Pohjala Öö 330ml

Põhjala Brewery Öö | Imperial Baltic Porter

Põhjala Öö is a powerful Imperial Baltic Porter from Tallinn’s renowned craft brewery Põhjala. Meaning "Night" in Estonian, this pitch-black beer offers a rich, full-bodied experience that echoes the depth of winter. It opens with a touch of espresso-like acidity, soon softened by sweet caramelized toffee and dark chocolate. As the beer gently warms, layers of redcurrants and warming alcohol emerge, creating a complex, rewarding profile.

On the nose, expect burnt sugar, dark fruits like plums and raisins, and a hint of distant smoke. Öö is more than a beer – it's a tasting ritual. Best enjoyed slowly, at cellar temperature, on quiet evenings or paired with rich desserts.

Recipe:

Grist. We scale this grist bill in this proportion to hit a starting gravity of 25° Plato after boil, and boil aggressively to ensure rich caramelisation.

58.9% Pilsner zero (Viking)
17% Munich (light) (Viking)
8.5% Carafa type 2 special (Weyermann)
4.2% Special B (Dingemans)
4.2% Chocolate malt dark (Viking)
4.2% Cara 300 (Viking)
2.8% Cara pale (Viking)
A further 15% of the fermentables will come from a dark sugar added at the start of the boil.

We mash for approximately 60 minutes at 62°C, then rise to 72°C for 15 minutes, before finally mashing out at 78°C and starting the latter.

We would look to start the boil at approximately 24°, with a pH of 5.1

Over the 60 minute boil we bitter to approximately 60—70 IBU with Magnum, and add 0.64g/L of Northern Brewer at the end of the boil

We ferment Öö at cool temps of around 18°C with WLP090, San Diego Super yeast, which we use as our house strain. We expect this to finish at approximately 7° Plato

Following the main fermentation, we’ll crash this to –1°c and hold it there until it’s tasty, removing the yeast. It’s not uncommon for this to sit for several weeks at cold temperatures lagering!

Additional notes:

We use Viking malt from Finland for the majority of our base malts and they have a very British style.

US-05 is an adequate substitute for WLP090, and may be preferable if you cannot create a healthy yeast starter

We’re using protafloc and yeast nutrients, these can be added as appropriate during the boil

Ingredients: water, BARLEY malt (Pilsner Zero, Munich, Carafa II Special, Special B, Chocolate malt, Crystal 300), Demerara sugar, hops (Magnum, Northern Brewer), yeast.