High Gravity Baltic Porter - Minor Variations

Hey all!

Second batch is currently being consumed and is all kinds of delicious. A nice simple Traditional Brown Ale; our first attempt at extract brewing a resounding success. Thanks to all for the help!

I'm posting because we're about to put batch 3 together this weekend. My two brewing partners and I have settled on a porter, and something about aroland8517's recipe below struck us as worth a go.

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High Gravity Baltic Porter (Extract & Steeped Grain)

Recipe Volume: 5 gallons
Boil Volume: 3 gallons

Yeast:
WLP099 - Super High Gravity Yeast

Malts:
Muntons Dry Amber Malt Extract - 5.0 lbs.
Briess Liquid Munich Malt Extract - 6.0 lbs. (@ Knockout)
Crystal Malt (80 L) - 0.5 lbs. (Steeped 30 min. @ 160 F)
Black Patent Malt - 0.5 lbs. (Steeped 30 min. @ 160 F)
Chocolate Malt (350 L) - 0.5 lbs. (Steeped 30 min. @ 160 F)
CaraAroma Malt (120 L) - 0.5 lbs. (Steeped 30 min. @ 160 F)

Hops:
Perle - 2.0 oz - 8.5% - 60 min.
Mt. Hood - 0.5 oz - 5% - 20 min.
Mt. Hood - 0.5 oz - 5% - 5 min.

Calculated Boil Gravity (3 gal.): 1.081
Calculated Original Gravity (5 gal.): 1.091
Measured Original Gravity (5.5 gal.): 1.080
Calculated IBUs: 50

(Edit: aroland said his ABV at the end was ~9% with a FG of 1.007)

Fermentation Schedule:
Primary: 2-3 weeks @ 70 F
Secondary: 2 weeks @ 70 F

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Apparently the recipe (after secondary) worked pretty well for him, so we're going to take a run.

Just a few questions. We're going to have to change a few things due to supply issues, but I would like to know if we're going to have any issues.

1. We can't get WLP099 without paying upwards of $25 a pack. I'm not saying we're cheap, but we're not rich either. In substitute, we're looking at using Wyeast 1084 Irisih Ale as the yeast. Any tips or tricks for making sure we get good attenuation? We'll definitely be pitching a starter, but I'd love to know what you guys think about specifics.

2. Can't get Perle around here these days. In substitute, we're using Northern Brewer; same AA at 8.5%. Will this affect anything?

3. We're using a Pale Extract in place of the Briess Munich. I know it's not exactly the same thing, but it's a 100% 2-row pale extract so I'm assuming we won't get any off flavors. Am I wrong?

Help appreciated! You guys rock.

- Budista

You won't need high gravity yeast for this batch. I'd go with Wyeast 2308, 2124, or White Labs equivalent. Go with a lager yeast if you can't get super gravity and you have the equipment to ferment a lager.

Don't worry about not getting Perle; substitute with what you can get.
You probably won't get quite as much malty character in the beer using pale extract in place of munich, but other than that, your recipe looks good.

Try to get a lager yeast going if you can.

We just brewed yesterday, and aside from a bit more break material getting into the primary than we would really have preferred, it went well.

A question I have is that, since we ended up with an OG of about 1.083 (Which is right where we wanted it), I'm a bit concerned about the attenuation of the Wyest 1084 Irish Ale yeast we used. Our target FG is around the 1.020-1.010 range; we'll be happy with anything in that range.

When it came in to the LHBS, we put it into a 1 litre 1.065OG starter for about 3-4 days before decanting about 1/2 of that off and pitching the remainder alongside the cake (after chilling it overnight to flocculate some out). We made a point to aerate as well as possible without actively bubbling oxygen through the wort, but I'm wondering if it's worth ordering some Servomyces tablets and tossing those into the wort 4 or 5 days into fermentation.

Either way, it'll be at least 2-3 weeks before we rack into secondary and another 2-3 before we bottle. I'm just dreading a stuck fermentation; 3 months is a while to wait for a failed beer.

Any tips or suggestions?