Imperial Stout Double-W Imperial Stout

sfrisby said:

I wouldn't sweat it. I had to make some substitutions too and it turned out awesome! You may have created a masterpiece!

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Well I changed my sig to read Double-W (inspired) stout. Wish me luck. I'll post an update in here in about 2mo when I take a sample when bottling.

Just wanted to share what I did with my tiny variation of this recipe. Bulk aged in a keg for the last 5 months, finally decided I needed to make room in my keezer so I bottled it. My friend took my sketch for a label and put his professional design skills to work, then each one got a wax seal. Thanks again to r2eng and everyone else for their input on this beer!

Oh, and my inspiration for the name is from MST3k episode, Space Mutiny.

bottling 2012 version now

moviebrain said:

Just wanted to share what I did with my tiny variation of this recipe. Bulk aged in a keg for the last 5 months, finally decided I needed to make room in my keezer so I bottled it. My friend took my sketch for a label and put his professional design skills to work, then each one got a wax seal. Thanks again to r2eng and everyone else for their input on this beer!

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So official, those look great! Wax seals, wow how cool is that!

yeah that looks just awesome! I'm drinking a bottle now and BOY is it tasty. Was definitely too sweet after 2 weeks in the bottle but now after 3-4 it is freakin outstanding! I'm just hoping it does not go back to being sweet later on as it was mentioned might happen. How does something like that even happen? I mean, I understand the hops can die down and let more of the malt through, but it's been said there are waves with this beer. So after drying out, and then getting sweet again, how can it become drier again? LOL

After 2 weeks n the bottle, it probably wasn't carbonated, so you were tasting priming sugar. It doesn't get sweet again, don't worry. However, it will change flavor and get more complex.

I have found that some days even commercial beers taste different to me. It's your taste buds, what you ate before, what beer you had before, etc.

r2eng said:

WOW!

OG = 1.113, now at 1.040, that's 70.8% attenuation... 9.56% ABV.

well balanced stout!

Keeping my hands off this is going to be really hard!

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Brewed mine around a month ago.
OG 1.116
FG 1.034

I don't know if the yeast will be able to carb this or if I'll have to get a champagne yeast.?

*edit* Side note, I did this as an extract and most of the specialty grains were substituted for what the LHBS had on hand. Still, good attenuation, although I did use a pretty active yeast cake.

looneybomber said:

Brewed mine around a month ago.
OG 1.116
FG 1.034

I don't know if the yeast will be able to carb this or if I'll have to get a champagne yeast.?

*edit* Side note, I did this as an extract and most of the specialty grains were substituted for what the LHBS had on hand. Still, good attenuation, although I did use a pretty active yeast cake.

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Did you pitch yeast using a starter? Did it ferment in your yeast's optimal fermentation temperature range? If so, it'll most likely bottle condition just fine but you'll need to give it more than the usual 7-14 days conditioning time. I'm talking a month or two.

My version of this got close to 11% abv and it bottle conditioned fine, but it took a month or two. I filled a 5 gallon keg and force carbed the bulk, but had just enough left in the ferm. bucket to bottle 2 22oz bombers and they carbed with Coopers sugar "carb drops" just fine. Just have a little patience with it. Besides, this is a brew that needs a few months to get fully delicious, so you have some time to let it age.

Bottled it without adding yeast. Placed all the caps on then started my clean up process and playing with my 5y/o. After about an hour, I could hear a few of the caps pop/jump so I knew the yeast was working and crimped them down. I ended up netting 746oz or 5.83gal. I didn't age any on oak or bourbon, but maybe next time.

Cracked open a bottle of (very different) WW stout. It's a good stout, rather roasty and pleasantly easy on the hops. However, I wanted more mouth feel and more malty goodness. Overall, I give it a thumbs up and will add some lactose, maltodextrine*, and chocolate on my next batch. Bought a pound each of warrior and willamette and will get the correct ingredients this time around, even though the other additions will throw it off.

*Spell checker wanted me to change this to extramarital.

*side note* Drinking this beer on an empty stomach while working on differential equations (laplace transforms). Wowza.

I am seriously surprised you feel it needs maltodextrine. This stout is so rich and thick...

r2eng said:

I am seriously surprised you feel it needs maltodextrine. This stout is so rich and thick...

