London Porter Clone - Dry Hop ??

[Spin]

I am about to move my London Porter Clone, which is my first all-grain attempt into a glass carboy to condition and clear for a couple of weeks.
Would it be a good idea to dry hop with my left over loose Fuggles hops?

I have always dry hopped my kits in the past with pleasing results. Would it just be better to bottle straight from the fermenter and leave in the bottles for a couple of months? Does the extra yeast in the bottles if it is not secondary conditioned help the beer to condition quicker?

Also, I've never made anything as heavy as a porter before. How long is it likely to need to condition? With it being my first all-grain brew I really want it to turn out good so it spurs me on to be more adventurous in future. Oh, and how much priming sugar, I was thinking 140g for my 25L brew?

Sorry for all the questions. Hopefully I'll be able to forward on the info to other up and coming brewing legends such as myself.

[likesbeer]

first of all did the recipe suggest dry hoping?
If not I dont think I would maybe something to try in the future.
Secondly I usually rack of my darker beers, porter/stout stile after fermenting and let them sit a week or two to condition up a bit not sure why but they come out nice.
Also for priming 140 seeems a lot and it might be a fizzzy, but I'm no expert I usually go for 80 ish which is plenty and can still be quite lively when pouring

Conditioning depends on how strong it is, I seem to remember reading on here somewhere for each 0.010 of the OG you give it a week to condition.
Most of my seem to be really good after about 4-6 weeks and get better and better. A recent really strong (8.5%) stout was bl**dy marvelous after about 3 months just before it got polished off

[andysmok]

Intersting i usualy just drink mine straight from a corney but i think that strong ales 6% and above should be poured from a bottle. So im going to have a bash at bottling to. I'm just confused as to when the add the priming sugar.
I beleve that racking into a secondary for a couple of weeks before bottling is prefered but surly your not ment to put your priming solution into the secondary and mix it in with your beer as this would stir up any yeast which would have sank to the bottom of the vessel making your beer cloudy again, or do you need this yeast back int the beer for secondary fermentaion in the bottle?

[Spin]

The recipe didn't ask for it. I suppose at least if I try it without dry hopping and see how it turns out then I can see what difference it makes if I try dry hopping in the future. I added extra chocolate malt to the recipe aswel so we'll see how that turns out. I did use the Beer Engine to make sure all worked out. Also I mashed at a ratio of 2L to 1kg of grain. I don't mind experimenting. But I am still a bit weary of making something that tastes nasty and wasting money.

I usually find that racking my beers to a secondary just helps to make them clearer in the bottle, with less yeast cake at the bottom of the bottle.

I am still a bit unsure if having extra yeast in the bottle helps the beer condition quicker or if it just adds more off flavours. Beers that I have just bottled direct from the primary do seem to condition quicker, or maybe I'm just imagining it. I also find it easier to rack and then bottle so I don't disturb all of the yeast in the primary when bottling.

Usually for my pale ales and lagers I have used 180g to 200g of priming sugar in a 25L batch. I think 180g is perhaps the perfect amount for lager type beers. As long as you serve them cold (I store mine in my spare fridge for at least 3 weeks prior to drinking usually). As this one is a porter I suppose I should really try maybe 80g as you say and see how it turns out. I've never tried that little priming sugar before. I would have imagined it would be very flat. Maybe ok for some ales. Do porters and stouts generally come out quite frothy anyway?

I also usually tend to leave mine for at least 2 months to condition and they are very drinkable then. I don't think I could wait much long before at least having a sample.

I think I'll stick to my usual 2 months to 3 months conditioning then. As per what you seem to also think. Great minds and all that.

[Spin]

andysmok

I think I need to start kegging my beers. I hate bottling. It takes ages and is so boring.

I do find that a secondary helps to clear the beer first before bottling. And it is also useful for dry hopping.

If you use a secondary. Just syphon the beer into a carboy. Add hops if you want. Then leave it for 2 to 3 weeks. Maybe longer, but 3 weeks is the longest I have done and I haven't added any more yeast prior to bottling.

When bottling, I boil up some water and add my priming sugar. I then syphon the beer into a bottling bucket with this sugar solution in it, which mixes it well. Then bottle from the bottling bucket.

[andysmok]

OK so it does seem like quite a hassle stelarising 3 vessels before bottling, i think i'll stick to kegging and maybe bottle a few drawn off from the keg when it is carbonated to show off the my mates.

[Spin]

Just noticed, your just arounf the corner from me likesbeer. I live in Bracknell.

[likesbeer]

Bracknell's not far at all I guess you shop in Farnborough!
Bottling is a pain in the *rs* all that fiddling with sterilising bottles, collecting them etc etc.
I generally put everything into a cheapo pressure barrell (would like to upgrade to cornies at some point) and perhaps bottle 3 or 4 at the same time so I have something to take to mates.
I think the amount of priming depends on style and how its served (bottle or barrel) I find that the darker beers from the barrel easily generate lots of head if to much priming.
But that might be partly due to the cr*py tap, (think I might have a look on flea bay for a couple of dalek tye taps I think you can fit to a pressure barrel OK)

Spin I agree about the secondary allowing more yeast to drop and therefore less in the bottom of the barrel or bottle which makes it easier to poor etc. Plus (and maybe only in my mind) it does seem to be a little less yeasty in flavour as well, which I put down to there being less floating around after a prolong settle.
As far as time to condition up I guess with less yeast around it will probably take a little longer for them to increase in numbers and eat up the remaining sugar however, if you leave for 4-6 weeks or even 2 months I dont think that it makes a lot of difference.
You wouldnt want a fizzy porter or stout really would you? If you put almost 200g I think you would have to serve cold from the fridge so as not to have a beer fountain on opening (I had some cider I did that was slightly over primed if I didnt serve ice cold the bottle did a good job of emptying itself vertically on opening ;o). As your bottling it perhaps you could do a little more than the 80g I use!
Think its going to be a bit of trial and error to see what you like.
From the barrel it builds a head like no ones business but from the bottle I get no head but there's still pleanty of fiz in it for me (I like flat beer ;o)

I would recomend going for kegging in the future as well, bottle almost 100 bottle of cider last year which was a major pain, going for the polli pin appproach if I do cider this year.

