I recently got a 5 gallon bourbon barrel and have decided that the first beer in should be a big ass RIS. So I've worked out what I think looks like a pretty decent recipe using Beersmith. Looking to go for a somewhat unusual breakfast-style RIS. Here's what I'm thinking- Grain Bill 1/2 # Black Patent Malt 1/2 # Special B Malt 1 # Biscuit Malt 1 # Chocolate Malt 1 # Carafa 1 # Flaked Oats 3 #s Crystal Malt 120L 18 #s US 2-Row Pale Malt 1 or 2 #s Maple Syrup 1/2 or 1 # Coffee Hops 2 oz Chinook (either at 60 mins or first wort hopped) 2 oz Fuggles (either at 60 mins or first wort hopped) 1 oz Cascade (aroma or also first wort hopped) Yeast I know I will need a huge starter. Possibly including- White Labs English Ale Yeast and/or White Labs California Ale V and/or Wyeast Ale Blend And...? I've heard that although White Labs Super High Gravity Ale yeast sounds appealing, it may not be the best of options. Thoughts? I haven't really come to a conclusion on my overall process (mashing, boiling, hopping, fermenting). Here are my questions: 1. What do you think the sweet spot for mashing a big beer like this is? Really looking to end up with a super chewy end product. Should I mash for an hour or mash longer? Should I do a decoction or any other special mash? Looking for some options. 2. Boil for an hour? Or longer? 3. I'm really interested in first wort hopping. Should I throw all hops in first wort style? Or just my bittering hops? Or use a more normal hop schedule? 4. Like I mentioned, I need a really solid yeast starter. I plan on getting some in-person help from my local homebrew store on this, but I'm always interested in a broader opinion. I am also wondering if I should try to ferment out in primary and then go straight into the barrel or if I need to transfer to secondary and potentially re-pitch to get to my FG. I'm pretty sure I will need to get down to the FG I want before transferring to the barrel. Right? Thoughts? Please let me know if you have any major critiques on this recipe and/or process. I will certainly not get my feelings hurt if something here is just wrong or way off base. Thanks for your help.
If you're looking for that super viscous, massive feel, I'd mash up toward 156-158F for an hour. I just brewed a 1.113 OG imperial stout this weekend and had good initial results with this method and then boiling a bit over 7 gallons of wort down for 90 minutes. Insane initial viscosity and flavor. Not sure if you already did in Beersmith, but I'd drop your estimated efficiency down a few points when recipe planning. I typically get 72-74% efficiency on my system and knocked this one down to 65%. I was really glad I did when I hit my preboil and OG on the mark. If I had planned this based on my normal efficiency I would have been way off.