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It's part of my incessant goal to achieve the body and mouth feel of Bourbon county stout. Despite the numerous substitutions, what I have in my glass is good and my wife agrees. And maybe it's my substitutions that took away some of the body that's there in the original recipe? It's certainly not watery, that's for sure.

I'm glad I bought a pound each of W and W, because I want to try brewing this again a few more times; once with the original recipe and then with more tweaks (Can you blame me? I am an engineering major:rockin. It's only fair to brew the original recipe and compare it to off-shoots. Now if only I could find the time during the school year to brew more beer.

Are the 2 chocolate malts US or UK or does it matter?
Even at 65% efficiency I think I'll hit 1.106 OG, so I might dial the maris otter down to 19lbs or 18lbs, what do you think? Plus, then it might fit into my mash tun.

well here was my experience -

holy crap that is alot of grain! I cut out 1 lb of maris otter and the 10 gallon round igloo mash tun seemed almost full before adding water! It was pretty amazing to see it suck up just under 7.5 gallons of water on top of that. I almost broke it up into 2 batches, but decided to go for it and am glad I did.

We were in my garage, and it was cold. We batch sparged. Added 173F strike water, hit like 155F. Was 153F at 30, gave a stir. Was 151F at 70 minutes, collected wort. It's real tough to get an accurate temp with that much grain by the way.

Anyways, collected 4+ gallons out of first runnings. Really let it sit to make sure we got it all. Added a little over 3 gallons at 189 and hit like 162F - should've used a calculator, with that much grain I guess you need to sparge hotter to hit 168F. Collected 3+ gallons, so ended with like 7 1/4 gallons. Pre-boil gravity: 1.080, thought I wanted to be like 1.092. But I think that's like 65% efficiency and I usually get 70% to 73%, got 80% once.

Nearly had a boil over in my 10 gallon pot - closest I've ever came. It was like actually boiled over but by some miracle defied gravity and held on while we stirred like banshees and got it under control.

My post-boil OG was 1.092, so a little low. Added 2 packs rehydrated US-05, I'm thinking with a lower OG I wiill have a lower final gravity, so it may be dryer/less sweet than it should be? This is definitely the biggest beer I've ever brewed and probably the limits of my system, if I were to add back the 1 lb maris otter. Smelled amazing! I plan to age this for 1 year.

What I'd change next brew - bigger mash paddle, shoot for 65% efficiency - add back the 1lb of maris otter, hotter sparge water, insulate cooler if outside in cold for the mash.

Brewed this up a month ago with my friend as our annual RIS brew. It's turned out nicely, with big chocolate notes. Used up my last bits of the Willamette harvest from this fall. We also did a half-ass on the spot partigyle, throwing in whatever hops I had around and some amber dme to get up to 1.05. The little brother also turned out very nicely. Just bottled both, and will report back once carbonated and aged a little.

looneybomber said:

Cracked open a bottle of (very different) WW stout. It's a good stout, rather roasty and pleasantly easy on the hops. However, I wanted more mouth feel and more malty goodness. Overall, I give it a thumbs up and will add some lactose, maltodextrine*, and chocolate on my next batch. Bought a pound each of warrior and willamette and will get the correct ingredients this time around, even though the other additions will throw it off.

*Spell checker wanted me to change this to extramarital.

*side note* Drinking this beer on an empty stomach while working on differential equations (laplace transforms). Wowza.

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I saw this thread pop up and it reminded me to try another bottle. Roughly 6mo in the bottle and this tastes pretty good! Looking back at my comment above, I will not add lactose or maltodextrine to my next batches. In fact, the lactose may ruin it...

I'll brew this again this summer.

First off I want to thank r2eng for the recipe. I was shopping for recipes early December 2012 and landed on this thread after a search for an imperial stout.

I ended up brewing up a 6 gallon batch on Christmas Eve and hit 1.113 OG. After 3 weeks in primary a 1.030 FG was read and I racked it onto 600 mL cold brewed coffee into a Balcones Blue Corn Whiskey barrel and let it secondary for 26 days.

Let me say...wow WOW wow. Thick mouth feel, some residual sweetness, chocolate, oak, vanilla. The alcohol is hidden in this complex brew. I will be definitely be brewing this one again.

Glad you liked it!

I have brewed several variations of malt with this recipe, but nothing quite matches the original.

I did, however, add more hops to hit 110IBU, and I like it better. It ages better, IMO.

