[Megary]

This will be brewed over the holidays, so I still have a few months to root out the line between "complex" and "overblown".   

The goal is to brew something that bounces around the palate. A touch of roast, but also other appropriate flavors such as chocolate, coffee, vanilla, etc.  A malty, winter sipper.  Not looking to pigeonhole this as American or Russian or Baltic etc.

I've made a gajillion stouts and porters before, but never an Imperial.  My thoughts are that this style should be complex and I'd also like to think that I have a reason for everything, but I'll acknowledge that I may be pushing into "muddled" territory.

The approximate Goal:
OG ≈ 1.100
FG ≈ 1.025-1.030
ABV ≈ 11% ish
IBU's ≈ 50
SRM ≈ 40

The Foundation:
42% Deer Creek Pale
21% Briess Golden Light DME - using this for gravity points and to compensate for the limitations of my kettle
7% Deer Creek Dark Munich (20L) - I've gotten nuts, chocolate, toast from this malt before
7% Deer Creek Twilight Wheat (8.5L) - for foam retention primarily, but this malt has a definite almond presence

The "Stout" character:
9% Flaked Barley
7% C120 - hoping to balance the dark malts with a bit of stone fruit, caramel
4.5% Crisp Pale Chocolate (220L) - the only "chocolate" malt that I've ever detected chocolate from.  YMMV.
2.5% Deer Creek Roasted Barley (300L)

Bitter with Magnum
Finish with something...Cascade, Willamette, Northern Brewer.  Or a mix.

2 packs - BRY-97

Homemade vanilla extract at packaging, or vanilla beans in primary for the last few days.  Bottle, then forget it for 6 months to a year.


Thoughts welcome on any or all of this.

[denny]

Given the flaked barley, you could skip the wheat

[Richard]

I have used Briess Golden DME to increase the gravity in some big beers because of the limits of my kettle, just as you propose. This year I am going to use Dark DME and see what that does. It makes sense to me to use a darker DME in a darker beer.

[Megary]

I have used Briess Golden DME to increase the gravity in some big beers because of the limits of my kettle, just as you propose. This year I am going to use Dark DME and see what that does. It makes sense to me to use a darker DME in a darker beer.

Thanks for the reply.  I considered that.  But at 21% of the bill?  Considering I haven’t used extract in 25 years, I thought it was safer to use a pale extract and build my Stout flavors with what I am familiar with.  I’m under the impression that the Golden Light DME will be close to a blank canvas whereas a Dark DME will give me…what exactly?  Will I still need Roasted Barley and Chocolate Malt?  According to Briess, their Dark DME has a flavor profile of “sweet, intense malty”.  Seems that might be best used in small doses??

[Megary]

Given the flaked barley, you could skip the wheat

Thanks.  I would probably end up raising the % of flaked barley.  The Twilight Wheat also gives me some DP to help in the mash.  Though I think I’ll be fine without it.  Under consideration.

[pete b]

I agree about the light extract instead of dark. That way your just adding gravity points without much flavor contribution so you can heve more control with your specialty malts.

[Megary]

So I brewed that beer above pretty much exactly as written, except I pitched 2 fully-expanded pouches of WY1728 Scottish Ale yeast instead of BRY-97.  Temp range of 1728, according to Wyeast, is 55-75°.

OG was 1.114.

Pitch temp was 65°, +/- a degree.

Set fermenter at 62° ambient.

Temp of wort fell to 62° as fermentation got going in about 6-7 hours, then gradually rose hitting a peak of 70° at high krausen ≈ 2-3 days later.  Fermentation was vigorous (to say the least) for about 4 days and seems to be going as expected.  Temp of wort has now dropped back down to 62° as krausen has fallen and bubbles have slowed considerably.

Would you:
A - leave the wort at 62°?
B - raise the temp to upper 60's?
C - something else

[reverseapachemaster]

Would you:
A - leave the wort at 62°?
B - raise the temp to upper 60's?
C - something else

Increase the temperature

[Megary]

Would you:
A - leave the wort at 62°?
B - raise the temp to upper 60's?
C - something else

Increase the temperature

Thanks. It shall be done.

[erockrph]

So I brewed that beer above pretty much exactly as written, except I pitched 2 fully-expanded pouches of WY1728 Scottish Ale yeast instead of BRY-97.  Temp range of 1728, according to Wyeast, is 55-75°.

Would you:
A - leave the wort at 62°?
B - raise the temp to upper 60's?
C - something else

Did you make a starter, or just pitch two packs of yeast? At that OG, I'd be afraid of stalling out at a high FG, especially with so much DME in the malt bill. I would definitely rouse the yeast and bump the temp a few degrees. I'd expect full fermentation to take 2-3 weeks, and you probably want to swirl your fermenter every day or so just to help keep your yeast in suspension.

[Megary]

So I brewed that beer above pretty much exactly as written, except I pitched 2 fully-expanded pouches of WY1728 Scottish Ale yeast instead of BRY-97.  Temp range of 1728, according to Wyeast, is 55-75°.

Would you:
A - leave the wort at 62°?
B - raise the temp to upper 60's?
C - something else

Did you make a starter, or just pitch two packs of yeast? At that OG, I'd be afraid of stalling out at a high FG, especially with so much DME in the malt bill. I would definitely rouse the yeast and bump the temp a few degrees. I'd expect full fermentation to take 2-3 weeks, and you probably want to swirl your fermenter every day or so just to help keep your yeast in suspension.

Thanks for the reply.

No starter, though this is a 3 gallon batch if that matters.

For sure on the time.  I did bump the temp and it’s now sitting at 68, where it will remain for at least another week, maybe 2.

As far as swirling, I hear this a lot but why do I find this unnecessary?  Does swirling a fermenter actually make yeast that has given up now come back to life?  Maybe it does, I really have no idea.  Also, I have a spigot on the fermenter that I will be bottling directly from and I’m a bit concerned that swirling the yeast and trub will only lead to a clogged spigot.

[denny]

Having tried swirling many times, I can't say it did anything for me

[MNWayne]

Swirling makes the airlock bubble.  Everybody likes a bubbling airlock.  I makes us smile.

[denny]

Swirling makes the airlock bubble.  Everybody likes a bubbling airlock.  I makes us smile.

 

[Megary]

Bottled over the weekend.  1728 took this Imperial Stout from 1.114 ---> 1.027.  That's 76% attenuation and 11.4 ABV, which is a bit more than I expected, but not much more.  Temp never got above 68°.  Sample taste was promising enough, though admittedly a bit green.  Hopefully I can get a fair bit of hardy yeast to give me enough carbonation.  I'll check back next Christmas.