Alaska Perseverance Imperial Stout Clone

7 lbs Pale Malt
4 lbs Alder smoked malt
1.5 lbs Chocolate malt
1.5 lbs Special B
1.0 lb Roast Barley
12 oz Back Patent malt
12 oz Toasted (350 - 30 minutes) oat malt
2 lbs Fireweed honey
22 oz (1 pint) Birch Syrup
1 lb dark brown sugar

Combine grains and 4 gallons @ 170 F - hold at 152 10 mins
Decoct 1 gallon 10 min. Hold at 155 F 70 min.
Decoct 2 gallons twice back to back to bring to 170 F
Sparge with 5 gallons water at 180 F
Boil 1 hour with 2.25 oz Northern Brewer (10%)
Add 1/4 t Irish Moss and remaining syrup, honey and sugar - boil 10 minutes
Counter flow cool
Pitch yeast.

Kegged 15 days later (on 6-24-12) and still drinking it. Photo to follow.

Although I didn't have the original Alaska Perseverance to taste side by side, from my tasting notes and memory, I can't say I would change a single thing in this. Nailed on the first try.

I will also point out that I was able to suss out the Birch syrup, Fireweed honey and Alder smoked malt amounts through various connections and those to the best of my knowledge are the actual proportional amounts that were used. And everything else just seemed to fall into place.

I glass a couple weeks after brewing

Wow this recipe looks oh so good...I've been looking for a stout to brew and this looks like a great candidate. Just by googling some of the ingredient names I can tell that this would be a VERY expensive beer to brew, but I'll spend as much as it takes to brew a great beer. Any secondary on this one or just primary and bottle? I have never done a decoction mash so when you say to decoc. a certain volume and hold at one temp., for a certain amount of time what exactly do you mean by that? Can you give a more detailed account of your process if you don't mind?
Thanks and congrats. on brewing such an awesome looking beer!

Yes, it was quite pricey. But it does not hold a candle to the $8/22 oz bottle cost

I did not secondary this at all since I kegged.

Decoction. For this:

Decoct 1 gallon 10 min. Hold at 155 F 70 min.

What I mean is pull 1 gallon of the thickest part of the mash and boil it for 10 minutes. Stir well so it does not burn. Once you add it back to the mash that is at 152, the whole mash temp should rise to 155 F and you should hold that for 70 minutes (or until your starch conversion is complete).

Is that more clear?

John