Impish stout

Friends, drunkenmen, low men, lend me your beers! I am making a stout and as I've never made one before it only seems appropriate to make up my own recipe as well. I checked out the recipe for the stone imperial stout in an earlier thread and liked what I saw, but had some other ideas in my mind, and let's face it, other malts in hand. I did my best to convert that to a 5 gallon batch, but still have some questions about amounts of my specialty grains. Here's what I'm looking at for a recipe:

10 lbs. 2 row pale (it's actually Belgian pale ale malt)
1/2 lbs. victory
1/2 lbs. special B
1/2 lbs. chocolate
4 oz. black patent
4 oz. roasted barley
1.5 oz. Chinook
1.5 oz. Mt. Hood
White labs 007 yeast

My questions are these: What do you think of the proportion of specialty malts, and how would you adjust them? What do you think about using the victory malt? In my mind it sounds like an interesting and unique quality to add to a stout, but I could be wrong. I elected not to use Munich or dextrine malt, I feel like I can get the taste and body I want without the use of those malts. Ideas? Questions? Comments? Theories about life in general or specific? All is welcome, as long it makes my beer better.

That all looks pretty good, you may want to up the roasted barley to get more stoutiness. Many stouts have as high as 10% of the total grist as roasted grains.

Brew on!

I appreciate the feedback; I have more roasted barley, I may up the amount. Brew day is tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Looks real good! You might want to brew up 5 1/2 gal to account for loos in trub and yeast.... when you siphon. This way you'll get a full 5 when you bottle.

I second the upping of the roasted barley (I use 1lb.), but also up the black patent to a 1/2lb. and add some CaraPils (I use 1lb.). You will probably be okay without the CaraPils, but I noticed a marked improvement in mine once I added it to my stouts, porters, and hefe's. (?)


Also, as an Imperial Stout shouldn't the 2 row be more like 14lbs? Never brewed an Imp, but I will soon.

Yeah, a total of 12 lbs won't get you into Imperial territory, but it will make a very nice stout anyways. I agree with more roasted barley and black patent. My only question would be about the 1/2 lb. of special B. I've never used that much in a recipe. Someone else help me on this one.

First of all, thank you very much the time you have all given to help me with this.

I have extra 2 row, black patent, and roasted barley. I was just worried about getting too much burned/charcoal flavor in it, or conversely, with additional 2 row, not enough dark color. I don't have any carapils, and my LHBS is not exactly just down the street and I burn that much fuel to drive all the way out there just for a pound of malt. Next ime I'm oiut there I'll pick some up. You all have convinced me on the other grains though; I am going to up the amount a bit. I had seen recipes for big stouts that used a little crystal malt, and when the guy at my not-so-local HBS told me that the special B would provide a dark fruit flavor; I decided to use it instead of crystal. I don’t like an overly sweet beer, but I thought just a touch of a dark fruit flavor ought to be a nice counterpart to the roast. Now that I read your comment, Brewsmith, I'll drop that down to a 1/4 pound. I agree that it may have been too much with a half pound. It is also important at this point to mention, as I have failed to make myself clear, that I don’t intend for this to be completely true to the style of “Imperial” stout; just a stout that after a couple of bottles might cause a little mischief. Hence the name: Imp - a small demon | a mischievous child.

Based on your suggestions here's how I've tweaked the recipe:

12 lbs. 2 row pale
1/2 lbs. victory
1/2 lbs. chocolate
1/2 lbs. black patent
1/2 lbs. roasted barley
4 oz. Special B
1.5 oz. Chinook
1.5 oz. Mt. Hood
White labs 007 yeast

I would apprecite your feedback on this modified version. And thanks again!

I would not up the Black Patent; in fact, I would back off of the Black Patent or eliminate it altogether. Historically, Black Patent was never used for stouts - only for Porters. Too much Black Patent, I feel, gets in the way of the stoutness and negatively affects the taste of the beer.

Additionally, if you want the color from the Black Patent, but are worried about the charcoal flavor being too overpowering, you could add some or all of the Black Patent during the last 10 or so minutes of the mash.

Also, you could try using some Dehusked Carafa Malt. This will add some color without the tanins or bitterness. I usually grind up a few ounces in a coffee grinder and add to the mash of my darker beers.

Just my .02.

I disagree about backing off the Black Patent and the Special "B" (I use 1lb of the B). The Special "B" will give you a nuttiness, not so much a fruitiness, but it definitely adds sweetness. That is why you need to keep the other more acrid grains higher to balance.

Also, it has been my experience that the Black Patent will add more color than flavor, so I'd keep it up to make sure you can't see through your stout.:cross: If you are looking for more flavor from a dark grain then up the Chocolate.

Finally, if you are worried about it being too sweet still, up the roasted barley too.


I've alluded to my recipe for stout, so I might as well let you know that it's like a pound cake recipe:

1lb. Carapils
1lb. Special "B"
1lb. Chocolate Malt
1lb. Roasted Barley

I use Cascade and Fuggle hops and Wyeast Irish Ale yeast. If anyone's interested, I'll post the entire thing when I get back home (currently in Arizona due to a death in the family).

That's my take on it all!