I am looking to make a robust/baltic porter. I don't want chocolate to dominate the flavor. I would like it to be toasty, roasty, creamy, smooth, and semi-sweet. I would also like to add hints of molasses, but I am not sure on the quantity. Here is what I have so far:
Also I am not set on a hopping schedule either...any suggestion would be appreciated. I am not going for a hoppy tasting hoppy smelling beer.
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On Deck:nothing :( Primary: Unordinary Bitter Secondary: India Brown Ale Secondary: empty Bottle conditioning: Honey APA Housing: Irish stout, Nick's Old Ale, Nick's Cream Ale, Imperial chocolate stout, Nick's SNPA, Pecan Ale, Nick's version of the VCCA, Nick's First Porter, Serpentine Scotch Ale, Apfelwein
On Deck:nothing :( Primary: Unordinary Bitter Secondary: India Brown Ale Secondary: empty Bottle conditioning: Honey APA Housing: Irish stout, Nick's Old Ale, Nick's Cream Ale, Imperial chocolate stout, Nick's SNPA, Pecan Ale, Nick's version of the VCCA, Nick's First Porter, Serpentine Scotch Ale, Apfelwein
Your recipe seems a bit overly complex. I'd pick one type of crystal and stick with that. I'd also up the chocolate malt a bit, especially since you have very little roast barley and no black patent. I've never really used molasses, so I can't speak to that, but I'd reccommend leaving it out until you brew a simple recipe you like. Once you have a simple base recipe you know works, you can start adding other ingredients. As far as hops, I use simcoe (bittering) and perle (flavor and aroma). The simcoe bitterness really blends well with the roasty flavors and balances maltiness without being overpowering.
Another suggestion for keeping it simple. Maybe 80% 2-row with some 10% chocolate and 5-7% crystal (only one type, maybe mid-range 60-80), and 2-3% black patent. I think that roast barley should be saved for stouts, and special b might not be what you are looking for in a porter. It is more of a raisiny flavor, and is amazing in Belgians. For hops, I have heard Galena is great with only a 60 min bittering addition to achieve the IBUs you want. The biscuit and munich will give it a little more maltiness, but it might be overshadowed by all the roasted grains, anyways. Just my .02
Jason
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Primary 1: ESB
Primary 2: Empty
Secondary 1: Empty
Secondary 2: Empty
Secondary 3: Empty
Bottled: Nothing!
Up next: Common ESB, porter, probably some Belgian
sorry missed the hoppy tasting hoppy smelling beer part...I would still bitter with somethign like galena or another high AA hop. You could then flavor and/or aroma with something like Fuggles or EKG, if you can find them. Still, roasty grains will overpower a good amount of the hop flavor, so don't waste hard to find and/or expensive hops in a porter
Jason
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Primary 1: ESB
Primary 2: Empty
Secondary 1: Empty
Secondary 2: Empty
Secondary 3: Empty
Bottled: Nothing!
Up next: Common ESB, porter, probably some Belgian
Thanks for the help so far guys...I appreciate it, and any more comments are DEFINITELY welcome!
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On Deck:nothing :( Primary: Unordinary Bitter Secondary: India Brown Ale Secondary: empty Bottle conditioning: Honey APA Housing: Irish stout, Nick's Old Ale, Nick's Cream Ale, Imperial chocolate stout, Nick's SNPA, Pecan Ale, Nick's version of the VCCA, Nick's First Porter, Serpentine Scotch Ale, Apfelwein
Drop the mollasses, bump the Special B to a half-pound. Actually, I would probably cut out about half the speciality malts; there's a fine line between complex and muddy. Special B will add some real nice, complex, dark-fruity notes that should be nice. It might be a little bit light in terms of the total roasted grains.
Drop the mollasses, bump the Special B to a half-pound. Actually, I would probably cut out about half the speciality malts; there's a fine line between complex and muddy. Special B will add some real nice, complex, dark-fruity notes that should be nice. It might be a little bit light in terms of the total roasted grains.
Will adding too much Special B overpower the roasted smoothness?
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On Deck:nothing :( Primary: Unordinary Bitter Secondary: India Brown Ale Secondary: empty Bottle conditioning: Honey APA Housing: Irish stout, Nick's Old Ale, Nick's Cream Ale, Imperial chocolate stout, Nick's SNPA, Pecan Ale, Nick's version of the VCCA, Nick's First Porter, Serpentine Scotch Ale, Apfelwein
Special B will give it a dark, fruity complexity; raisens, plums, those kinds of flavors. A dark, kinda bittersweet maltiness. It's potent, you don't need much more than a half-pound. It should be pretty complementary to the roast flavors.
I'm with the_bird. Up the Special_B and Chocolate (or use some Black Patent), drop the crystal_120 (special_B is a dark crystal) and one of the medium crystals (they are pretty similar any ways). Just using a bittering addition is fine for a good stout or porter so thats a reasonable plan. Your original didn't look like it had enough roasted malts to be a porter.
Recipe critique: Complex Baltic Porter
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