I know I shouldn't count my chickens until they're carbonated, but I bottled this last night and the tasting was so encouraging I almost peed myself. My No-Nonsense Stout was good, but I feel like I could put this bad-boy up against Old Rasputin! I'll update again in about a month once it's (hopefully) carbonated, but after 1.5 months in secondary, I'm guessing it's gonna take a while to carbonate. I probably should have re-dosed it with yeast, but whatever...this is a winter beer if ever I've had one, so I'm happy to wait for the colder weather.
Here's the recipe for a 3 gallon batch (only about 2.25 gallons made it into bottles, FEAR THE TRUB):
Malt bill:
3# rice solids, 90 min
2# D-90 candi syrup, 90 min
8 oz molasses, 90 min
2# chocolate-roasted buckwheat, steeping
2# chocolate-roasted purple rice, steeping (same grains that I steeped for Purple Hefereisen)
1.5# oven-roasted beets, pureed, steeping
Hop Schedule:
0.5 oz Columbus pellets (15.4% AA), 90 min
0.75 oz Willamette whole-leaf (5.5% AA), 60 min
0.75 oz Willamette whole-leaf, 20 min
0.5 oz Willamette whole-leaf, 5 min
S-33 Dry Yeast
OG: 1.089
FG: 1.023
ABV: 8.8%
IBUs: 71.5 (Average method)
This one needs a longer aging; hydrometer samples taken at 1 and 2 weeks were both AWFUL--sharp, burnt, and almost tongue-numbingly bitter. But after 6 weeks in secondary, it has a nice chocolate/black coffee taste with a clean assertive bitterness and a pleasing hop aroma. It is rich, full-bodied, with a nice sweetness to balance the hops--a perfect dessert beer. It is true what they say about aging Imperial stouts, if I had bottled it young I might have thought it was undrinkable!
Here's the recipe for a 3 gallon batch (only about 2.25 gallons made it into bottles, FEAR THE TRUB):
Malt bill:
3# rice solids, 90 min
2# D-90 candi syrup, 90 min
8 oz molasses, 90 min
2# chocolate-roasted buckwheat, steeping
2# chocolate-roasted purple rice, steeping (same grains that I steeped for Purple Hefereisen)
1.5# oven-roasted beets, pureed, steeping
Hop Schedule:
0.5 oz Columbus pellets (15.4% AA), 90 min
0.75 oz Willamette whole-leaf (5.5% AA), 60 min
0.75 oz Willamette whole-leaf, 20 min
0.5 oz Willamette whole-leaf, 5 min
S-33 Dry Yeast
OG: 1.089
FG: 1.023
ABV: 8.8%
IBUs: 71.5 (Average method)
This one needs a longer aging; hydrometer samples taken at 1 and 2 weeks were both AWFUL--sharp, burnt, and almost tongue-numbingly bitter. But after 6 weeks in secondary, it has a nice chocolate/black coffee taste with a clean assertive bitterness and a pleasing hop aroma. It is rich, full-bodied, with a nice sweetness to balance the hops--a perfect dessert beer. It is true what they say about aging Imperial stouts, if I had bottled it young I might have thought it was undrinkable!