We brewed this up yesterday, biggest batch we've done to date but we love a challenge. The plan is to have this ready and drinkable by October...if I can wait that long.
Changes we had to make are:
- delete 0.5lb of dark chocolate malt (LHBS did not have).
- substitute 2oz Nugget for Warrior (again, LHBS did not have).
The first runnings were SO dark, incredible. Our preboil gravity hit 1.090 at about 6.4gal and we managed to get our OG to 1.110 with about 5.5gal in the primary.

misterranger said:

First off I want to thank r2eng for the recipe. I was shopping for recipes early December 2012 and landed on this thread after a search for an imperial stout.

I ended up brewing up a 6 gallon batch on Christmas Eve and hit 1.113 OG. After 3 weeks in primary a 1.030 FG was read and I racked it onto 600 mL cold brewed coffee into a Balcones Blue Corn Whiskey barrel and let it secondary for 26 days.

Let me say...wow WOW wow. Thick mouth feel, some residual sweetness, chocolate, oak, vanilla. The alcohol is hidden in this complex brew. I will be definitely be brewing this one again.

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I'm going to be racking this into the Balcones 5 gallon barrel as well. Would you leave it in more/less than 26 days having aged 1 batch so far? I was thinking 2 weeks minimum and maybe 3 weeks maximum, but not sure after your comments. I'm looking for the vanilla and smoothness of the whiskey barrel, not so much the tannins and harshness of the oak.

Brewrifle said:

I'm going to be racking this into the Balcones 5 gallon barrel as well. Would you leave it in more/less than 26 days having aged 1 batch so far? I was thinking 2 weeks minimum and maybe 3 weeks maximum, but not sure after your comments. I'm looking for the vanilla and smoothness of the whiskey barrel, not so much the tannins and harshness of the oak.

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With my limited experience in barrel aging, I would say to start at 21 days as that is what I have heard is the going time to age. I definitely had some whiskey flavor at 21 days, but wanted a bit more toasted wood and vanilla flavor. I did not get any tannins or harshness, and at the point I pulled it I also wanted to preserve my barrel for another use. My barrel was completely dry when I received it and it was fairly fresh. I am not sure how your barrel was/is but it could also determine how long your beer should be in it.

A suggestion I would make is for drawing samples from the barrel by drilling a hole in the bottom 1/3 of the head of the barrel and putting in a 15 gauge stainless steel nail in the hole. I drilled my hole in the upper 1/3 and the sample just leaked out instead (not enough pressure). This is all done to reduce O2 exposure by pulling the bung.

BTW, if you feel that you want to drill a hole and use a nail, PM me your address and I'll send you a couple. I had to buy a pound of them.

Rossputin said:

We brewed this up yesterday, biggest batch we've done to date but we love a challenge. The plan is to have this ready and drinkable by October...if I can wait that long.
Changes we had to make are:
- delete 0.5lb of dark chocolate malt (LHBS did not have).
- substitute 2oz Nugget for Warrior (again, LHBS did not have).
The first runnings were SO dark, incredible. Our preboil gravity hit 1.090 at about 6.4gal and we managed to get our OG to 1.110 with about 5.5gal in the primary.

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Checked our gravity this past weekend, currently sitting at 1.042 which puts us at a whopping 9.45% ABV (10.7% adjusted). Tastes amazing, thank you for the recipe.

So I was thinking of taking this recipe and using it as a base for a DogFish Head World Wide Stout. My plan is to only up the bittering hops a bit. I would use the 05 for the yeast until it starts to slow and then start a few dextrose additions to get the abv up to around 18-20% using a big 099 starter. Any suggestions for doing this?? There is only one WWS clone out there and its extract using dark DME. I would rather do an all grain with a tried and true recipe

I've attempted this exactly. Posted the idea within the 120 thread and didn't get much feedback. There, they were adding like a lb a day of dextrose. Mine went much slower. I did a 1L starter of 099, bumped to 2L, bumped to 6L and it ate at a rate of about 8oz per 3 days.

My OG was 1.12, SG of 1.029 when pitched the 099. I got through about 4 of the 8 lbs of sugar before a called it quits at a SG of 1.034. I would have to check my notes, but I think I had an adjusted OG of 1.156. And with 16oz of bourbon, it has an ABV of right at 17% .Just over 3 months old and racking to trietiary this week. I'm going for more of a Bruery Chocolate rain. If you want to start a separate thread on this, I'd love to hear your plan as I'd like to try this again some day.

