Help me make my 30th birthday beer

Inspired by Revvey, I am making a beer that will age for three years and be opened on my 30th birthday. The plan is to make a huge Oaked RIS. Ferment with safale-04 then pitch white labs super high gravity to bring the ABV up to around 15%, then oak in secondary.

What do you guys think of the recipe below? doe it look technically sound and like something that will benefit from the aging?

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XXX RIS
Imperial Stout
Type: All Grain Date: 9/22/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal Brewer: Jim Coleman
Boil Size: 6.89 gal Asst Brewer: Folks at HBT
Boil Time: 90 min Equipment: My Equipment
End of Boil Volume 5.76 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 5.25 gal Est Mash Efficiency 67.4 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5.25 gal London, England Water 1 -
10 lbs 12.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 44.3 %
1 lbs 6.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 30L (30.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.7 %
1 lbs 6.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.7 %
11.0 oz Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.8 %
11.0 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.8 %
6.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 7 1.5 %
8 lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 8 33.0 %
1 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 9 4.1 %
3.50 oz Summit [17.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 10 118.5 IBUs
2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 7.0 min Hop 11 10.7 IBUs
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
2.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) [23.66 ml] Yeast 13 -
1.0 pkg Super High Gravity Ale (White Labs #WLP099) [35.49 ml] Yeast 14 -
4.00 oz Oak Cubes Med (Secondary 7.0 days) Flavor 15 -
8.00 oz Bourbon (Secondary 0.0 mins) Flavor 16 -

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.137 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.027 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 14.8 %
Bitterness: 129.2 IBUs Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 43.6 SRM
Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 24 lbs 4.1 oz
Sparge Water: 4.90 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.20

Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 15.65 qt of water at 166.2 F 152.0 F 60 min

Sparge Step: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 4.90gal) of 168.0 F water
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Bottle Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Pressure/Weight: 4.12 oz Carbonation Used: Bottle with 4.12 oz Corn Sugar
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 70.0 F Age for: 900.00 days
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage Storage Temperature: 70.0 F
Notes

Ferment with safale for 7 days then pitch super high gravity

Hate to be that guy, but I posted it early in the weekend and it sank like a rock this morning, so just this one time.

*bump*

That is a lot of stuff going on in 1 brew. Are you basing this off something you have done before or a "known" recipe?

For the mash, you'll want to raise that sparge water temp up so that the actually sparge ends up in the upper 160's.

Seems like a lot going on, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

billl said:

That is a lot of stuff going on in 1 brew. Are you basing this off something you have done before or a "known" recipe?

For the mash, you'll want to raise that sparge water temp up so that the actually sparge ends up in the upper 160's.

Click to expand...

The grain bill is a scaled up from a clone of Old Rasputin and had to add the corn sugar to get down to the right FG.

I based the hops off Designing Great beers and scaled them to come up with a IBU/SG ratio of just under 1.

The oak and bourbon are my own contribution, but I know other RISs use oak (Yeti, Dragon's Milk) and I figure with the aging it will have plenty of time to meld with the other flavors.

Just my 2 cents, but I wouldn't add bourbon. This beer is going to be a monster all on its own, so I wouldn't be highlighting any additional alcohol flavors.

If you haven't already, make sure you plug this into a yeast calculator to verify your pitching rates. Also, you'll definitely need a good way to control temps. This thing is likely going to go like a runaway train and throw off a whole lot more heat than your average brew.

I would increase the roast to 12oz or even a full lb. The flavor will mellow over 3 years. Looks good though!

ahurd110 said:

I would increase the roast to 12oz or even a full lb. The flavor will mellow over 3 years. Looks good though!

Click to expand...

Good call, I was planning for the hops and oak to mellow over time, but hadn't given much thought to how the malt profile might change.