Imperial Stout Imperial Bastard Stout

6.6lbs dark syrup malt
3lbs dark DME
1/4lb black patent
1/2lb crystal
1/4lb chocolate malt
1/2lb roasted barley
1lb Dark Brown Sugar
1oz Challenger hops (60min boil)
1oz Cascade hops (30min boil)
1oz Cascade hops (15min boil)
1/4tsp Irish moss
Irish ale yeast (White Labs) or equivalent

Bring 1.5-2gal water to 150ºF, steep grains (in grain bag) for 15min.
Remove grains and bring water to boil.
Dissolve all malt extract and honey, and return water to rolling boil.
Add hops according to schedule above for total 60min boil time.
Add Irish moss at final 15min.
Pour into fermenter with 3gal cold water (top off to 5gal if necessary) and pitch yeast at approx. 80ºF.

Ferment 8-10 days in primary, then rack and ferment 5-7 days in secondary.
Prime with 3/4 cup priming sugar and bottle.
Age 3-4 weeks in bottles.


Great beer with a kick. It is damn near 10%ABV

I would definitely make a yeast starter for that brew!

However, WLP004 is a great yeast!:rockin:

Sounds like a great brew...I have a very similar batch in my secondary now...Grain bill was pretty similar but hops were all Columbus/Tomahawk...Cant wait to try it...

BTW- OG was 1070 and gravity prior to racking to secondary was 1012

Schnitzengiggle said:

I would definitely make a yeast starter for that brew!

However, WLP004 is a great yeast!:rockin:

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I don't think it needs it. That yeast took off like a champ. Within 6 hours i had to rig a blow off tube and it's 4 days later and it's still going to town to the point i can't safely replace my air lock yet. I think the fact that i used Dark Brown Sugar instead of Honey really kicked it in and i pitched between 78 and 82 degrees.

i want to make this one in the future for shure.

Sounds interesting. What crystal did you use? 120?

I'm trying to run BeerSmith on the hops for this brew, and I'm coming up short. According to BeerSmith, I input the following parameters:

Batch Size - 5 Gallons
Boil Volume - 1.5 Gallons
Estimate OG - 1.099
First Hop - 1 oz Challenger 60 min
Second Hop - 1 oz Cascade 30 min
Third Hop - 1 oz Cascade 15 min

Given this, I'm getting 4.2 IBUs not 25 IBUs, am I doing something wrong? I'd like to note that when I change the Estimated OG to the default value of 1.040, the calculation yields 24.8 IBUs, which is close to the listed Bitterness above. Could that be the issue?

Do you guys think 15 minutes of steeping is enough? I was planning on hitting 30 or 45 minutes. And...what do you think about a 90 minute boil for this recipe to carmelize the sugars a bit more for a toffey flavor?

DRoyLenz said:

Given this, I'm getting 4.2 IBUs not 25 IBUs, am I doing something wrong? I'd like to note that when I change the Estimated OG to the default value of 1.040, the calculation yields 24.8 IBUs, which is close to the listed Bitterness above. Could that be the issue?

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1oz challenger at 60 (7% AA) should give you 20-24 IBU's by itself...

how much does this usually run to get all the ingredients? i am super anxious to brew a good imperial stout.

r3dn3ckstyl3z said:

6.6lbs dark syrup malt
3lbs dark DME
1/4lb black patent
1/2lb crystal
1/4lb chocolate malt
1/2lb roasted barley
1lb Dark Brown Sugar
1oz Challenger hops (60min boil)
1oz Cascade hops (30min boil)
1oz Cascade hops (15min boil)
1/4tsp Irish moss
Irish ale yeast (White Labs) or equivalent

Bring 1.5-2gal water to 150ºF, steep grains (in grain bag) for 15min.
Remove grains and bring water to boil.
Dissolve all malt extract and honey, and return water to rolling boil.
Add hops according to schedule above for total 60min boil time.
Add Irish moss at final 15min.
Pour into fermenter with 3gal cold water (top off to 5gal if necessary) and pitch yeast at approx. 80ºF.

Ferment 8-10 days in primary, then rack and ferment 5-7 days in secondary.
Prime with 3/4 cup priming sugar and bottle.
Age 3-4 weeks in bottles.


Great beer with a kick. It is damn near 10%ABV

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I don't see honey in the ingredients list?????

huntsman said:

I don't see honey in the ingredients list?????

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Maybe he meant the brown sugar?

Brewed this up last night with a little modification. My boil batch was 2.5 gallons and I steeped for 30 min. My OG was only 1.078 though, and when I typed the recipe in several calculators I got OG's anywhere from 1.075- 1.088, nowhere near 1.099. So I'm not sure what went different there...
I may also change the fermentation times to 1-1.5 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, and 3-4 weeks bottle.
This smells awesome already and I can't wait until its ready!

