eanmcnulty

Recipes 

I have a bunch of grains and hops left over from many different previous batches. I thought I would put them together to see what I could come up with. I came up with a Baltic Porter. I would like to brew this without buying anything else. There is a little bit more of these ingredients that I could add or change for this recipe. How do you think it will turn out?

3.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 41.10 %
2.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 34.25 %
0.50 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 6.85 %
0.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 6.85 %
0.30 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.11 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3.42 %
0.25 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 3.42 %
0.25 oz Saaz [6.80 %] (60 min) Hops 10.8 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, U.S Kent [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 14.3 IBU
0.50 oz Styrian Goldings [3.40 %] (60 min) Hops 10.8 IBU
SafAle US-05 yeast

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Mmm, beer.

Oldsock

Recipes 

How big is the batch?

It doesn't strike me as particularly Baltic (not much Munich, not a lager, chocolate instead of carafa, too much bitterness etc...), but it certainly sounds like it will be a solid beer American-English porter.

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eanmcnulty

Recipes 

Oh Right! I forgot. It is 2.5 gallons. that would make a big difference.

Okay, so not Baltic. I was just trying to find a "style" in which to set Beer Smith. Maybe I should lower the hop bitterness? Is this more of an American Imperial Porter?

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Mmm, beer.

eanmcnulty

Recipes 

I was at a home brew club meeting the other night where we were tasting many porters. I was talking to a guy, and he said he wasn't a "Style-Nazi." I thought I wasn't either, but I find myself really wanting to stick within the parameters of a style. I know I don't have to, but I keep messing with it. Must be some sort of O.C.D.

Imperial Porter is obviously not a BJCP style. What numbers would take a porter from Robust to Imperial? How high could the ABV go? What keeps it from becoming an Imperial Stout, the absence of roasted barley? Is Imperial Porter just a blind venture into the wildness beyond the style guidelines?

EDIT: I should have done a search. I didn't realize that the term "Imperial" was one of those debated terms. Please forgive my jump to post before searching.

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Mmm, beer.

devilishprune

Recipes 

I have had one imperial porter that I remember, and it was definitely different than an imperial stout. To me, the separation definitely came in the hoppiness of it: it was way hoppier than any RIS that I've had.

I think that the ABV can be as high as you want it, and you can call it whatever the heck that you want to.

Oldsock

Recipes 

BJCP puts the high end at 1.065 and 6.5% ABV. That seems like as good a point as any (although many would be up considerably higher than that).

I think it is more a difference of roast level, stouts tend to be more roast/char/espresso forward and porters are more smooth/mocha (of course this is a gross oversimplification). There are plenty of stouts that don’t use roasted barley, and some porters that do use it (so that isn’t a good indicator). .3 lbs of chocolate malt in 2.5 gallons will give you a pretty light roast, it might even come off more as an Imperial Brown than a porter. In comparison, my last 5 gallon batch of imperial stout had almost 2 lbs of dark malt (roasted, chocolate, carafe, black patent).

An imperial porter would have similar flavors and balance to a Robust porter, but with all of the flavors (as well as the body) being bigger (much like IPA and Imperial IPA). Porters have a wide range though, so you could go hoppy or malty with the balance.

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Check out The Mad Fermentationist for my adventures in fermentation (cheese, bread, ginger beer plant, and of course plenty of funky beer).

dcp27

Recipes 

I don't think it's that far off from a baltic porter. You definitely need more munich or vienna, but the IBUs are within range and ale yeast can be used as long as fermented at the lower end.
http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style12.php#1c