Baltic Porter First Timer

[BroomVikin]

I decided to try my hand at a Baltic Porter and I have a few questions about taking care of this style since I've never made one before. I pitched a 1L starter of WLP810 (San Fran lager) on Saturday night, set the Inkbird to 56 degrees and called it a night. To my surprise I saw zero activity all day Sunday and then all of a sudden I checked Monday morning and had a full krausen head on it. Guess this yeast is just a slower starter. I checked it again this morning (Thursday) and the krausen doesn't seem to have fallen at all. I haven't taken any reading yet since I assume fermentation is still going strong. Here's my question though, I know this is technically not a lager but using the lager yeast do I need to somehow treat it differently? I've never done a lager before so I wouldn't know what the "normal" procedure is anyway. I understand there are gradual ramps in temperatures and rest at specific temps but since I'm starting relatively high (56 degrees) anyway are these type things necessary? Thanks for the help.

 

[Weezy]

The only difference with lagers is temps and time. Given the temps are lower, the yeast work more slowly and fermentation takes longer. You can always ramp temperatures up slowly over the course of a couple weeks to speed it up. You do need to ramp up temperatures at the end as a diacetyl rest anyway. People are doing them differently, but it really boils down to watching your gravities and letting the yeast finish, just like any other beer.

Baltic Porter is one of my favorites. A Polish restaurant I visit I've in a long while gets in Zywiec in from Poland. It's very enjoyable. BPs are not very roasty, which people seems to get wrong often over here. Unita makes a good one.

 

[porterpounder]

Even at 56 F it's going to go slower than a usual ale fermentation. Depending on the gravity and stress on your yeast, I'd give it 3-4 weeks in the primary before packaging.