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The Elder

Vital Statistics: Batch Number: 14 Style: Porter Brew Date: 31 January 2010 Original Gravity: 1.052 (12.86 °Plato) Final Gravity: 1.011 (2.81 °Plato) ABV: 5.4% ABW: 4.2% Calories per pint: 225 Estimated IBU (Rager): 0.0 Estimated IBU (Tinseth): 0.0 Mash Temperature: 154° Mash Efficiency: 83% Days in Primary: 27 (into secondary on 27 February 2010) Days in Secondary: 7 (kegged on 6 March 2010) Yeast Used: 1318 London Ale III Apparent Attenuation: 79% Real Attenuation: 64% Rating: 3.65 Entirely Consumed: Yes (finished 24 May 2010) Availability: 79 days	Recipe: 4 lb 2-row pale malt 4 lb wheat malt 12 oz chocolate malt 4 oz crystal 60° 8 oz dried elderberries @ 10 Wyeast 1318 - London Ale III
General Notes: First attempt at an un-hopped ale. Also, one of first two kegged beers.
Tasting Notes: Tasting notes taken 4/11/2010. Poured from growler into a pint glass. Filled growler from keg and chilled for about two hours before serving. Appearance: extremely dark murky brown/black color when held up to the light; a perfectly respectable porter hue. There is practically no head, though, probably due to carb loss when filling the growler. (4) Smell: nice chocolate and even some caramel aromas. The wheat adds a nice smoothing effect to the aromas. The elderberries add very little in the way of berry aroma, but do add a distinct dry tartness to the smell. Overall, I rather like the effect. (4) Taste: there are some nice smooth chocolate flavors that come up in the middle of the tasting, but the beginning and end are dominated by the quite tart but mildly flavored elderberry contribution. The tartness here works better in the aroma than in the flavor, but I rather do like the porter portion of the taste. (3.5) Mouthfeel: mouthfeel is actually rather silky smooth, though this sample is a bit undercarbonated. The berries also add an acidic astringency here which does not do anything to improve the feel. (3.5) Drinkability: good, but the high acidity does rub me a little bit the wrong way. I really want this to be more drinkable, but due to the acidity it really isn't. (3) Overall score 3.65 (B). Not too bad really, but I think the elderberries were the wrong way to go here. Maybe if I used them in the secondary rather than at the end of the boil, or if I used half as much (or a quarter) they could have had a good effect. One thing is certain, however: I definitely want to do another wheat porter with the same base malt as this recipe. I'll go very mild on the hops in that case, too, because this this would be as smooth as you please without the berries.
Hops Table Hop Variety Addition Time AAU AA% Quantity (g) Type IBU (Rager) IBU (Tinseth) Notes