Imperial Stout Recipe... Feedback More Than Welcome

I plan on brewing a Russian (more like Belgian) Imperial Stout this weekend.

I will be doing a 23 liter batch.

The ingredients I have selected are:

3.75 lbs. of Coopers hopped Stout
3.75 lbs. of Coopers hopped Dark Ale
1.1 lbs. of Dextrose/Maltodextrin blend (Brew Enhancer 1)
1 lb. of Dark Candi Sugar
8 oz. Special B Malt
4 oz. Caramel Malt 60
4 oz. Melanoiden Malt
4 oz. Chocolate Malt
3 oz. Willamette Hops (boiled for 20 minutes)
5 teaspoons of Fermax Yeast Nutrient

I will be using the following yeast:

Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II (I made a double-sized starter IAW John Palmer's How To Brew on Thursday).
Coopers Ale Yeast (the two 7 gram packs that come with the hopped extract)



Any thoughts, opinions, or what have you would be welcome and appreciated. Thanks.

When are you adding the yeast nutrient? Wort is a perfect medium for growing yeast. Too much free amino nitrogen is actually bad for fermentations. So, I wouldn't add yeast nutrient unless you're sure you need it. Also, it's better to stagger the nutrient additions if you do add it. So if you're going to add it, add it three or four days into fermentation.

Nateo said:

When are you adding the yeast nutrient? Wort is a perfect medium for growing yeast. Too much free amino nitrogen is actually bad for fermentations. So, I wouldn't add yeast nutrient unless you're sure you need it. Also, it's better to stagger the nutrient additions if you do add it. So if you're going to add it, add it three or four days into fermentation.

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Much appreciated. I added a pinch to the starter and can hold off on using it beyond that.

If it didn't have the Coopers Stout kit in it, I would have said it looked like a pretty good Dubbel.

Melanoiden really needs to be mashed. I don't know what you will get out of it by just steeping.

What's the point of the Willamette? 3 ozs is a lot. I assume the two kits have hops already in them.

Just use the Belgian yeast, not the Coopers.

Calder said:

If it didn't have the Coopers Stout kit in it, I would have said it looked like a pretty good Dubbel.

Melanoiden really needs to be mashed. I don't know what you will get out of it by just steeping.

What's the point of the Willamette? 3 ozs is a lot. I assume the two kits have hops already in them.

Just use the Belgian yeast, not the Coopers.

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Originally, I planned to do more than one Belgian Dubbel, but the first is taking a decent amount of time to age. I figured it was best to branch out in case I am not a big fan of it. When I saw that Belgian Abbey II was good for an RIS, I decided that was an interested path to move on.

I have heard mashing and steeping both for Melanoiden at this time. In fact, some extract kits include it as a specialty grain for steeping.

I was going with 3 ounces for the added complexity and the conditioning time in the bottles. I figure after around two months, they will fade out in both flavor and aroma to some extent. Am I incorrect on that assumption? And yes, the kits are prehopped.

I brewed this last night. The starter is working wonders and the krausen was overlapping folds this morning. I am now a devoted fan of starters. Although I have done a couple before, this one was much more effective. Perhaps because I doubled the amount John Palmer recommended.

I did skip adding the Coopers yeast and stayed with the Wyeast Belgian Abbey II.

The wort was very bitter, but I assume that will calm down over the weeks before I actually drink it.