Beer Tasting: Live Long & Porter

In mid-April, roughly two months after brewing, I did a formal tasting of Live Long & Porter.

• The Basics
• Starting gravity = 1.050; final gravity =  1.016; abv = 4.5%; estimated IBU = 30
• Aroma
• Coffee and a hint of chocolate. Nice.
• Appearance
• Creamy, tan-colored head, very persistent. Dark brown beer with good clarity.
• Flavor
• Chocolate, coffee; some maltiness behind it. Finish a little more bitter than perhaps I like.
• Mouthfeel
• Carbonation is good, but body is pretty weak.
• Would I brew this again?
• Probably not in this form; it's a good enough beer (and the aroma absolutely nails what I love in a porter), but the body is too thin, which really detracts from the overall beer. For the next iteration, I would probably add a bit more carapils and crystal malt, as well as perhaps some flaked oats.
• Overall rating: 
• 5.5/10

Live Long and Porter - Kegged

Today, Stardate 68649.4, I kegged Live Long and Porter. This beer had been fermenting for nine days, with some nice and vigorous yeast action along the way.

Final gravity was 1.016, down from a starting gravity of 1.050. This works out as 4.5% abv. The slightly higher final gravity is probably due to the warm mash temp (155°), which I'm guessing left the wort a little less fermentable. Because this is a porter, I don't consider the extra body a tragedy.

The final product is a beautiful chocolate brown. In addition to a full 5 gallon keg, I also got one 22-oz. bottle. I am carbonating that with 2 carbonation drops (per the dosage instructions on the package). Because there is a little bit of "sludge", and the bottling process wasn't terribly tidy (will have to work on that for the next batch), I'm going to consume the bottled beer as soon as it is carbonated. The keg is carbonating under my usual settings for the keezer, ~13.5 psi at 42°, or ~2.5 volumes of CO2.

Live Long And Porter Update

The "Live Long And Porter" is fermenting vigorously, barely 40 hours after pitching the yeast. Many of the online reviews for WLP051 (California Ale V yeast from White Labs) noted a strong sulfur aroma during fermentation; they weren't kidding! It's a genuine rotten eggs smell in the chamber. We're fermenting along at between 66° and 68°; another week, and it's into the keg with this one!