Andysmok, its a bit easier to bottle when your kegging before it carbonates up, its easy enough to put 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in a bottle and while syphoning into the keg do 2 or 3 bottles first to save using a bottling bucket etc.

[Spin]

Yeah I did shop in Farnborough originally but to be hounest I found the guy on the till very unhelpful, even rude. I knew pretty much what I wanted when I went in there but he was talking to me like a piece of dirt, like he didn't want my custom. I looked on their website and it says he is the brother of the owner. How do you find the Farnborough shop? I have ordered some stuff from them since but now I tend to use Hop & Grape. And I'll probably use Barley Bottom aswel as I keep hearing good things about them.

My concern with using a pressure barrel is how I would chill it. It would be a bit big for the fridge . Or do you just drink it warm . I suppose a cornie would be a good option. I'd have the same issue with chilling it though. Suppose I could put it in my chest freezer for half hour to an hour before serving.

I don't want my Porter to be too fizzy. It's just the styles I've made so far I've tried to make more like lagers. And if kept in the fridge for ages like I do, they pour really nice and fizzy with a nice head on them. I want a nice head on my Porter, but don't want it overly carbonated. I realise I shouldn't put as much priming sugar in as I have been doing, but I'm usure how much to put in. Suppose I should start low and add more next time if it isn't enough. I might try 140g and see how it turns out.

This is once it finishes fermenting. It's been 9 days so far and it's still going.

I like the avatar by the way. Makes me thirsty.

[Spin]

I suppose you must be right. I think I am just in the habit of dry hopping everything I do. Usually I make lagers, pale ales and IPA's though. These were from kits so I really found they benefitted from the extra hops.

I'm not really expecting it to come out tasting like london porter as I bumped up the amount of chocolate malt in the recipe as suggested by someone on here. I really like porters that have a chocolatey taste to them. Also, when I punched in all the details into Beer Engine, the colour came out too pale with the original recipe, so I added a bit more chocolate malt. I bumped it up to 300g.

[likesbeer]

I find tthe Farnborough shop fine, after driving in circles cus I forgot me map and couldnt remember where it was exactly.
Last time there were three serving one was the mother of one and they were both great, worked on complete autopilot for newbies going in and were helpful for me looking at yeasts.
Apartantly they are moving to new premises in a month or two.
I get mail order sometimes from them as well which has worked well, so no issues. Perhaps it was an off day or the one I havent had to deal with much is just grumpy (shrug)

I dont worry about cooling the keg as I dont reallly do an larger style beers and its never that warm under the stairs.

A couple of options get an el cheapo under the counter fridge without all the shelves etc a barrel will fit.
Or make up some sort of ice blanket not very practical as a longer term solution OK for one offs

[Spin]

I might give the Farnborough shop another go for my next brew. As I am now finishing work at 12pm every friday I should have more time for brewing.
Did they say where their new premises is going to be then? Farnborough still? Hopefully in Bracknell.
Yeah, I have to agree that they were very prompt with their mail deliveries.

[likesbeer]

only about 10 mins further down the road in Farnam I think.
They'll have an open day and anounce on their web sitte.
Sounds like its going to be much bigger, its a warehouse and the office at the front they'll change to a shop.
Worth ago it could just have been bad luck with one person as I've found them helpful and knowledgeable
Plus their prices are quite OK for most stuff

[booldawg]

I get alot from the Farnborough shop as its local(ish) and they always have what I want (apart from liquid yeasts). The guy behind the till can often come across as abrupt and unhelpful. I don't think he's a brewer and wouldnt be of much use if you didnt know exactly what you wanted. The old boy who worked there was really good. Not sure if he's retired now.

[The Home Brew Shop]

I get alot from the Farnborough shop as its local(ish) and they always have what I want (apart from liquid yeasts). The guy behind the till can often come across as abrupt and unhelpful. I don't think he's a brewer and wouldnt be of much use if you didnt know exactly what you wanted. The old boy who worked there was really good. Not sure if he's retired now.

Hi, we have had a few customer relation problems with my brother (paul), hes not as gifted in the shop like me (Adrian) mum( diane) or dad( danny)
but I have had words and been training him in the shop a bit, He is one of those chaps that think hes funny, but hes not, and does not communite well

The plan is when we move Mum will be back in the shop most of the time.

We do have the Wyeasts, but as our fridge broke we keep them down the celler, so you do need to ask for them
once we move we will have a new fridge for the wyeasts and finings

Sorry Spin if you had a bad experiance, he is improving he does know what hes talking about, but if not then feel free to ask for diane

Dad is still around normally doing the accounts ( we wont let him retire)

Adrian
the home brew shop, farnborough

PS hope you guys are coming along to our open day on the 5th December
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