GH Baltic Porter

[matt76]

I'm hoping you guys can give me some pointers for this brew based on your experience...

N.B. I brew ~11.5L batches so that has some implications, particularly for the amount of yeast I need.

As alluded to in another thread I'm planning to brew the GH Baltic Porter in preparation for the winter months.

However, despite having just done my 20th AG brew I haven't attempted anything like this yet - OG is around 1.080 and from my Googling I gather it's not the easiest beer to brew, being in many ways closer to a lager.

Grain Bill
I don't see any need to deviate from GH - it's about 80% Munich malt plus some darker malts, except that I'll substitute in about 7% Flaked Barley as is my wont.

Water Treatment
Frankly I'm lost! Don't know which profile to choose in Brewer's Friend - should I go for a stout/porter profile or a lager/dark-lager profile???

Tesco Ashbeck has served me well in the past so I reckon I'd be OK with no additions, but if a bit of gypsum/calcium carbonate/bicarb/salt can improve things then why not.

Mash
Mash for 60mins at 65degC.
I normally use about 6L for ~2.5kg, but since I'm looking at a 4kg grain bill I'll have to up this to 10 or 12L.

Hops & Boil
I'll boil for 60 mins. GH calls for Saaz, but I plan to use some Hallertau Mittelfruh from stock.

Yeast & Fermentation
This is the tricky bit - which yeast, and how much?

Bizarrely, Baltic Porter is supposed to be brewed with lager yeast but I have no temperature control. I could use WY2124 Bohemian Lager which is good up to 20degC. Or Wyeast also recommend 1728 Scottish Ale for this style and it's good up to 25degC (yes, I know it's an ale yeast!).

However, I was thinking maybe this is an opportunity to try a Kveik yeast - The Malt Miller has "Ubbe" Kveik yeast from WHC which it says is "lager like" - anyone know if this could be an option?

How much yeast though?
One pack of Wyeast is supposed to be enough for a standard ~20-25L batch, so in theory half a pack should be sufficient for my ~11.5L batches (I'm assuming it's similar rules for WHC Kveik???)

(In practice I normally pitch 2/3 pack Wyeast and keep 1/3 pack to build a starter next time).

But for lager we normally double up. And for strong ales with OG > 1.060 we also double up.

So, based on the BF yeast calculator I believe that for my half size batch of high OG lager-like beer I'll need 2 packs. But are the rules any different for Kveik?

(I know I can buy one pack and overbuild a starter, but I have reservations about doing this a) with a more challenging brew that's a big investment in waiting time and b) with Kveik which I've never used before. Cost isn't a driver for this brew.)

So, any comments on all this would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance,

Matt

 

[foxy]

Baltic porter, not bizarrely does need to be lagered, don't try to speed up the process you will be disappointed.
Here is my recipe I think it came from BYO.
Sinebrychoff Porter from Finland
19 litres all grain OG = 1,070 FG = 1,020 IBU = 45 SRM = 51 ABV = 6.1%

4.7 kg Weyermann Munich malt
1.4 kg Weyermann Vienna malt
0.68 kg Weyermann Carafa 111 malt (470 L)
0.45 kg Dingemans Cara Munich malt (45 L )
10.5 AAU Hallertau Hersbrucker hops 63 gram at 4.75% alpha acids 60 mins
3 AAU Czech Saaz hops 28 gram at 3.0% alpha acids 30 mins
Wyeyeast 2124 (Bohemian Lager) yeast or White Labs WLP830 (German Lager yeast )

Mash at 67 C for 60 mins
Boil 60 mins
Ferment at 12 C

 

[matt76]

Update on the yeast front...

When i looked closer into the Kveik specs it wants to be fermented at >30degC which again doesn't suit my no-temp-control.

I decided in the end to go with Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager so I'm committed now. I used it recently in a Märzen, the blurb says it's good up to 20degC plus I found a Brulosophy experiment where they found it was ok even at 22degC which gives me a little more confidence. It also attenuates a little more than 1728 according to the spec sheet

I pitched a fresh pack into a starter yesterday and to be honest, just going by the colour change it looks like it's fermented out already (slightly awkward since brew day isn't until Friday!)

 

[strange-steve]

I reckon that yeast will do the job nicely

Re water treatment, this is a rich malty beer so I'd go chloride forward. If you're starting with Ashbeck then 0.3g/l calcium chloride and 0.15g/l gypsum will give something like:

Calcium 126 ppm
Chloride 157 ppm
Sulphate 94 ppm
Ratio 0.6

You'll need to bump up the alkalinity too, about 0.13g/l sodium bicarbonate, added to the mash water only, will give you about 100 ppm alkalinity which probably isn't too far away.

 

[matt76]

Thanks @strange-steve , appreciate your input

The numbers that fall out in BF don't seem to match any of their profiles but I'm more than happy to take your word for it. It did however give me a sulphate/chloride ratio of "0.6 very malty" which sounds like it'll do the trick!

Cheers,

Matt

 

[strange-steve]

I wouldn't pay much attention to the suggested profiles, they are pretty conservative with the mineral content which is fine for some styles, but not this one imo.

 

[foxy]

Update on the yeast front...

When i looked closer into the Kveik specs it wants to be fermented at >30degC which again doesn't suit my no-temp-control.

I decided in the end to go with Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager so I'm committed now. I used it recently in a Märzen, the blurb says it's good up to 20degC plus I found a Brulosophy experiment where they found it was ok even at 22degC which gives me a little more confidence. It also attenuates a little more than 1728 according to the spec sheet

I pitched a fresh pack into a starter yesterday and to be honest, just going by the colour change it looks like it's fermented out already (slightly awkward since brew day isn't until Friday!)

Any information from Brulosophy is purely anecdotal, what you also have to take into consideration is the exothermic reaction of the yeast. If you have an ambient temperature of 20 C then you can be sure that in the fermenter it can be between 4 to 8 C, could go even higher. The reason its a lager yeast is because what you are brewing is basically a lager.
I would be getting a fermentation fridge with a temperature control before attempting a Baltic Porter.