Wow, great to know someone else tried it! I have made the 120 before with great results. I had a sg of 1.176 and a fg of 1.016. I can attest to that beer eating through some dextrose. Anyway Ill probably do exactly as I did with that beer. I cant see why it would be slower, but who knows. When it comes to feeding beer, anything goes. I think I made a 2 gallon starter of 002 and then another 2 gallon of the 099. It was a massive amount of yeast but damn if it didnt eat through a daily dose of 12-14 oz of sugar in 12 hours!! I will start a new thread on this and please keep me up to date on yours!

You motivated me to rack my Chocolate Rain wannabe to a keg. Standing at 1.032. After 16oz of bourbon is added, it comes out to 16.5% with an adjusted OG of 1.152. I think it's too sweet and threw in a packet Ec-1118 to see if I get lucky. I'd like it closer to 1.028.

Be sure to post the link of the new thread so I can subscribe and we stop hijacking this one.

I was thinking about making this. I already have 12 pounds of MO but there is a pound of crystal 20 mixed in it. Should I keep that for the ipa I was gonna do or just add 10 more pounds of MO and follow the rest of the recipe like the crystal wasn't there?

Brewed today. gravity of 1.122 and made a small stout with the leftovers that had og of 1.055. Im really looking forward to this beer, biggest beer I've done so far

Cool! Been away for awhile, and glad to see others are making it their own.

Drinking one now, aged 2 years with the upped 100+IBU's. I love my children, but this beer at 2 years is coming in a close second. Two boys in HS, so I view this beer as the daughter I never had.

r2eng - I also have to thank you for the recipe.

I did some things to it, and brewed 2.5 gallon batches. I have three batches in secondary fermenters - one with extra warrior hops (reminds me of Night Stalker), one with french oak chips, one with american oak soaked in Jameson. Have ingredients for one more batch, deciding what to do with it.

Biggest beer yet. Latest batch, OG - 1130. First one was 1122, dropped to 1040.

do yall think this will fit in a 10 gallon beverage cooler for my mash?!?!

Br3wb1e said:

do yall think this will fit in a 10 gallon beverage cooler for my mash?!?!

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It did for me but its tight! And i might not have got all my water in but it worked. I dumped my grain in and it looked full before i added water but it soaked it up. My biggest grain bill to date, i don't think i could do any more. I have the standard 10 gallon round cooler from home depot.

doublehaul said:

It did for me but its tight! And i might not have got all my water in but it worked. I dumped my grain in and it looked full before i added water but it soaked it up. My biggest grain bill to date, i don't think i could do any more. I have the standard 10 gallon round cooler from home depot.

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Heard. I have the same one but in lowes blue lol. I'm just hoping I don't get a still mash with it so packed in there. You still get a solid OG? I'm worried about efficiency.

Br3wb1e said:

Heard. I have the same one but in lowes blue lol. I'm just hoping I don't get a still mash with it so packed in there. You still get a solid OG? I'm worried about efficiency.

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I got 65%, and i usually get 70-75. Seems to be typical to lose efficiency with big grain bills

Anybody got an estimate of how high you could go on IBUs without this being undrinkable to start?
I've got a bunch of leftover hops from last years harvest and thinking of making a Firesale Stout (every hop has to go) based on this. Maybe up the mash temp a degree to make it sweeter or just plan on giving it a bit longer to mellow out?

Heres my results:

Scaled this recipe down to 4.5 gallons

Efficiency at 48%

OG 1.092 (refractometer)

3 hrs later, oped and used a hydrometer to double check my gravity.

Using a blowoff tube 24 hrs later, still no CO2 released.

Okay, I read the entire thread before brewing this but my memory fails. I seem to recall that 3months was the consensus for minimum age.
WHY?
The hydrometer sample after 3 weeks of primary (1.028) was phenomenal and I'm having a hard time justifying waiting another 2 months to enjoy more.
The only saving grace is that I have an IIPA that should be ready to keg next weekend so that might help this stout reach maturity.

It helps the flavors blend. I brewed up a similar batch and stashed a case away under the stairs. Got it out a year later and was glad I stashed it away.

if it's good, drink it. if it's not, wait it out.

i've made this beer twice. for whatever reason, out of the primary, it was great - two months later, it was....not great. 9 months after that, it was incredible.