Working on a Baltic Porter

[Sunfire96]

Hello all! I would like to brew a Baltic Porter. I've sampled maybe half a dozen different ones trying to research the style and here are some of my goals for this beer:

Clean lager fermentation
7.5-8.5% abv
Strong malty flavors
Present, but not overwhelming, dark fruit/plum/raisin flavors
Dark color without strong roast flavors
Low-medium hop flavor
Balanced bitterness
Full bodied

Here's the recipe I've been working on. I read a few articles and learned that most have 2:1 Munich to Pilsner for base malt, a medium caramel, a dark caramel, and a roast malt. Pitch LOTS of lager yeast for the fermentation (it's a big beer). I chose Styrian Goldings as the flavor hop because it's grown in the Baltic region and the flavor profile seems complementary to the malt profile. I think my FG is a little low for the style, but I don't think I'll actually get 83% attenuation from the 34/70.

Anyway, anyone ever brewed a Baltic Porter before? Any tips or strategies? Any ingredients that you tried and hated? Thanks!!

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1249875/kaedweni-stout-ii

Also I know the beer name says stout but I'm still shooting for a Baltic Porter if anyone doesn't recognize the name, it's from The Witcher universe. I'm creating and brewing recipes of 4 of the fictional beers from The Witcher video games for my Twitch channel

 

[Minbari]

I love dark beer, will be interested to see how this turns out

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brew]

Hello all! I would like to brew a Baltic Porter. I've sampled maybe half a dozen different ones trying to research the style and here are some of my goals for this beer:

Clean lager fermentation
7.5-8.5% abv
Strong malty flavors
Present, but not overwhelming, dark fruit/plum/raisin flavors
Dark color without strong roast flavors
Low-medium hop flavor
Balanced bitterness
Full bodied

Here's the recipe I've been working on. I read a few articles and learned that most have 2:1 Munich to Pilsner for base malt, a medium caramel, a dark caramel, and a roast malt. Pitch LOTS of lager yeast for the fermentation (it's a big beer). I chose Styrian Goldings as the flavor hop because it's grown in the Baltic region and the flavor profile seems complementary to the malt profile. I think my FG is a little low for the style, but I don't think I'll actually get 83% attenuation from the 34/70.

Anyway, anyone ever brewed a Baltic Porter before? Any tips or strategies? Any ingredients that you tried and hated? Thanks!!

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1249875/kaedweni-stout-ii

Also I know the beer name says stout but I'm still shooting for a Baltic Porter if anyone doesn't recognize the name, it's from The Witcher universe. I'm creating and brewing recipes of 4 of the fictional beers from The Witcher video games for my Twitch channel

one question why use pilsner, your fighting against yourself on a malty full body beer using pilsner

 

[Megary]

I think the recipe looks great! My only comment would be to consider your efficiency. If you usually get 75%, you might not get quite that for such a big beer. Then again, you might kill it. Who knows?

Following.

 

[Sunfire96]

one question why use pilsner, your fighting against yourself on a malty full body beer using pilsner

Tradition? Lol "that's what the books say to use" there's twice as much Munich as Pilsner so should be lots of body from that and the caramel malts? I'm trying to use mostly continental ingredients

I'm open to suggestions

 

[Sunfire96]

I think the recipe looks great! My only comment would be to consider your efficiency. If you usually get 75%, you might not get quite that for such a big beer. Then again, you might kill it. Who knows?

Following.

Great point, thank you!! I rarely brew big beers and totally forgot about the drop in efficiency

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brew]

Tradition? Lol "that's what the books say to use"

I'm open to suggestions

nothing against your recipe, its fine I have an ongoing rant about that topic lol, grain today is different than the past, most of these recipes are taken from the past

 

[Sunfire96]

nothing against your recipe, its fine I have an ongoing rant about that topic lol, grain today is different than the past, most of these recipes are taken from the past

Do you have alternatives to suggest?

Also i added more to my response earlier. Sorry

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brew]

any "pale ale" malt of any county would be better in my opinion, I personally only use pale ale malt for anything dark

 

[Sunfire96]

any "pale ale" malt of any county would be better in my opinion, I personally only use pale ale malt for anything dark

I appreciate the feedback. Could you elaborate on why it would be better?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brew]

you mentioned you want malt, pale ale has more malt and body than pilsner, start with a grain with more malt and use less of other grains

 

[Sunfire96]

you mentioned you want malt, pale ale has more malt and body than pilsner, start with a grain with more malt and use less of other grains

Great, thank you for the explanation Like I said, I read a few different articles that recommended 2:1 Munich to Pilsner as a base for this recipe, so I was just utilizing what I had seen because this is a new style for me. I'm definitely open to suggestions

 

[Iliff Avenue Brewhouse]

Great, thank you for the explanation Like I said, I read a few different articles that recommended 2:1 Munich to Pilsner as a base for this recipe, so I was just utilizing what I had seen because this is a new style for me. I'm definitely open to suggestions

I personally would keep the pilsner malt.

 

[Mark Farrall]

I've tried the once and mine was a bit underwhelming. I was following this recipe - https://beerandbrewing.com/brewing-hop-forward-baltic-porter-with-polands-browar-pinta/ and it ended up more like a bock than a Baltic porter.

I like your grist more than my initial attempt and will probably try something more like yours in the next few months. Planning to use the slurry from the annual winter schwarzbier for the next attempt.

 

[Sunfire96]

Was reading through Brewing Classic Styles, and the grain bill above is very similar to the recipe in the book. So I'll take that as a good sign that I'm on the right track here

 

[Sunfire96]

So here's the beer! It's been in the keg for a week or so. My plan is to bottle it and store until later this year (preferably winter but I know myself too well lol).

I really like how this turned out! Compared to craft beers of the same style it is probably lacking a tad; for instance the alcohol could be higher, the dark fruit flavors stronger, and the yeast taste could be cleaner. But I hit most of the goals on my check list at the start of this thread and I'm pretty proud of that for a style that I've never brewed before. I will try to follow up again when I crack open one later this year to see what changed (if anything).

If I brewed it again I would change my efficiency so that I actually hit the OG (I was low), I would mash lower to hit a lower FG and up the alcohol, and I would increase the caramel and medium malts to pump up the dark fruit/plum flavors.

Thanks for the feedback y'all! This was a fun experiment and brew.

 

[Minbari]

nothing wrong with that for a first try. took me a year and a half to get my stout recipe where I wanted it.

its looks good, head on that looks soft and creamy.

 

[Blackmuse]

I would increase the caramel and medium malts to pump up the dark fruit/plum flavors.

I would add some Special B for that 120 would work too but I feel like Special B really hits the flavors you mentioned.

Looks delicious!

 

[Ward Chillington]

Also I know the beer name says stout but I'm still shooting for a Baltic Porter

Yeah ..that's just dawned on me....stout porter is porter's stronger sister...why is it called Baltic Porter? Good looking brew there!

 

[Sunfire96]

I would add some Special B for that 120 would work too but I feel like Special B really hits the flavors you mentioned.

Looks delicious!

I definitely used Special B did you look at the recipe? I used about 3% because I wasn't sure what to expect. Now I know next time that I can up it a bit without worry!