So I think I caught it just in time. I opened the fermenting closet to inspect/sniff and found the lid on my fermenter bowed out almost to the point of blowing the lid off. So stupidly I pulled the air lock off and sprayed foam all over the ceiling. Blow off tube is now installed. I did not use a yeast starter as well, and from what I see, I don't think it needs one!

beninan said:

Brewed this up last night with a little modification. My boil batch was 2.5 gallons and I steeped for 30 min. My OG was only 1.078 though, and when I typed the recipe in several calculators I got OG's anywhere from 1.075- 1.088, nowhere near 1.099. So I'm not sure what went different there...
I may also change the fermentation times to 1-1.5 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, and 3-4 weeks bottle.
This smells awesome already and I can't wait until its ready!

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I am curious as to how this turned out for you?

And also for the OP... I am trying to figure out why you don't see too many Imperial Stout extract recipes?

adamhimself said:

I am curious as to how this turned out for you?

And also for the OP... I am trying to figure out why you don't see too many Imperial Stout extract recipes?

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It turned out pretty good, but due to a heat wave we had here while it was fermenting, it fermented at 80-82 degrees, and now has a hint of banana taste. But this was before I found out what a swamp cooler was.

I took it to a family reunion at my grandparent's house last year and it was a big hit. I only have one left and I've been letting it sit to see how it turns out.

I had an OG of 1.078 and and FG of 1.022, 7.3% ABV with this recipe, so I'm not sure what may have happened there.

beninan said:

It turned out pretty good, but due to a heat wave we had here while it was fermenting, it fermented at 80-82 degrees, and now has a hint of banana taste. But this was before I found out what a swamp cooler was.

I took it to a family reunion at my grandparent's house last year and it was a big hit. I only have one left and I've been letting it sit to see how it turns out.

I had an OG of 1.078 and and FG of 1.022, 7.3% ABV with this recipe, so I'm not sure what may have happened there.

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Was it a bit too sweet?

I thought it was about average in sweetness for a stout, so I didn't think it was too sweet. Just the banana flavor from hot fermentation was a little off. Just try to keep the temp under control if you do brew this.

This is my second year of brewing it and I don't think I'm adding enough yeast. I will try 2 vials next year or at least do a starter. Good experience with it so far! This year I had an OG of 1.096.

beninan said:

Brewed this up last night with a little modification. My boil batch was 2.5 gallons and I steeped for 30 min. My OG was only 1.078 though, and when I typed the recipe in several calculators I got OG's anywhere from 1.075- 1.088, nowhere near 1.099. So I'm not sure what went different there...
I may also change the fermentation times to 1-1.5 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, and 3-4 weeks bottle.
This smells awesome already and I can't wait until its ready!

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[first post!] I just brewed this and, similarly, hit 1.077 for an OG, nowhere near the 1.099 in the recipe. The only way I can reconcile this is after accounting for boil-off in the recipe as written (i.e., boiling 2 gallons and topping off with 3), you actually would probably only end up with 4 gallons (I topped off to 5) which might account for the discrepancy in gravity.

Anyways, fermentation has just begun and it smells great. I will update with final results.

I brewed this recipe earlier this evening and it worked out pretty well. My original gravity was 1.090, but I used a larger quantity of brown sugar than the recipe called for. I'm planning to let this sit for a while - either going to rack to a secondary for some extended aging or bottle-condition for an equally long time. I'd really like to see how it turns out in 6-8 months or so.

Wow, this looks amazing. I love Stouts, however my wife hates them. I'm thinking of just cutting everything in half and brewing about 2.5 gallons. Would it be safe just to cut the ingredients list in half? Also, while I love stouts, I'm pretty I will be the only one drinking them.

Has anyone priced this out to see what it costs?

I brewed this last night. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Very aggressive fermentation. Had to use a blow off tube and still looks scary. Didn't really see any airlock activity for about 11 hours. 18 hours later and she is rockin and rolling. I steeped it for 25 min, everything else was by the book. My original gravity was 1.090, guess I got lucky.

Cost $43.00 with tax.

Brewed this bad boy last night. 1.082 with several mishaps. Might call it cursed bastard stout instead.

SoupNazi said:

Brewed this bad boy last night. 1.082 with several mishaps. Might call it cursed bastard stout instead.

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How is your fermentation going? Mine was crazy aggressive after about 11 hrs, but noticed that the temp was pushing 80*. Put it in a swamp cooler, temp is now 70* but airlock activity pretty much stopped. Getting somewhat concerned.

What kind of mishaps did you have? Just curious.

