Baltic Porter Additions

[joecast]

hey guys! good to be back brewing again (well almost...)

im starting off easy with a morgans pilsner kit that i've done before. using 24g of swiss lager yeast to about 20-21l of wort. have been think of what to do with the yeast cake and want to make it a good one. not really a lager guy, but baltic porter sounds interesting.

will be extract with sp. grains. most likely some chocolate, with maybe black patent, or some cara that i've seen in a few other recipes. open to suggestions with this...

i also want to add in something to make it a bit "different". or at least something to make people ask whats in it. maybe some liquorice/anise or smoked malt?? leaning towards the anise though. so how much have people used. dont really want a strong liquorice flavor but enough to be noticed. again about 20l of wort here. thanks.
joe

 

[Keifer]

While i was looking for recipes the the HAG baltic porter thingy, i found some use vanilla beans and the comments were all very good. Never tried it so i dunno 1st hand.

 

[joecast]

vanilla would be another way to go. the reason i want to try liquorice was to get that semi-sour aspect without having to do anything too tricky. thanks anyway though.

 

[Weizguy]

Good to hear from you again, Joe.

I made a Baltic Porter for the HAG brewers cask, and used Munich as the base malt, as well as Vienna, TF Crystal, JW Caramalt, Caramunich II and Melanoidin. Do any of these look like they'll give you the uniqueness that you want?

Would you consider honey or raspberry jam or something similar?
What about a tin of old extract to give it that aged character, in an easy way?
...or maybe add some acidulated malt to get some easy sourness.

If I haven't helped, then I've done my best.

Just take it easy on the anise, as spices can easily dominate.

Beerz
Seth out

 

[joecast]

thanks seth.

im a bit more old fashioned/traditional when it comes to malts and adjuncts (hops are a different story though) so might skip the honey and jam.

looking at using weyermann cara aroma, so maybe some acidulated malt too. what could i expect from maybe 50g of that?

 

[jayse]

Hey Joe..............what you doing with that anise in your hand :lol:
Sorry just Edited your topic title for you as I didn't think your really wanted to make a blatic porter or did you?

I don't imagine 50g of acidulated malt would do anything at all, I don't think its really a malt used to sour beers as such but simply used to lower the ph in the mash etc. Smoked malts not such a crazy idea in a porter.

 

[joecast]

thanks jayse, firefox usually catches my mistakes (then i decide what to ignore...)

wont worry about the acidulated malt then. will see if i can find some star anise though. and will consider the smoked malt as the famous porter from alaska is mighty fine.

 

[PostModern]

I don't think Smoke, Anise, Liquorice, nor even vanilla "belong" in a Baltic Porter. Now I've only tried one example, Utenos Porteris from Lithuania and it's pretty civilised. Strong, malty and sweet. More caramel than spice, more alcohol than smoke. The stuff American craft brewers are doing do not reflect the original beer at all (like many US styles). There is no need for spices or other standout flavours in a BP. It's a big solid dark(ish) beer. My attempt at brewing it in Feb this year was a little too dark (black). Here's the recipe:

Pale Ale Malt 4Kg
Munich Malt 3Kg
Brown Sugar 300g
Light Crystal 300g
Brown Malt 150g
Carafa Special III 100g
Light Chocolate Malt 100g

Northern Brewer 9.5% 12g 60min 15.2IBU
Tettnanger 3.7% 15g 60min 6.7IBU
Tettnanger 3.7% 20g 20min 3.0IBU

OG 1.079
24.9IBU
24.4SRM

Saflager S-189 Swiss Lager Yeast.

To make it less black, next time I'll be using a lighter carafa if I can find it, or quartering the amount and adding some dark munich.


Some comments re: not spice from here:
http://www.beerpal.com/brain/styles.htm

Baltic Porter

Baltic porters are a dark red-brown to dark brown-black style of beer that originated in the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea as a virtual hybrid of Russian imperial stouts and basic English porters. Most (but not all) baltic porters are lagers and take on smooth lager-like qualities. They are typically rich in malt content, featuring in their flavors, light roasted notes, caramel, toffee, complex blends of dark fruits (plums, raisins, prunes, grapes, and cherries), molasses, chocolate, and / or coffee. Baltic porters are never burnt like an imperial stout or heavily roasted or strongly hopped like an imperial porter (hops are a minor component of the aroma and flavor of a Baltic porter, playing only a complementary - if any at all - role to the rich maltiness). Baltic porters are full-bodied in mouthfeel, smooth, and can vary in carbonation levels from medium to high.

 

[joecast]

thanks for the input pomo.

i knew i had heard or read something before about a liquorice/sour aspect to baltic porter before and found this:
----
http://www.allaboutbeer.com/style/23.2-balticporter.html

Flavor Profile

Baltic porters are deep, dense and thoughtful beers. As they borrow much from other, more familiar styles, they have many layers of flavors. Sweet, soothing maltiness akin to the finest German bocks is present. Rummy, raisin and licorice notes similar to an old ale reside in the profile.
----

anyway, not going for 100% historical or style guide line correctness. just figure im gonna make a unique beer and throw in a bit of a twist as far as your average beer goes.

so with that in mind, star anise it is. now for how much, and how?

 

[PostModern]

thanks for the input pomo.

i knew i had heard or read something before about a liquorice/sour aspect to baltic porter before and found this:
----
http://www.allaboutbeer.com/style/23.2-balticporter.html

Flavor Profile

Baltic porters are deep, dense and thoughtful beers. As they borrow much from other, more familiar styles, they have many layers of flavors. Sweet, soothing maltiness akin to the finest German bocks is present. Rummy, raisin and licorice notes similar to an old ale reside in the profile.
----

anyway, not going for 100% historical or style guide line correctness. just figure im gonna make a unique beer and throw in a bit of a twist as far as your average beer goes.

so with that in mind, star anise it is. now for how much, and how?

Fair enough, but why call it a Baltic Porter then?

That quote refers to "liquorice notes", subtle hints of liquorice which will come from interaction between the yeast and roasted malts, not from the addition of anise. My response to your last question would be none.

 

[joecast]

Fair enough, but why call it a Baltic Porter then?

hmm, guess i hadnt thought of "joe's star anise robust porter" until just now?

 

[PostModern]

Imperial Porter... yanks put all kinds of **** into beer.
Are you fermenting with a lager yeast?

 

[joecast]

yeah, we're a bit funny like that. i never said imperial though, i'll be happy with robust if it fits the taste.
yes on the lager yeast. s-189 yeast cake after its done with a kit pilsner.

 

[PostModern]

Hrm. It seems I had a few drinks last night. Apologies for my curt posts.

I know Baltic Porter is not an official appellation, so what you add to it makes bugger all difference. My point is that a term like "Baltic Porter" is not used to describe every strong porter and the only commercial examples I have seen or read about that are spiced are from US craft breweries.

If you really want to brew a Baltic Porter, my advice would be to leave the spices in the cupboard and look at getting a good balance of specialty malts to create the flavours you're looking for. My one tasted less than "spicy" with S-189, but I'm sure with a little experimentation and/or research you can get there without resorting to the spice rack. After all, you don't put cloves, bananas and Hubba Bubba into a weizen.