"Imperializing" existing recipes?

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TimBrewz

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So, I want to make my stout recipe an imperial stout. I am making this batch to be oaked with some bourbon soaked chips for a winter brew. I love the basic taste of the regular recipe, and don't want to change that too much.

My question is: Do I just add base malt (2-row) to increase the gravity, or should I increase all the grains equally? I worry a bit about increasing the roast and black malts too much, as I don't want a roasty bomb...but maybe the increased alcohol and body will balance that?

My current stout has an OG of 1.062 I want to get to 1.085

Any help/opinions/wisdom would be great!
 
you could probably just add base grain for alcohol, but may want to slightly increase your other malts. let's take a look at your current recipe and go from there.
 
I overshot the piss out of my gravity for my APA recipe, and luckily I added more hops to the boil, and it ended up being very well balanced. It's 9% abv, but very smooth. I dubbed it my "Imperial Pale Ale" after reading the Zymurgy article. How serendipitous.
 
also dont forget to increase your hops in the same ratio as the malt in order to maintain the balance of your original recipe
 
also dont forget to increase your hops in the same ratio as the malt in order to maintain the balance of your original recipe

Actually, you need to add at a slightly higher ratio. The higher gravity of the boil will be less efficient at extracting the goods from the hops, so a small amount more is needed....YOU NEED SOFTWARE! Beer smith helps a bunch at this.
 
Thanks guys, I will go get the Zymurgy Issue and go from there. By the way this is the recipe-its somewhere between a robust porter and an American stout. It is awesome everytime!

75 % efficiency
40-45 IBU
SRM 41
OG 1067
FG 1016
ABV 6.6%

11 lb 2 row
14 oz crystal 60l
10 oz black patent 500l
8oz British Chocolate 400L
4 oz Light Chocolate 170-200L
8 oz Caramunich 75L

.8 oz Simcoe 13.2% 60 min
.5 oz Mt Hood 5.8% 30 min
.5 oz Mt Hood 5.8% 15 min
.5 oz Ahtanum 5.3% 5 min
 
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