When my oktoberfest from the brewing duel finished up I didn’t feel like tossing the yeast out. Seems like a shame to generate so much healthy lager yeast to only pour it out. So I decided to brew up a Baltic Porter. Baltic Porter is a bigger version of Robust Porter, but its tpyically fermented clean with a lager yeast. Porter normally is brewed as an ale. This one has been in the fermentor for a little over a week and is coming along. I thought it was starting a little slow, but I managed to rouse the yeast with some shaking and swirling of the carboy, next day I was starting to see some krausen the next day. I collected 600ml of slurry out of the Oktoberfest and pitched that.
My OG was 1.080 at 70% efficiency.
Here is the recipe:
| Amount | Item | Type | % or IBU |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15.00 lb | Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 71.22 % |
| 3.00 lb | Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) | Grain | 14.24 % |
| 1.00 lb | Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 4.75 % |
| 0.50 lb | Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) | Grain | 2.37 % |
| 0.50 lb | Caramel/Crystal Malt – 60L (60.0 SRM) | Grain | 2.37 % |
| 0.50 lb | Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) | Grain | 2.37 % |
| 0.31 lb | Carafa Special III (450.0 SRM) | Grain | 1.48 % |
| 0.25 lb | Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) | Grain | 1.19 % |
| 2.00 oz | Saaz [4.00 %] (60 min) | Hops | 18.1 IBU |
| 1.00 oz | Saaz [4.00 %] (30 min) | Hops | 6.9 IBU |
| 1.00 oz | Saaz [4.00 %] (5 min) | Hops | 1.8 IBU |
| 1 Pkgs | Bavarian Lager (Wyeast Labs #2206) | Yeast-Lager |
John’s Recipe
After putting together a Baltic Porter style profile, I thought I would create a recipe for it too.
This is an all grain recipe.
Ingredients
12.5 lbs. English 2-row Pale Malt
0.25 lbs. English Chocolate Malt
1 lbs. Crystal Malt 60°L
1 lbs. Crystal Malt 120°L
0.25 lbs. British Black Patent
1.5 oz. Fuggle (Pellets, 4.75 %AA) boiled 60 min.
0.50 oz. Fuggle (Pellets, 4.75 %AA) boiled 15 min.
0.50 oz. Fuggle (Pellets, 4.75 %AA) boiled 1 min.
Yeast: Wyeast 2112 California Lager
Predicted Results
Original Gravity 1.075
Terminal Gravity 1.019
Color 25.19 °SRM
Bitterness 30.0 IBU
Alcohol (%volume) 7.4 %
I guess I could have added in some other additives like brewer’s licorice…but I think I am focused on all-malt brewing these days.
I am sure I could have added more crystal malts or some Munich…maybe even some Special B. I thought I would keep it simple and English.
For the yeast, I thought I would use a strain that kept lager characteristics at 58-60 degrees Fahrenheit. It apparently can handle up to 9% alcohol by volume.
Check out our other homebrew recipes.
Aaron
/more/ crystal? It’s already got two pounds!
I wish I could lager, I’d really like to make one of these.
John
I was thinking maybe more varieties of Crystal, maybe split those two pounds across 40/60/80/120 Lovibond. I am thinking simple is better.
John
Looking this over and reading more about the style, I may need to update the grain bill to include more “continental malts” like Munich and Vienna to make it more like what they brew in the Baltics.
boothsbrewing
This looks like a good recipe. It is Interesting that you selected a lager yeast, I am sure that the beer turned out great.
I made a baltic porter one time before and just used a Wyeast 1056, but my next time, I think I will use a ale yeast closer from a polish or russian (european) ale. Maybe a Wyeast 1338 would turn out very nice – it should probably produce nice malty character with good ale esters.