Baltic Porter Recipe with limited ingredients

[elgrindio]

I'm hoping you guys can critique this recipe for me. I was envisioning a really strong/big bodied Porter, with Caraaroma flavors. After investigating I realized that what I was imagining was (close to?) a Baltic Porter.

I live in South America, so that ingredients you see in my recipe are the ones I have. They still don't have local homebrew supply stores here yet. Therefore any suggestions should take that into account (i.e.,don't tell me to add .5lb of black patent! ;-)

Recipe for 5gal batch:

11lb Weyermann Pale Ale
8oz. Caramunich 1
10oz Caraaroma
1lb Carafa 1
2lb Table sugar/Raw cane sugar

Yeast Wil be a starter made from Safale 05. I expect it to end up around 8-8.5%abv.

I have several different hops, including Columbus, U. S. Golding, Nugget, and Willamette. I'm hoping to get about 40 IBU's using any of the above. As far as I've seen, this style is best without any finishing/aroma hops.

I would mash at around 155°f.

Do you think the amounts of crystal are reasonable for this recipe? I thought they might normally be a bit high, but I think the sugar might balance it out. I also have Caraamber (about 23 srm) but I don't see a use for that in this recipe. Please let me know if you think this might work, or any changes you would make. Thanks ahead of time for your help!

Edit: I was also thinking about putting a couple pounds of the base malt in the oven for 15 minutes. I read somewhere that that would approximate Munich Malt. Any opinions?

 

[Dynachrome]

Roast some of your own grain to a darker condition for color?

Taste it before you add it to your mash tun.

I think some people put actual coffee or chocolate into porters also.

 

[Build]

Hola, I would eliminate sugar as it will dry it out and lessen the body a lot. I would increase the base malt accordingly.

Nugget and Columbus are good choices for bittering/flavor Porters, Willamette too.

Your crystal will help balance the stronger flavors from the 1lb of Carafa. I think it's fine.

Roasting base malt is a good way to get some roasted/toasted flavor and darken the beer. I usually roast some dry for 15+ minutes or so, and also soak some in water for a few hours then roast it for 15-60 min. It's a good idea to stir the grain often. You might have to experiment with the roast time as different ovens and grains give very different results. After it cools and dries, put it in a paper bag for a couple weeks to mellow out. It can get some very harsh astringent flavors.

It sounds like a good Porter. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[JKaranka]

I think your original recipe is fine. Baltic porters are malty, don't have much roast flavour and tend to be bittersweet. Just remove the sugar and replace it with more base malt. The carafa / caraaroma stuff should be perfect.

 

[elgrindio]

Cool! Thanks guys for the confirmation, and the tips about the sugar. I'll let you know how it turns out!