Willamette Only Baltic Porter

[Normanras]

I have come across some free hops from a farmer in upstate NY. I buy whole leaf from him and he gave me a bunch of Willamette as a bonus. I've read all about Willamette not being great as a stand alone but I also live for experimentation...

I've settled on a Baltic Porter partial mash. I haven't settled completely on this recipe, but would love to hear what other partial mash, Willamette-only brews you have made and see if I switch to a different style. I should also add the other brews I've made with his hops were a bit weaker than I imagined. So IBU will most likely be lower than a calculator will say.

Oh, and I also want to push 9.5% ABV...

4 Gallon Batch (it works with what my LHBS has in stock...).
6lb LME Light
2lb Crystal 120L
2lb Honey Malt
2lb Smoked Malt
1lb Brown Sugar
1lb Flaked Oats
1lb Candi Sugar Dark

4oz of Willamette hops (60, 15, 5, 0)

O.G. 1.097
F.G. 1.025
ABV 9.42%
IBU 26.08
SRM 29.09

Going to use an Ale yeast or even experiment with 2nd gen Hefeweizen yeast and ferment low to get more clove flavor.

Spruce tips may or may not be added.

Would love to hear thoughts or other style suggestions for Willamette only!

 

[Build]

Willamette is a good choice in a porter. It has smooth bittering and a very earthy, peppery, herbal flavor. American Fuggleish. This beer will take quite awhile to condition, and will be likely be malt/yeast forward. I would probably use an English ale yeast, but with your grain bill and those weaker hops, it could be kinda sweet. Are the hops you got really old?

 

[cshamilton]

Willamette is fine, but otherwise that recipe is a bit extreme. Way too much specialty grains. Get rid of the smoked malt or cut it down to a few oz at most.

Check out this one: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/beer-recipe-of-the-week-zeks-porter/

If you want to experiment, great - but I think doing one the classic way first is ideal. If you cannot lager, go with Nottingham and ferment at the low end.

 

[filthyastronaut]

Willamette is great in Roasty beers. For your grain bill though, I would highly recommend you go no more than 1 pound of crystal, which means either go 1/2 lb. for honey malt and crystal 120 or choose one, go with a single pound of sugar or omit it entirely, and go with a couple roasted grains. You definitely want your porter to have roasty flavor.

 

[Normanras]

This is great, thanks everyone. I think, stupidly, I was adjusting grain bill based on ABV and not balance of flavors. 2lbs of smoked malt seems a bit harsh now...

I think the hops are a bit old. I may ask for another ounce or two of Willamette (he also has Nugget) to bring out more hop flavor.

The way my schedule will work out (work and newborn at home) I'm thinking of a beer like this because of the hops and the long (4-5 weeks) that it will sit in primary. I simply won't have time before that to bottle it. So I think that conditioning, plus another month or more in bottles should condition it quite nicely.

So I guess if I want to keep the higher ABV but balance the flavors, I'll need to either add base malt or more LME, correct? Man extract can be expensive...

 

[cshamilton]

Yes more extract is the way to go. You do a partial mash if you have a large enough bag - essentially a mini BIAB. I'd recommend dropping the candi sugar and brown sugar too. I don't think the molasses note from brown sugar is great in a porter - a stout maybe or an old ale.

You could get a large grain/hop mesh bag from your LHBS and get 3 lbs of 2 row, 1 lb crystal/honey, 0.5 lb chocolate, 0.5 lb black, and if you like a dash of smoked malt. Steep all the grain in your pot at about 152 F for an hour (you can calculate the strike temp, but around 160F if you start with about 4 gal). The start heating it up for your boil and remove the grain before you hit 170F. Add your extract late in the boil.

This would save you at least two lbs of extract and probably make a better beer too.

 

[Normanras]

I like that idea. Thanks