chass3

Recipes 

hi,
I'm looking to make a big beer for some time, and I think I want to make an imperial stout with a Belgian twist- and since Heart of Darkness takes place in the Belgian Congo, the name is a great fit.

Here's the recipe I'm looking to make. I'll be pitching on a Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity yeast cake from a Patersbier (just 9lbs of pils and some light noble hops) that'll be around 1.040.

I'll also be doing a no-sparge mash to increase wort quality and making a porter out of the second runnings. I'm expecting about ~55% brewhouse efficiency for the stout.

the recipe is as follows:
120 min boil - 1.1ish OG - ~75IBU
22lbs Belgian pale malt
4lbs Belgian wheat
2lbs roasted barley
1.5lbs chocolate wheat
.75lbs caramunich
1lb D-180 (candi sugar) - add at flameout

2oz magnum @ 60
2oz Styrian goldings @ 10
2oz Styrian goldings @ 1

mash at 154 for a long-ass time at about 1.2 gal/lb, and then add the rest of the water you'll need at boiling to raise the mash temp to make lautering easier.

I don't have much by way of temperature control, just a swamp cooler, so I'll just be trying to keep it under 70 for the first week and then let it rise naturally to finish up.

I'm a little unsure about whether I want to use the candi sugar or not- I'm afraid its more delicate dark caramel flavors might get covered up by the more bold roasted flavors in the roasted barley and the chocolate wheat.

wolfman_48442

Recipes 

If I were you I'd ditch the expensive candi, for precisely the reasons you gave.
With a 2 hour boil, you'll get enough wort carmelization to make the sugar completely unnecessary.