Baltic Porter

[DonRikkles]

Scrapping previous ideas I've had for a holiday beer, I'll try my hand at a gingerbread baltic porter. This wonderful trove of information does not have too much on a baltic porter, so please critique my recipe as necessary.

8lbs Vienna
4 lbs Pils
1 lb biscuit
1 lb Caramunich 1 (51 L)
1 lb Munich
.5 lb Special B
.25 lb Black Patent

Northern Brewer at 60 for 25 IBUs
Northern Brewer at 20 for 8 IBUs
.5 lb Blackstrap Molasses at 15 min

1 tsp candied ginger
.5 tsp cinnamon
.25 tsp all spice
.25 tsp ground clove

WLP810 or other california common yeast

I'm aiming for a good baltic porter with subtle hints of gingerbread. OG is 1.080 FG is 1.026 (but with my system, it'll likely be significantly lower). Plan to mash at 154 and ferment in upper 50s.

Thanks!

 

[DonRikkles]

Anyone at all?

 

[Vlint]

Maybe mash in at 148 for 90 minutes. That will give a good mouth feel. Conversion is slower which is why it's for 90 min

 

[SeeMont]

I am looking forward to your feedback after you brew this porter.

 

[DonRikkles]

I've been toying with adding chocoalte malt, maybe a half pound. Would that add anything, or detract from the gingerbread character I want?

 

[Weezy]

I really like me some Baltic porter. If you want to highlight the bready/gingerbread flavors, i'd recommend suppressing some of the other flavors that will compete: ditch the special b which is rich, replace the patent with dehusked carafa or blackprintz to get rid of the roast (bp shouldn't be notably roasty anyway).

That's a lot of caramunich, like 12%. I'd cut that in half at least, if not to a quarter.

It's typically Munich heavy. I'm interested to see how it turns out with a Vienna base. I think Vienna is a good choice if trying to make this gingerbready.

I like brown malt in Baltic porter. I think it's traditional. To me brown malt has a molasses flavor. You could consider 3-5% of that as it might work nice for the gingerbread effect.