Baltic Wolf Porter All Grain Beer Recipe Kit Northern Brewer

Baltic Wolf Porter – Baltic Porter Style Beer

Baltic Wolf Porter is something of an illusion. A prowling, rich malt character of toasty bread, decadent dark caramel, fig and discreet roast character cautiously presents itself as seemingly timid, while an untamed wallop of fierce alcohol potency conspires to ambush your tastebuds. The sneaky malt character obscures a moderate yet lurking hop presence, while the clean and crisp finish deceives you and consummates the clever ruse. Though appearing approachable and restrained at first glance, Baltic Wolf Porter deftly turns into a potent and unyielding sipping experience. It is truly a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Baltic Porter Brewing Notes:

• Style: Baltic Porter
• Fermentation Range: 46-56°F
• Original Gravity: 1.079
• SRM: 26
• IBU: 26
• ABV: 7.9%

Baltic Porter Tasting Notes: 

• Aroma: Prominent malt aroma with notes of toasty bread, complex raisin, fig, and caramel, medium roast character. No hop aroma, no diacetyl or sulfur.
• Appearance: Very dark brown with garnet highlights, very clear. Khaki tan head with tight lacing.
• Flavor: High malt flavors of crusty bread, moderate fruity notes of plum, stone fruit, and raisin with medium caramel background. Medium to medium low roasty character, no burnt flavors.
• Mouthfeel: Medium to medium heavy body with warming alcohol. Moderate carbonation.

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Notes from Brad, Northern Brewer Head Brewer:

“This is a recipe I have had in my back pocket for some time, and it has finally been turned into an ingredient kit. Porter, in all its forms, is close to the top of the list for my favorite beer style of all time. Everything from a low gravity everyday sipper to the more robust American versions to big badass versions like this recipe have always caught my attention. It’s a really satisfying pint thanks to its balance of rich base malt character, moderate sweetness in some examples, and the pronounced yet smooth roast character. It is just so damn well-rounded that I could have a porter on a frigid evening or a sweltering afternoon and enjoy it equally. But to me, Baltic Porter is the pinnacle of the overarching style.

Having roots similar to that of an imperial stout, it’s no wonder that this beer is brewed to high strength – to survive the historical journey it originally made from Britain to Baltic ports to satisfy the thirst of this portion of the world. Since it became so popular in the Baltic region, it was adopted as a brewing style in that part of the world and continues to be brewed there today. The main difference is that the originals were fermented as ales, while over time lager yeast became the preference in this style as lager brewing became immensely popular the world over in the mid 1800s. This recipe reflects the more modern lager version of Baltic Porter.

Since this is both a high gravity recipe and a lager, yeast pitching rate is the key to successfully brewing this beer. This will require a huge amount of yeast and even if you do end up with two packs of yeast for this batch, it is still highly recommended to make a yeast starter to ensure a healthy fermentation devoid of off flavors usually associated with an underpitch of yeast. Targeting a pitch rate of 2 million cells/degree Plato/ml wort would be in the neighborhood of 700 billion yeast cells for this recipe. A single liquid pack of Omega or Imperial contains 200 billion, so even two packs would be a considerable underpitch for this beer. A 3 liter yeast starter with 2 packs of this yeast will be enough to pitch this beer, so it would be best to make a starter in this case. Once you have enough yeast propagated, also ensure that sufficient oxygen is introduced into the wort before fermentation. Given attention to these details, this beer will ferment successfully and reach a final gravity somewhere around 1.016 to 1.022. Since this is a strong beer, it is also a great candidate for extended aging.”