If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time you may be wondering what happened with my homebrew. You can read more about the brewing/ bottling process here. I haven't talked about my homebrew since I made the macaroni dish using the smoked porter and Stone Arrogant Bastard. There's a reason the homebrewing discussion has been back burnered. The first time I tried the beer, when it was used in the macaroni, it was very flat. The carbonation was almost nonexistent. I decided to let the beer sit for another few weeks to let the yeast build up a bit more carbonation. The second time I tried it the carbonation problem had been fixed but I had discovered a new problem. The beer had an overpowering yeasty flavor. I'm not sure if I was just too rough with the bottles, stirring up the yeast before drinking, or if I just poured too vigorously. I decided to put another bottle in the fridge, wait, and then when the time came to drink it, pour it extremely carefully, trying as best I could to keep all of the yeast at the bottom of the bottle. OK, let's see if my beer is any good. To the beer!
The smoked porter pours a very deep brown with faint reddish highlights. It's topped by a thick bubbly layer of tan colored head. Leaving the beer to carbonate for a few more weeks evidently did the trick for carbonation!
The main aroma's here are roasty dark malt. A bit smoky as well. There's some boozy aromas as well. I forgot to take gravity readings while brewing this beer so I have no idea what the ABV is.
Unfortunately I'm still getting some of that yeastiness as well.
Alright. Let's start with the good. The beer tastes better this time that it has any of the other times that I'e tried it. It's medium bodied. The roasty, smoky coffee-like malt flavors are there and it finishes on a bitter crisp note, but it's still obscured by this really yeasty flavor.
There's a decent porter in here somewhere but as disappointed as I am to admit it, this beer just isn't very good. I'm not sure where I went wrong with this one. If I have any readers who are homebrewers and you have any idea of what may have caused this let me know in the comments section.
Don't worry though, this hasn't discouraged me from homebrewing. If anything, it's made me more determined to try again and get it right. So stay tuned. I'm thinking an IPA or a pale next time.
HD
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