BIG Baltic Porter recipe

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zev

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Hey every1 Im looking for some feedback/critique of a monster Baltic I want to do. I want to make something like the smuttynose baltic. big, dark fruit, raisiny, biscuity, chocolatey and smokey!!! gets me thirsty just typing it!!

so i also want to try to lager for the 1st time. i have a spare fridge that i can get down to 35-40.

this is what grains I have lying around and figured a big baltic could probably use all of this, but I may be overdoing it...

% Weight Weight (lbs) Grain Gravity Points Color
52.8% 9.50 Marris otter 54.2 4.8
5.6 % 1.00 Canadian Honey Malt 4.5 5.0
5.6 % 1.00 German Smoked 5.5 1.8
5.6 % 1.00 briess vienna American Six-row Pale 5.3 0.4
5.6 % 1.00 Belgian Special B 4.4 44.2
5.6 % 1.00 Belgian Biscuit 4.5 4.6
5.6 % 1.00 Belgian Chocolate 4.4 99.6
5.6 % 1.00 American Chocolate 4.4 70.0
2.8 % 0.50 Flaked Oats 2.5 0.2
5.6 % 1.00 fawcett Brown 4.8 14.0
18.00 94.3
i also have a lb of caramel 120 but i figure the special B is similar, right?

I need some hop suggestions Im figuring 1 hop addition in the beginning of boil. fuggles? warrior? willamette? ek goldings? about 2oz?

this is more of a specialty beer i figure than any speciific bjcp catagory.

Im shooting for something 9% ABV

also need a lager yeast suggestion.

and if someone wants to go into lagering do's and donts, please do. im pretty new to all this so any info is much appreciated.:rockin::rockin::rockin:
 
I think you need to simplify the grain bill a bit. As it stands you'll end up with a beer that has too much going on and too much sweetness (for my tastes anyway). Just pick a few specialty malts to add to a base of Maris Otter and Vienna. Maybe a combination of Special B, Oats, and Chocolate. You could certainly add some smoked malt as well, but 1 lb probably won’t be noticeable in such a big beer.

Here is the recipe I just brewed for a Smoked Baltic Porter.

41.4% - 6.00 lbs. Weyermann Smoked Malt
20.7% - 3.00 lbs. German Munich Malt
20.7% - 3.00 lbs. French Pilsen
6.9% - 1.00 lbs. Flaked Rye
5.2% - 0.75 lbs. Brown Malt
5.2% - 0.75 lbs. Carafa Special II

For hops since you are just bittering the variety isn’t too important I used a collection of hops I had left over in the freezer from other batches (Brewer’s Gold, Perle, Fuggle). Any of the ones you mentioned would work fine. At 50 IBUs I went slightly bitterer than the style usually is, but I think it will compliment the dark chocolate and smoke well.

For big lagers I really like White Labs 833 Bock. It lets the malt shine through and has enough alcohol tolerance to deal with a big beer. You’ll need ~1+ starter, so you might be better off brewing a lower gravity lager first and then using the yeast from that to ferment this one (I used Kolsch yeast since I had I just used it to brew a kolsch). Get the beer cooled down to around fermentation temperature before pitching the yeast, and hold it ~50 F for 3 weeks or until fermentation is complete. Then let it warm up for a few days to ensure fermentation is complete. Finally lager as close to freezing as your fridge will get for 6-8 weeks before bottling/kegging.

Hope that helps, and welcome to the board.
 
thanks for the input, i appreciate it. I will definitely simplify the recipe and will see if i have access to that yeast. thanks for the tips on lagering as well.
 
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