Please comment on my baltic porter recipe :]

[propush]

Hello everyone!

(tl;dr - recipe in the end, please comment! and thanks in advance)

I'm new to brewing and am preparing for my third brew. For this one, I want to try a darker beer. In my country, the go to dark beer is Guinness. And I do not like the taste, or the bitterness. From my short research, Baltic Porter is a good place for me to start with my dark beer exploration: It isn't "lite", and is not on the most harsh side of dark beers. This one is here to give me a real taste of the dark side, in a way that will be acceptable for the newcomer.

What I want from this beer:
Caramelly&toffee sweetness.
darker, more roasted Chocolate flavors.
low to none harsh/burnt flavors.
Low-medium bitterness.
Low to none hop aroma (I hear this style isn't meant to be very hoppy).

I am unsure about everything here. The grain bill is mostly copied from somewhere else, but I understand why the ingredients are there, so I picked this one out of the many available alternatives.

About the hops - I think the kinds are good, unsure about amounts, or schedule.

For yeast: We only have dry yeast here. One reason for picking those is the very vigorous fermentation the dish out - protects me from some problems. Also they fit well with the UK hops.

So, here it is:

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Units : metric. link:http://hopville.com/recipe/1646643

Blatic Porter #1

Grain bill (metric, KG):
3.5 Munich Malt
3.5 German Pale Malt
0.4 American Crystal 40L
0.25 German Carafa II
0.15 American Crystal 120L
0.1 Special B Malt
0.06 Roasted Barley

Expected Gravity
1.081 OG 1.022 FG
19.6° Plato 5.6° Plato



Measured Values
Edit Gravities / Color

Color
61° EBC 31° SRM
Black

Hops
Usage Time Grams
boil 60 min 50 Fuggles
boil 15 min 5 Fuggles
boil 15 min 10 Willamette
boil 3 min 10 Willamette

Bitterness
25.6 IBU
ƒ: Tinseth
8 HBU

BU:GU
0.31

Yeast
Safale S-04 Dry Yeast
yeast in dry form with high flocculation and 73% attenuation

Alcohol
7.9% ABV
6% ABW
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Your help was excellent before, and much appreciated, as will any help on this thread!

Cheers!

 

[Brulosopher]

Baltic Porter is usually made with a lager yeast strain; S-04 will get you closer to an English style Porter. Either way, go for it!!

 

[Brulosopher]

Baltic Porter is usually made with a lager yeast strain; S-04 will get you closer to an English style Porter. Either way, go for it!!

Closer to the BJCP description of a Robust Porter

 

[Gduck]

The malt bill looks good. Personally the only real adjustment I'd make is to the hop schedule. With baltic porters and other beers where you are showcasing the malt, I generally will use no, or maybe only one hop addition (other than the initially 60 minute bittering hop). If you want a little hop aroma leave the 3 minute hop but maybe get rid of one of the 15 minute additions. While personally I'd get rid of both (personal preference as I like these beers to have almost no detectable hop character), I know many people like a bit of hop presence in there so leaving in one of the 15 minute additions would help with that.

And as was mentioned the style is normally a pretty "clean" style done with a lager yeast. You can do something similar with an ale yeast if you ferment it at the coolest end of the yeasts tolerance. If you don't have anyway to control fermentation temperature this would still be a big chewy malty beer, just more like a big English porter.

 

[propush]

The malt bill looks good. Personally the only real adjustment I'd make is to the hop schedule. With baltic porters and other beers where you are showcasing the malt, I generally will use no, or maybe only one hop addition (other than the initially 60 minute bittering hop). If you want a little hop aroma leave the 3 minute hop but maybe get rid of one of the 15 minute additions. While personally I'd get rid of both (personal preference as I like these beers to have almost no detectable hop character), I know many people like a bit of hop presence in there so leaving in one of the 15 minute additions would help with that.

And as was mentioned the style is normally a pretty "clean" style done with a lager yeast. You can do something similar with an ale yeast if you ferment it at the coolest end of the yeasts tolerance. If you don't have anyway to control fermentation temperature this would still be a big chewy malty beer, just more like a big English porter.

Sounds good with the hops. I really heard that hops should be barely detectable, but wasn't sure how little I should add. Guess I will make is a single hop addition (besides bittering) somewhere around 10 minutes, to get a bit of aroma, and a bit of flavor. Guess I would use something like 15G , or 10G.

I will use the S04 at exactly 15c, which is the lower end of the recommended temp. We don't have many yeast strains here - so all the liquid and some of the dry yeast are out of the questions. I CAN lagger, but I do not want - I only have one fermentation chamber (fridge with temp control), and not enough beer to go around! So, I know this is a bit of a compromise, but that is why I went for the S04. Also, I will have ESB bottles in there at the same time (for carbonation), so they can enjoy the 15 C :]

Thanks for the (very) fast help, and I am always happy to hear more!

 

[Gduck]

I used to avoid lagering too as I could only fit one beer at a time where I controlled my fermentation. I'd do mock lagers by fermenting the ale yeasts as low as they would take and got some good results from it. Not quite as clean and crisp as most lagers, but still pretty good just the same.

 

[propush]

I used to avoid lagering too as I could only fit one beer at a time where I controlled my fermentation. I'd do mock lagers by fermenting the ale yeasts as low as they would take and got some good results from it. Not quite as clean and crisp as most lagers, but still pretty good just the same.

Then this shall be done Thanks for your help guys.

 

[C-Rider]

This Porter was an ale in the beginning from what I've read, so I see no problem being true to style using an ale yeast. I'm working on one using K-97 German Ale yeast. The cities of the German Baltic Coast brewed this ale "way back when".

This will be my attempt at it for a 1.75 gallon brew.

3 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) 47.0 %
2 lbs 12.0 oz Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) 43.1 %
3.2 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) 3.1 %
3.2 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) 3.1 %
2.4 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) 2.4 %
1.3 oz Carafa II (412.0 SRM) 1.3 %
0.30 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min 33.4 IBUs
0.25 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafAle German Ale (DCL/Fermentis #K-97)

Est Original Gravity: 1.090 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.019 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 9.5 %
Bitterness: 33.4 IBUs
Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 28.4 SRM

 

[propush]

Thank you c-rider.

It has been a long time :]

I have actually brewed the recipe twice. Once I had a water problem, and ended up with 27L of wort, instead of the intended 21. everything else was fine, so I ended up with diluted wort, basically. And it was absolutely delicious make again type of thing :]

Later on I brewed it again to "fix" the problem. I hit everything right that time. but the "wrong" brew I mentioned - I liked much better (and so did the friends). The second brew, which I think came out as intended feels very "high quality". It's perceived bitterness is much much higher the "faulty" one. I don't think it is bad, as much as it is "not for me". Maybe I need to drink it some more :]

Hope to get to your recipe one day as well!

 

[C-Rider]

Thank you c-rider.

It has been a long time :]

I have actually brewed the recipe twice. Once I had a water problem, and ended up with 27L of wort, instead of the intended 21. everything else was fine, so I ended up with diluted wort, basically. And it was absolutely delicious make again type of thing :]

Later on I brewed it again to "fix" the problem. I hit everything right that time. but the "wrong" brew I mentioned - I liked much better (and so did the friends). The second brew, which I think came out as intended feels very "high quality". It's perceived bitterness is much much higher the "faulty" one. I don't think it is bad, as much as it is "not for me". Maybe I need to drink it some more :]

Hope to get to your recipe one day as well!

Let's see what it taste like first. I just kinda made it up myself.