Baltic Porter Attempt

[wareaglefan23]

Hey all,

Wanted to have a first go at the Baltic porter style. Here's the recipe I've come up with, any feedback would be much appreciated. I do want this to fit into the true style, so take the BJCP into account.

5 Gal
1.080 OG
1.022 FG (target)
29 SRM
25 IBUs

EDITED TO COMMENTS - ignore percentages until I can do math

8 lbs Pilsner
6 lbs Munich 20L
2 lbs Brown Malt
1 lb Special Roast 50L
6 oz Special B
2 oz Chocolate 400L

Hops:
1 oz Tettnanger - 60 mins
1.5 oz Tettnanger- 20 mins
1.5 oz Tettnanger - 10 mins

Cold Ferment with Irish Ale Yeast WLP004 @62F, using 1.25mil cells/ml/Plato starter
OR
Ferment with Bohemian Lager WY2124 @50F using 2mil cells/ml/Plato starter

Thoughts?

 

[TheMadKing]

Well, I think it's going to be a bit light without any grain water or hops, but what a diet plan!

EDIT: Thanks OP (for newcomers, he forgot to post the recipe so the giving of hard times were in order)

EDITTIER EDIT: OP, I would reduce your munich by 1 lb, add 2 lb of brown malt, and drop the debittered black malt, and increase the chocolate to 6 oz. You might also up the IBU's a bit and get rid of the whirlpool addition. Baltic porters aren't known for being hoppy styles, and any benefit that comes from the whirlpool will be counteracted by the age needed to reach peak flavor. All my opinion, of course. I did just brew a baltic porter that turned out amazing though FWIW

 

[LandoLincoln]

That is the worst beer recipe I've ever not seen.

 

[JonM]

Baltic Porters use lager yeast. With Irish ale yeast, it's more of a robust porter.

 

[TheMadKing]

Baltic Porters use lager yeast. With Irish ale yeast, it's more of a robust porter.

English and Irish ale yeast are standard by bjcp. Lager yeast is accepted by bjcp but is less common.

Edit. My bad! I was reading the wrong style, you're 100% correct, a cold fermented ale yeast is accepted though.

 

[wareaglefan23]

Thanks for the hazing, it was well earned. Haha

I would personally prefer to keep the debittered black-[EDIT - Dumped the debittered] I don't want any roast and id like to keep the chocolate to a minimum, looking for more of the classic malty bread like character with a touch of caramel and the hint of fruit from the Special B.

Would moving the whirlpool addition to, say, 20 or 30 mins instead be a more reasonable schedule? I'd like a bit of that spicy hop character to develop as the pint warms up.

 

[TheMadKing]

Thanks for the hazing, it was well earned. Haha

I would personally prefer to keep the debittered black- I don't want any roast and id like to keep the chocolate to a minimum, looking for more of the classic malty bread like character with a touch of caramel and the hint of fruit from the Special B.

Would moving the whirlpool addition to, say, 20 or 30 mins instead be a more reasonable schedule? I'd like a bit of that spicy hop character to develop as the pint warms up.

I think the addition of brown malt would help with the Carmel/bready flavors.

If you want a spicy hop character, I would throw in a 5-10 minute addition of something like Perle or Saaz. 30-40 minute additions will give you bitterness without much character.

 

[wareaglefan23]

FWIW, BJCP states only some Baltic porters use lager yeast, and most recipes or style guides recommend the Irish yeast for them

 

[TheMadKing]

As far as ale vs lager yeast, I don't think it matters much except that it's dependent on your temp control abilities. I used irish ale yeast in mine and it turned out clean, which is all you really want from your yeast in this beer.

I'm currently fermenting a vienna lager with WY2124 and it's pretty happy at about 51F and I've had no issues with slow fermentation or anything, so if you're able to control your temps accurately that's a good choice I think.

 

[wareaglefan23]

I was leaning toward the ale yeast (I can keep it steady in the low 60s in a basement over the lager which would basically require me to forfeit my mini-fridge diy kegerator for the month or two it would take to ferment.

In an effort to maintain balance- with the special roast and brown malt, would it help to increase the Pils malt to 10 lbs and drop the Munich 20 to 5 lbs? I don't want to have it end up overly sweet, but more toasty and rich

 

[TheMadKing]

I was leaning toward the ale yeast (I can keep it steady in the low 60s in a basement over the lager which would basically require me to forfeit my mini-fridge diy kegerator for the month or two it would take to ferment.

