Balancing a Porter

100 IBU's in a porter would need enough malt bill to back it to balance it, that you'd be pushing it out of the Porter category.

 

There have been many examples of porters hopped to this level and beyond.

 

What's the anticipated FG?

 

Plenty of variance with bitterness levels, depending upon the style of stout. Dry Irish or American versions are often at 1:1 BU:GU ratios (e.g. 70 IBU for a 1.070 OG, 40IBU for a 1.040 - 1.042 OF, etc.) Foreign Extras can be at .7 to .8 BU/GU. Sweet stouts can be at .5 and Imperials can run from .75 to 1:1, depending what you want the finished beer to be.

Porters are often surprisingly low on BU/GU, coming in at roughly .5 to .6 or so. This can be due to the acrid nature of black malt giving a perception of bitterness even when the IBUs aren't there. Note, of course, that there are flyers in each style that don't match these numbers. They're just based on recipes that are out there.

Having said all that, the big thing when you start adding things you want to come through in the flavor is to limit or even eliminate late hops. Unless you're adding a flavor that is going to be complimented by a certain hop variety (mango with Citra, citrus with Centennial, and so forth), it's best to simply avoid having conflicting flavors. With a flavored porter like yours, i'd be prone to going for the lower IBUs (~ .5 BU/Gu) in a single charge at the beginning of the boil and not adding aroma or flavor hop additions. That would give enough bitterness to prevent the beer being cloying while not masking or competing with the chocolate and maple.

Take my advice with a grain of salt, however, as A) I don't know what you're really wanting the beer to taste like, and B), it's not going to be my beer. You're brewing it, not me.

 

Damn iPhone and autocorrect. Ignore the typos in that reply. Fixing them would take far too long on this thing.

 

I brewed a 9% baltic porter with about 55 calculated ibus last year - entered it into a competition and it got dinged for being too bitter - I didn't think it was out of range of sinebychoff (which I used as a model for this one) and imo most US versions I've had are unbalanced and cloying after half a pint, and I prefer a more drinkable beer (even if it is 9%abv) so that I can have a least two pints in a row.

This year I scaled back to 45 ibus and doesn't seem that much different to me - still has a nice drinkable balance.

The balance you seek is going to depend on residual sweetness, mouthfeel, and of course your personal preferences. I don't think you would have a problem anywhere up to 60 ibus. Otter Creek Black IPA is advertised as 60 ibus and I think that is one fine porter. :-o

 

It all depends on what you are brewing for.If it's yourself then hop as highly as you like. If it's for a competition governed by the fantasy world of the BJCP then brew accordingly.
There are many, many historical precedents for massive hopping of porters.Two thirds of the beer sent to India during the Raj was porter and commonly hopped to well over 100 theoretical IBUs.People seem happy to accept heavy hopping of Pale Ales at the same time so why not porters?