Uk Imperial Stout Idea

[andytork]

All,

I am looking at putting my recently purchased wyeast imperial to use.

I was considering the winter warmer below (in the style of a John Courage Imperial). Beersmith puts it at about 11.5%

Any thoughts ideas welcomed

Andy


Recipe: Imperial Stout
Brewer: Andy
Style: Imperial Stout
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 18.93 L
Boil Size: 21.67 L
Estimated OG: 1.107 SG
Estimated Color: 33.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 59.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 84.29 %
0.34 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 4.09 %
0.28 kg Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 3.37 %
0.09 kg Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.02 %
0.15 kg Treacle (100.0 SRM) Extract 1.81 %
0.45 kg Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 5.42 %
60.00 gm Target [9.00 %] (90 min) Hops 47.5 IBU
28.00 gm Target [9.00 %] (15 min) Hops 10.3 IBU
14.00 gm Target [9.00 %] (5 min) Hops 2.1 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
2000ml Imperial Blend (Wyeast Labs #9093PC)


Single Infusion, Full Body, No Mash Out, 90 mins at about 65/66 degrees

 

[jbowers]

Haven't had heaps of english RIS's, but personally I'd up the bitterness. It looks like most UK RIS have about 50-60 IBU's and weigh in around 7-9% based on some very very brief research.

A beer that big is going to be sweet, so maybe 10 more IBU would balance it out a little?

That being said, that is just my opinion and not a very firm one at that. Am curious to see what others say.

 

[Tony]

I have made a couple and at 11% you wont be drinking a lot of them so its best to make them big flavoured. It will need to mature for at least 6 months before its drinkable and a lot of specialty malts will mellow over that time to become something wonderfull.

Here is what i would change

1. drop the sugar all together! If you need it to up the alc..... go with a lower gravity!
2. mash cooler at around 64 to 65 deg to get good attenuation. trust me..... it wont be thin!
3. double the crystal, chocolate and roast barley additions. go for about 8%, 5% and 3% respectivly.
4. Bitter with the Target but use EKG for the later additions.
5. Increase the bitterness to up around 80 IBU


Also..... you dont need imperial blend for big beers. I made an IIPA at about 1.095, mashed it at 63 deg and got it down to 1.010 with US-05. ended up around 11% or more. It was big and malty even with 650g of hops in 26 liters.

cheers

 

[andytork]

Thanks for the responses guys,

Tony, The sugar was added as the rumour was that courage used it in this recipe, as did quite a lot of english ale brewers.

Does the 1 degree or so make such a huge diffference to the mash ? I don't trust my thermometer (or my ability to read it) that much

I do have a 1084 yeast available, but I want to give the imperial a shot on this occasion. I would normally go the 1084 for this type of beer

I will be letting condition until the depths of winter so should be good to go.

Thanks

Andy

 

[andytork]

Haven't had heaps of english RIS's, but personally I'd up the bitterness. It looks like most UK RIS have about 50-60 IBU's and weigh in around 7-9% based on some very very brief research.

I was aiming at about 61 IBU (as per reputed the original). I will revise it up after peoples advice to at least the high 60's

Andy

 

[bradsbrew]

I am on day 2 of ferment of my maiden Imperial Oatmeal Stout, original gravity was 1056. Put it in the fermenter yesterday with the pacman yeast. Today I boiled and inverted 150g of brown sugar and 100g of honey let it cool and added it to the fermenter. Tommorrow I will steep some choc malt and some roasted barley then boil down, cool and add to the fermenter. On day four I will add another mix of inverted sugar,DME, vanilla and coffee. then I will leave it alone until it ferments out because I dont want to stuff around too much B) .

Brad

 

[Tony]

Yeah i guess the sugar would be ok. Use Damerara sugar though! YUM!

just worked out the GU:BU ratio for Imperial stout from the BJCP guidelines at 0.66

so for a 1.107 beer that would be 70 IBU. I like a bit more bitterness though. especially in a stout.

cheers

 

[andytork]

Yeah i guess the sugar would be ok. Use Damerara sugar though! YUM!

I usually use a dark brown or demerara in this style of ale. My speckled hen is quite nice using dark brown. Was just my first cut with beersmith so just picked what was close. Will revise closer to time. Hence why I posted this thread

I will be a little conservative on this one and aim for 70IBU and use the EKG for flavour / aroma (Now, should I risk the chinese cascade I have left for bittering :blink: )

Thanks again
Andy

 

[Tony]

NO

 

[schooey]

If it was me, I'd be aiming for my IBU over 80 IBU. I'd also up the percentage of roast malts; don't believe everything you read on AHB about anything over 5% being too much, just chalk up your water and you'll be fine. I would also be mashing at the high end, 68-69-even 70ish.. ... Don't worry about attenuation with that yeast either, it's a worker and a 10-11% beer won't worry it. I had ~71% attenuation with it on a beer that ended up being ~13% ABV, that was mashed at 68C. The key is really good wort aeration and a big healthy starter of yeast... start it at around 20C and ramp it up to 22-24 C to finish, and give it a good long secondary. If you're bottling, champagne bottles wouldn't be a bad plan...

As for the sugar addition, I think it works well in a RIS. just make two additions on day 2 and day 3 of the ferment. That way you will be hiding a lot of the alcohol warmth in the flavour profile. It works a treat, I promise...

** Disclaimer: I must admit a lot of this advice was gleaned from a very good maker of stouts and I'm just passing on the knowledge. It has worked a treat for me

 

[andytork]

NO

Only joking on the hops

The chinese hops worked really well on my recent Danish Lager (Linky)

Wouldn't risk them in this stout !

 

[dr K]

your mash efficiency will be lower if you are brewing a super high gravity beer (for all sorts of reasons) so won't get anywhere near that volume at that gravity out of the kettle
the lower efficiency means you have to recalculate your hops, remember stouts are not highly hopped and a RIS is, I believe a stout albiet a massive one, 50-60 IBU's is massive but you can still get away with it (I would aim 40-50 but thats me)
mash low (not that it will make that much difference)
temp control of fermentation is critical, with that much fermentables you are looking at explosive fermention, keep your ambient around 10C
use a shot load of CaCO3
do not use too much roast, use lots of choc, around 10% sugar (white is fine and preferred)
good luck

K

 

[schooey]

Woops... A man should read the whole thread title and not just see the words 'Imperial Stout' and get excited... hence my usage of the RIS terminology... UK is a different animal

Agree with you Kurtz, all except for using the WY9093 at 10C. I realise you said ambient, and I'm guessing your thinking is the actual fermentation temp in the wort will be around the high teens mark? Maybe you are right... I measure my ferment temp with a datalogger in the wort, and I've never experienced an increase of 8C above ambient. I must admit also that my experience with this yeast is limitied, only 3 brews, but the one time I tried it at 17C, I found it to be under attenuated and wanting. I guess there are many other variables to come into play there...