Imperial Stout recipe suggestions

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by inflatablechair, Apr 8, 2012.

Tags:
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. inflatablechair

    inflatablechair Initiate (0) Dec 31, 2003 Idaho

    What I came up with so far (4 gallon batch):
    15 lbs MO
    1 lb US Black Barley
    1 lbs Chocolate Malt
    1 lb Crystal 120
    4 oz Special B

    I can add up to 4 lbs each of the Black and Chocolate. Just looking for suggestions on proportions. I don't want the Special B to be too overpowering, but to add just a hint of raisin flavor.
     
    #1 inflatablechair, Apr 8, 2012
  2. joshodonn

    joshodonn Initiate (0) Jan 21, 2011 Florida

    I would put some flaked oats and/or barley in there to add some thickness to the mouthfeel... It's all personal preference though, I like my imperial stouts to be thick. I'm actually just finishing up an IS that has 1.5 lb each of flaked oats and flaked barley
     
    #2 joshodonn, Apr 8, 2012
  3. inflatablechair

    inflatablechair Initiate (0) Dec 31, 2003 Idaho

    I was thinking I would mash high, like around 155-158F. I don't have any flaked grains, and the HB shops are all closed today. Yeast-wise, I'll be using S-04, so hopefully it will finish on the thicker side.

    My main concern was the % of Black Barley; I don't want it to be acrid, but I also want it to taste like a stout. I'm hoping to brew in the next hour, so any other suggestions are welcome.
     
    #3 inflatablechair, Apr 8, 2012
  4. Agold

    Agold Maven (1,287) Mar 13, 2010 Pennsylvania

    I am not usually a fan of that much patent in a beer, but some people don't mind it. I like more chocolate so I would probably replace some black malt with some chocolate malt. I am also not usually a fan of that much crystal (especially a crystal that dark) in a beer. You essentially have 1 1/4 pounds of very dark crystal. I would back off that crystal 120 a bit.
     
    #4 Agold, Apr 8, 2012
  5. NiceFly

    NiceFly Initiate (0) Dec 22, 2011 Tajikistan

    You can get quick oats at the grocery store.

    I prefer roasted barley in my stouts, but nothing in this grainbill seems out of wack.

    Estimated OG and FG might be helpful. You may want to consider a hop addition or two. Maybe use a yeast strain to ferment it? Just suggestions:flushed:.
     
    #5 NiceFly, Apr 8, 2012
  6. inflatablechair

    inflatablechair Initiate (0) Dec 31, 2003 Idaho

    I also prefer roasted barley in my stouts, but that's what I get for procrastinating. The local shop was out of roasted, so I had to replace it on the fly.

    I ended up with the exact recipe in the OP, but I think Agold might have been right about the black barley. First impressions from the hydrometer sample is a lot of acrid bitterness; hopefully some of that will drop out of solution during fermentation. Ended up with an OG of 1.084 which is quite low (57% brewhouse efficiency according to Beersmith).

    Thanks for the responses, even though I didn't take anyone's advice. We'll see how it turns out, and if it is worthy of my 2.5 gal oak barrel.
     
    #6 inflatablechair, Apr 9, 2012
  7. joshodonn

    joshodonn Initiate (0) Jan 21, 2011 Florida

    I feel your pain with the low efficiency, I was shooting for an OG of 1.102 with my imperial stout today and only came in at 1.081 for a 64% efficiency... I'm usually closer to 78-80% with my system, but that is with smaller mashes... This was only second time with a 20+ lb grain bill and I think I need to reoptimize for big brews like this...
     
    #7 joshodonn, Apr 9, 2012
  8. inflatablechair

    inflatablechair Initiate (0) Dec 31, 2003 Idaho

    After reading your post again, I finally understood what you were getting at with your tongue-in-cheek suggestions. I suppose I should have said "malt bill" instead of "recipe" in the thread title; anyways, I boiled some locally-grown Zeus hops (11.1% alpha) for about 50 IBUs and pitched a rehydrated packet of S-04.
     
    #8 inflatablechair, Apr 9, 2012
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.