Advice on Baltic Porter

[Stonga]

Hi,

On my 4th BIAB now and getting the technique down. I'm in Norway and the temperature in the shed is great for a lager and I have one in secondary now.

I saved a lot of the yeast and and thinking about doing a Baltic Porter to help me through the horrible weather here. That's part of the reason for the style right!?!?!

The BJCP style guide is here:
http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style12.php#1c

Keywords seem to be dark but not black, toasty but not burnt, complex fruits, high OG, little/no hop aroma.

So the recipe for a 5 gallon brew I'm dreaming up is as follows:

4 kg Vienna
3 kg Munich Malt 1
0.3 kg Special B
0.3 kg Pale Chocolate

1 hour mash @ 68C/154F

10g of Polaris (approx 20% AA) at 60 mins.

WLP830 (German Lager Yeast) from lager recipe made into a big starter

Appreciate any feedback or comments from people that have tried this before.

Cheers

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

Looks good to me. IBUs are toward the lower end for the style according to Beersmith. (These statements are related).

 

[Stonga]

I'm a little cautious with the Polaris. Just used it in a lager and samples of it are very bitter. Not sure that the AA is quoted correctly.

 

[Stonga]

Also, since this is a bigger beer, I'm going to try a parti-gyle.

I have tried to do the numbers and plan it but I'm just going to try it and WING IT! Probably going to end up with a brown/amber ale. Planning on using WLP001 that i have in the fridge and some hops that were left over from other brews.

If it doesn't work the total cost will be time, some energy and maybe a bit of DME to get the OG right.

So... the plan is to mash the grain for the BIAB Baltic Porter, let the bag drain for a few mins, then transfer the grain bag to a fermenter with about 10L of 70C water in.

Let it sit for an hour while I'm boiling the Baltc Porter, check the gravity, add DME if required, then transfer to the boil kettle once the Baltic Porter is in another fermenter. I might even sieve out the trub (about 6L is normally in the bottom of the kettle) and dump it into the Brown Ale too to increase the gravity.

This is a bit of a brain dump but any comments appreciated.

 

[Mainer]

I brewed my first Baltic Porter (just my second beer) this weekend. I think I may have overhopped a little, but my understanding is that it's a forgiving enough style to allow for plenty of variation. I did 1oz Cluster at 60, .5oz Mt. Hood at 15, and .5oz Mt. Hood at flameout. I also did 2g star anise and 2g cardamom pods at 5.

 

[Stonga]

Interested to know how the spices work out. I did a spiced Christmas beer and the flavours didn't really work. I have a few bottles left and it just tastes a bit confused. Going to keep to hops, yeast, water and grain for a while.

 

[JKaranka]

Recipe looks good. I'd consider removing the Special B and using Dark Munich to bring up the colour. If it's still low, a tad of carafa or very sparing tad of patent could be used to top up.

Malty, maybe fruity, but rarely roasty

Also, if you are keeping IBU low make sure it finishes dry enough to not be too sweet. Quite a balancing act.

 

[Bosh]

For toasty maybe try carabrown, it`s not a crystal malt but rather a more roasted biscuit malt or a very light brown malt bepending on how you look at it.

 

[JKaranka]

For toasty maybe try carabrown, it`s not a crystal malt but rather a more roasted biscuit malt or a very light brown malt bepending on how you look at it.

Completely agree. I'm a bit bored of bringing up brown malt (I do every time that there's porter in question and often with stout as well). Either carabrown or brown malt in a good generous helping (~2lb+) are a great addition to anything where you want plenty of complex dark malt character and dextrins, while at the same time falling short of having roast character. It has a real cake / malt loaf character to it with hints of cocoa and coffee. Could be a bit overkill for Baltic porter if you go for the very clean type, but sure it would be tasty.

 

[Stonga]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to have to try a few iterations here...will keep you posted. I like to try and keep the first brew simple and then add things to the mix on the second go round. It is cold here in Norway for another few months (last summer the temp barely got above 10C) so my shed is ideal for lager yeasts and ideal weather for this strong fruity style.

 

[Mainer]

I wanted a little toasty/smoky flavor in mine, so I put 6 oz of unnamed american smoked malt in the steep. (Unnamed because a buddy gave it to me. He got it for a rauch he was making but decided to go with a smoked Munich instead. He couldn't remember what it was, but his LHBS is run by a Tea-Partier who will only sell American malts.) I'm hoping the smoke will balance the spices.