating in keg-secondary than expected. So now it's a CO2 beer. Tasting surprisingly clean for all the various grains in there. Dry, with a subtle molasses finish. Quite enjoyable! 

2021-7-25 (+31): half pour. This is really cleaning up and it looks like most of the yeast and whatever other sediment has dropped out. Good 'portery' flavor, sweet but not too much with a nice molasses finish.