I have a slew of questions. Now that I am on brew #11 tomorrow, Belgian Pale Ale. I am looking at next Christmas, as a gift, making some Imperial Russian Stouts. IT IS ALSO GOING TO BE MY FIRST ALL GRAIN! I gifted a sweet chocolate stout and a Belgian Holiday Ale this past holiday. The sweet stout was a hit, so I want to give another shot. As a starting point to a great Imperial Stout I like (and you can hate on it if you want) is Three Floyds Dark Lord. I have been at Dark Lords Day 3x in the past 5 years, and loved it every year. Hoping to balance the sweetness, vanilla, chocolate, and coffee a little bit better to make it more approachable. Although I want to be in the atleast 12.5%-15% ABV and I have a few questions to everyone on this forum.
So trying to dial in to the aspects of an Imperial Russian Stout:
How dark is too dark? My Water(Indiana hard water so [I need to get tested], All RO? with salts added?), pH (5.5-5.6?), Mash temps(155f-158F), Hops? (I am thinking Magnum and NB), Yeasts? Denny's Favorite 50? American Whiskey? London Ale? Cali? US-05? Combinations? How long to age? I was thinking about boiling Cocao Knibs and powder and Aging on Vanilla Beans. Undecided about oak chips or not, I think rum soaked oak chips would add a ton of character but I really am undecided about adding anything else to this already complex beer style. Dark Lord uses Mexican Chocolate, no idea if it is spiced chocolate or not, coffee (I am thinking espresso roast), and Indian Sugar (I was gunna stick to Dark brown sugar). Nothing is set in stone because I don't think I am going to try and brew this up for another month. So now comes the research.
About my 5th look at a recipe I am playing with, I am on 3 base malts, 3 dark malts, and 2 crystal malts. Not a fan of the recipes I have found online. The one Dark Lord Clone I found seems to be off by my perception, and looking for advise. I seem to remember reading that these beers are darkened with Roasted Barley, Chocolate, and Black Patent. I even kicked around the thought of midnight wheat in place of the roasted barley, but I don't know if it would replace the roasted bitterness appropriately.