Grains and extract spilled in bag. Pot boiled over. Drain valve was open during transfer. Smack pack exploded during smacking. And plenty more went wrong!

Fermentation was fairly aggressive, non stop bubbles when I got home monday. Going to put an air lock on it tonight.

SoupNazi said:

Grains and extract spilled in bag. Pot boiled over. Drain valve was open during transfer. Smack pack exploded during smacking. And plenty more went wrong!

Fermentation was fairly aggressive, non stop bubbles when I got home monday. Going to put an air lock on it tonight.

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Damn Bro, sounds like you had a bad brew. That will make it more enjoyable when it's ready to drink.

I had a hard time keeping it from boiling over too. Had to really keep an eye on it.

Just cracked open a bottle of this (too early but I couldn't stand the wait!). It is AWESOME!

Thanks for the recipe, can't wait to share this once it's ready.

I have one batch of this carbing in the keg and one still in the fermenter. Can't wait to try it. Looked and smelled so good.

Is there any issue with making this a full boil with 5 gallons? Or should I just keep it at a 2 gal boil?

EA18Brewer said:

Is there any issue with making this a full boil with 5 gallons? Or should I just keep it at a 2 gal boil?

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I brewed this tonight, such a great color for the wort! Glad I was watching it like a hawk when it came back to a boil after adding the extracts, because another 30 seconds of heat and I'd have had an awful mess on my hands. Boil-over is definitely to be watched with this one. EA18, even without sparging the grains, all of the extracts brings it to just under 3 gal at the start of the boil -- my 4 gal pot barely held it together.

I ended up giving the grains 25 minutes, mostly because I was waiting for the Lovely & Talented to return from the grocery store with the dark brown sugar. I set this with a blow-off tube right from the word go due to the comments above, hopefully it stays put. Looking forward to giving it a first taste in 10 days!

billsquared said:

I brewed this tonight, such a great color for the wort! Glad I was watching it like a hawk when it came back to a boil after adding the extracts, because another 30 seconds of heat and I'd have had an awful mess on my hands. Boil-over is definitely to be watched with this one. EA18, even without sparging the grains, all of the extracts brings it to just under 3 gal at the start of the boil -- my 4 gal pot barely held it together.

I ended up giving the grains 25 minutes, mostly because I was waiting for the Lovely & Talented to return from the grocery store with the dark brown sugar. I set this with a blow-off tube right from the word go due to the comments above, hopefully it stays put. Looking forward to giving it a first taste in 10 days!

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Just some advice, having brewed this beer before, but you really ought to let it sit on the yeast for 3-4 weeks. Best thing you can do for it. With this recipe, I let it sit on the yeast for a month and then bottle it. The bottles from my first batch of it are about 8 months old and they taste amazing. It really needs time though, so consider letting it sit.

gmcastil said:

Just some advice, having brewed this beer before, but you really ought to let it sit on the yeast for 3-4 weeks. Best thing you can do for it. With this recipe, I let it sit on the yeast for a month and then bottle it. The bottles from my first batch of it are about 8 months old and they taste amazing. It really needs time though, so consider letting it sit.

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Thanks for the advice. Giving it more time actually works with my schedule, so hurray.

I still have a couple of bottles that are 3 months old now that I'm saving for a special occasion. Fantastic stuff, guys.

Going to brew this again as a pm now that I have the equipment for it and save them for winter time.

This beer looks great i am going to brew it next. Just waiting for my current one to get out of my 7.5gal bucket to have room for extra spillover. Hows everyone liking it? Any pictures?

Yeah, I really would like to see a pic. I'm intrigued.

Just made this today. It was on the pricey side at the brew store I spent about 65$. But it always seems like I spend that much on stouts. Anyway it was fun to make. Now we will see how it turns out 2 months from now. I ended up with a OG of about 1.082 And thats after i added around a pound extra of dark liquid malt because i always seem to come up short on every recipe... idk why I top it off to 5 and its always low but adding a 1/2-1lb extra seems to work for me.

drummerboyas157 said:

Just made this today. It was on the pricey side at the brew store I spent about 65$. But it always seems like I spend that much on stouts. Anyway it was fun to make. Now we will see how it turns out 2 months from now. I ended up with a OG of about 1.082 And thats after i added around a pound extra of dark liquid malt because i always seem to come up short on every recipe... idk why I top it off to 5 and its always low but adding a 1/2-1lb extra seems to work for me.

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I have four bombers left from last November and I really wish that I'd let the entire batch sit for a year. They are fantastic.

Just make sure that you get good oxygenation, pitch an appropriate amount of healthy cells, and control your fermentation temps.

Man fermentation is going crazy i wonder how much beer im going to lose i have a blow off tube set up and the bowl of water it goes into is already a dark brown and its the first 24hrs still