In an effort to maintain balance- with the special roast and brown malt, would it help to increase the Pils malt to 10 lbs and drop the Munich 20 to 5 lbs? I don't want to have it end up overly sweet, but more toasty and rich

I don't have any experience using special B or that special roast 50L (I assume it's a crystal malt?) I wouldn't decrease the munich too much, I think that's going to be the bulk of your malt character in this one.

Hopefully someone else with more experience with those malts can help

 

[wareaglefan23]

From briess on Special Roast 50L -

Flavor: Toasty, biscuity, bran flakes, sour dough, tangy

Complex flavored Biscuit-style Malt.
Proprietarymaltingprocessintensifiestoasty andbiscuity flavors, develops noticeable bran flake notes and creates its distinguishing bold sourdough/tangy character


I thought this would be a great, subtle complementary malt for this style, to make the bready character pop a bit more.

 

[TheMadKing]

From briess on Special Roast 50L -

Flavor: Toasty, biscuity, bran flakes, sour dough, tangy

Complex flavored Biscuit-style Malt.
Proprietarymaltingprocessintensifiestoasty andbiscuity flavors, develops noticeable bran flake notes and creates its distinguishing bold sourdough/tangy character


I thought this would be a great, subtle complementary malt for this style, to make the bready character pop a bit more.

Hmm sounds tasty, I'll have to try some of that in a brown ale

 

[giraffe]

Not sure why you got rid of the debittered black malt, commercial examples from poland and the baltics have a very gentle roast character. Is it going to be dark enough with just a bit of chocolate malt?

25 IBUs may be too low, Its going to need 3-6 months of ageing or lagering, the ibus are going to fall off a bit, I usually go with 40, and that still seems balanced towards being slightly sweet.

Ive made 5 or 6 baltic porters, this is my current malt bill is:

1.078

36% Pils
50% Munich II
6% Brown malt (non-traditional)
2% 50-60L
3% CaraAroma
3% carafa3 special

131-148

40 ibu of magnum at 60.

wyeast 2000 @ 48

 

[TheMadKing]

Not sure why you got rid of the debittered black malt, commercial examples from poland and the baltics have a very gentle roast character. Is it going to be dark enough with just a bit of chocolate malt?

That was why I suggested upping the chocolate to 6 oz when dropping the black malt. I find that chocolate has a smoother roast character than black malts, even carafa and similar debittered version. I think it will certainly be dark enough for style, but maybe more of an opaque dark brown than truly black though.

 

[m00ps]

Id use debittered black malt in a baltic porter. The whole appeal to me is the very smooth roast profile which comes from debittered malts and lagering (and hybrid yeast in my case).

I also like the slight dark fruit character a lot fo them tend to have so Im a fan of using a bit of special B or belgian candi syrup in the mix.

giraffe's recipe looks like a brown ale, definitely not baltic porter territory

 

[TheMadKing]

Id use debittered black malt in a baltic porter. The whole appeal to me is the very smooth roast profile which comes from debittered malts and lagering (and hybrid yeast in my case).

I also like the slight dark fruit character a lot fo them tend to have so Im a fan of using a bit of special B or belgian candi syrup in the mix.

giraffe's recipe looks like a brown ale, definitely not baltic porter territory

I plugged it into beersmith over my lunch break and got 32 SRM which is actually higher than the bjcp style calls for (17-30). I really think the color is fine, so it really comes down to which roast character the OP prefers.

Maybe chew a few grains of roast malt mixed with Munich and some special B and see which combo you prefer?

 

[giraffe]

yeah and CaraAroma is 150L crystal, it gives alot of dark fruitcake flavors, without the burnt raisin of Special B, I prefer it, but its preference. The recipe above comes out rubyish black. Similar to a zyweic porter, alderis porteris, baltika 6 in flavor.

 

[gotbeer74]

I was leaning toward the ale yeast (I can keep it steady in the low 60s in a basement over the lager which would basically require me to forfeit my mini-fridge diy kegerator for the month or two it would take to ferment.

In an effort to maintain balance- with the special roast and brown malt, would it help to increase the Pils malt to 10 lbs and drop the Munich 20 to 5 lbs? I don't want to have it end up overly sweet, but more toasty and rich

Wyeast 2112 may be a good yeast for your basement temperature.