[Clint Yeastwood]

I'm convinced my heavy fake Belgian is the greatest beer in the universe, so now I feel encouraged to make a second heavy beer. I have a stout I completely love. Sort of like Murphy's, but the FG is something like 1.015. I'm thinking I may just use more of everything to get a big OG, bump the bitterness up slightly, and maybe increase the crystal malt a bit. Sound like a plan?

Also, CO2 or beer gas? I love Old Rasputin, which is a CO2 beer, but I use beer gas for the only stout I make.

[Iliff Ave]

I would increase the base base malt disproportionally

[BrewBama]

This is a quote from Brewing Classic Styles: “The specialty grains remain the same; it is only the base malt and hop bittering that changes. Many new brewers mistakenly think it is necessary to increase the level of specialty malts when making a higher-alcohol beer. That is incorrect, and doing so will make an over-the-top version of the beer.”

Feel free to use or not use that advice as you see fit.

[denny]

This is a quote from Brewing Classic Styles: “The specialty grains remain the same; it is only the base malt and hop bittering that changes. Many new brewers mistakenly think it is necessary to increase the level of specialty malts when making a higher-alcohol beer. That is incorrect, and doing so will make an over-the-top version of the beer.”

Feel free to use or not use that advice as you see fit.

Which my experience tells me isn't the way I want to do it. Gordon's approach may work for some people,  but it's not the only way.

[ynotbrusum]

Or Jamil and John Palmer…but I agree there are many ways to do this, depending on the specific style involved.

[denny]

Or Jamil and John Palmer…but I agree there are many ways to do this, depending on the specific style involved.

If I hadn't tried the base malt only approach,  I might agree with them. But I didn't get the results I wanted or expected by doing that. It makes more sense to me to keep the relative % constant. I encourage people to try both ways themselves.

[Clint Yeastwood]

So the definitive answer is yes but also no.

Let's see. The volume stays the same. I use roasted and chocolate malt to bring the color and stouty flavor. They seem to work well with my existing stout, but does that mean they're enough for an imperial? Maybe not.

I think Old Rasputin is fantastic. I don't want to clone it, though, because I want something similar to my old stout, only high-gravity. The web says Old Rasputin comes in at 75 IBU's. My recipe hits about 45, but both beers seem appropriately bitter. I don't think of Old Rasputin as being more bitter. Maybe you have to jack up the hops when you jack up the malt, in order for the bitterness to seem similar. The only thing in my recipe that contributes sweetness is Munich malt.

The grain bill, which got me to 1.054, looks like this:

4.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM)
5 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter
1 lbs 8.0 oz Oats, Flaked 
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)

Beersmith's adjustment tool gives this for 1.084:

7.2 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) 
9 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
2 lbs 11.1 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM)
1 lbs 12.7 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)
14.4 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) 
14.4 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
14.4 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)

Beersmith thinks 8.4% ABV, which would be fine.

Maybe I should try this and increase the hopping, and if the resulting stout is messed up, I can play around with next batch.

Looks like the yeast I use, US-05, is commonly used in imperial stout.

[denny]

Don't forget about the sweetness from alcohol in a high gravity beer. And you might consider BRY97 instead of 05.

[Clint Yeastwood]

Thanks for those tips. So I can shoot for 75 IBU, since it works with Old Rasputin, and if it's wrong, one more thing to adjust. I am reluctant to increase the ratio of dark grain just yet, but maybe I'm wrong.

Is Bry-97 less likely to fail me than US-05? I want to make sure the fermentation doesn't die.

[denny]

Thanks for those tips. So I can shoot for 75 IBU, since it works with Old Rasputin, and if it's wrong, one more thing to adjust. I am reluctant to increase the ratio of dark grain just yet, but maybe I'm wrong.

Is Bry-97 less likely to fail me than US-05? I want to make sure the fermentation doesn't die.

It's not so much that as better flavor IMO. Neither one will have any issues if you use 2 packs. Increasing dark grains is up to you, although I would. Whatever you do, don't cold steep. add them late, or use carafa.  Not the right kind of beer for that. For my 100th batch (many years ago), I brewed a OR "homage" recipe by Bill Pierce of Brews & Views fame. It was very good, but I'll be damned if I can find it now. I'll keep looking.

[pete b]

So the definitive answer is yes but also no.

Let's see. The volume stays the same. I use roasted and chocolate malt to bring the color and stouty flavor. They seem to work well with my existing stout, but does that mean they're enough for an imperial? Maybe not.

I think Old Rasputin is fantastic. I don't want to clone it, though, because I want something similar to my old stout, only high-gravity. The web says Old Rasputin comes in at 75 IBU's. My recipe hits about 45, but both beers seem appropriately bitter. I don't think of Old Rasputin as being more bitter. Maybe you have to jack up the hops when you jack up the malt, in order for the bitterness to seem similar. The only thing in my recipe that contributes sweetness is Munich malt.

The grain bill, which got me to 1.054, looks like this:

4.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM)
5 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter
1 lbs 8.0 oz Oats, Flaked 
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)

Beersmith's adjustment tool gives this for 1.084:

7.2 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) 
9 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
2 lbs 11.1 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM)
1 lbs 12.7 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)
14.4 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) 
14.4 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
14.4 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)

Beersmith thinks 8.4% ABV, which would be fine.

Maybe I should try this and increase the hopping, and if the resulting stout is messed up, I can play around with next batch.

Looks like the yeast I use, US-05, is commonly used in imperial stout.

You would want to increase IBUs for the higher gravity: the additional sweetness needs that balance IMO.

[BrewBama]

There’s an Old Rasputin recipe found in the July/August 2007 Zymurgy that I always thought looked interesting. I always wanted to try a reiterative mash with it but never did.

The Best of BYO magazine’s 250 Classic Clone Recipes has an extremely similar recipe which seems to corroborate the account.

Again, feel free to ck it out or not. Your call. Have fun!

Which my experience tells me isn't the way I want to do it. Gordon's approach may work for some people,  but it's not the only way.

I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we were talking about the way you want to do it. I thought the OP was looking for various points of view. 

So, I gave BCS’s (which is not Gordon’s approach btw).  …though they do have similarities I suppose.

I absolutely didn’t intend to imply it was the only way which is exactly why I included the caveat to feel free to disregard the advice.

Cheers!

[denny]

There’s an Old Rasputin recipe found in the July/August 2007 Zymurgy that I always thought looked interesting. I always wanted to try a reiterative mash with it but never did.

The Best of BYO magazine’s 250 Classic Clone Recipes has an extremely similar recipe which seems to corroborate the account.

Again, feel free to ck it out or not. Your call. Have fun!

Which my experience tells me isn't the way I want to do it. Gordon's approach may work for some people,  but it's not the only way.

I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we were talking about the way you want to do it. I thought the OP was looking for various points of view.  So, I gave BCS’s (which is not Gordon’s approach btw).  I absolutely didn’t intend to imply it was the only way which is exactly why I included the caveat to feel free to disregard the advice.

Cheers!

And mine was one of "various". It's possible that the OR recipe in Zymurgy is Bill's.

[Clint Yeastwood]

This is a lot of input, so considerable study and practical research will be needed. I should probably have a stout right now.

[Cliffs]

My stout is 5% caraaroma, 5% roasted barley, 5% chocolate malt and 85% simpsons golden promise, OG 1.050, 25 IBUs. When I tried to "imperialize" this recipe by increasing everything proportionally but to a higher ABV, (as well as more IBU's) the malt character was all out of wack, way to caramelly sweet, too much roast)