Critique Baltic Porter Recipe

Been throwing things around on this- let me know what you think

6 Gallon Batch

Base:
9lb Marris Otter
6lb Munich

Specialty:
1.5lb Crystal 120
3oz Special B
4oz Aromatic Malt
8oz Chocolate
8oz Carafa II

Hops:
Czech Saaz 2.25 oz at 60min
Czech Saaz 1 oz at 30 min

Yeast:
San Fran Lager with large starter

Mash at 156F x 50 min
Boil x 90 min
Ferment as close to 60 as possible (any lower will be difficult)

OG: ~1.082

My concerns:

  • Will the Carafa II provide enough roast character or is it better to go with some black malt?  I’m trying to make it as smooth as possible with little astringency

  • Would caramunich offer any advantage over crystal 120?

Any thoughts or comments appreciated.

I don’t think you will get much roast character.  I would lower the crystal to maybe a pound and up your chocolate to .75 or 1 lb., but that’s just my tastes.

If you want it to be smooth and not astringent, I would stick with the carafa and not use the black malt.  However, 1lb of carafa and chocolate is a fair amount of roast malt.  You may want to consider cutting both back to 6oz or 4oz?

Also, there is negligible difference between special B and C120L.  Maybe switch one to a mid-level crystal like 40L, 60L, or 80L for a little more complexity?  Cut back the total crystal used to about 1lb.

+1 to hoser’s comments - I used roughly that % of roasted (choc and carafa) in mine a couple of years ago and it came across a bit too much for my tastes.  I prefer this style a bit more malty and smooth.

+1

I would use more special B.  That’s just me though.

The question is, how will you use the dark grains? My suggestion would be to cold steep them for 8 hours or so, strain the liquor into a pot and boil for 5 minutes while your main mash and boil is happening, then cool down and put in the primary fermenter with the rest of the wort. That will minimize the roast / bitter character and give you smooth darkness.

Revision:  I think avoiding the black malt will keep any astringency at bay.  That being said I hope to maximize the roast/chocolate tones from the chocolate malt and use the carafa for color and some roast as well.  I kept the sum of the 2 under 10% of the grain bill.  Bumped the special B up a tad and changed the crystal to 60.  Additional thoughts?

Base:
10lb Marris Otter
5lb Munich

Specialty:
.75lb Crystal 60
4oz Special B
4oz Aromatic Malt
.75lb Chocolate
.5lb Carafa II

Hops:
Saaz 2.5oz at 60; 1.5 @ 30

looks good to me :wink:

Looks great! As for your concerns, if you don’t like the astringency, stick with the Carafa II. I think the Crystal vs. CaraMunich is personal preference. I like CaraMunich myself. My only other input would be maybe a lower mash temp. Good luck and have fun. Cheers!

Add 2oz. of Special B, Mash 152-154F and call it good.
Cheers!

Briess BlackPrinz malt is supposed to provide no astringency but some roast character IIRC. May be worth trying!

Your recipe looks good. I agree with the obove poster on lowering your mash temps.