Imperial Stout Ingredient Advice

I'm working on a clone of the Sierra Nevada Fritz & Ken stout and while I have the general components and amounts required, one of them is simply listed as "wheat". Which type of wheat malt would make the most sense here? White wheat malt? Just wheat malt? Flaked? Does it even matter? It's about 10% of the grain bill.

Interesting side note: it appears they do a 120 minute boil for this. Is there a specific reason that this would be the case? Any extra flavors get developed during a longer boil (aside from added bitterness from the bittering hops)?

The wheat s liekly there to improve head formation and retention, I would think flaked would be a good bet.
as for the long boil, that will reduce the final volume significantly, thereby giving a higher starting gravity, and it will also slightly carmelize some of the sugars in the wort, lending a more complex flavor profile.

Thanks, that was my guess as well (on both counts). Good to have confirmation though .

+1 to flaked

I was fighting with this yesterday, as I brewed up my first imperial stout. Since I was using 3# of wheat I decided to go wheat malt as opposed to flaked. I think I'll get plenty of body and head retention from that. Even at 3# it was only 14% of my grain bill.

Yeah, 3 lbs of wheat malt should give pretty nice head retention, using flaked would only be a marginal improvement in that regard, but there is also a slight flavor difference as well (although so small it might not be easily detected in a stout).

smagee said:

I'm working on a clone of the Sierra Nevada Fritz & Ken stout and while I have the general components and amounts required, one of them is simply listed as "wheat". Which type of wheat malt would make the most sense here? White wheat malt? Just wheat malt? Flaked? Does it even matter? It's about 10% of the grain bill.

Interesting side note: it appears they do a 120 minute boil for this. Is there a specific reason that this would be the case? Any extra flavors get developed during a longer boil (aside from added bitterness from the bittering hops)?

Click to expand...

Well it isn't a clone of anything, and my advice would be to used White or Red wheat malt, i personally dont like flaked grains. Here is my personal RIOS(Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout) Recipe, and one of VERY VERY few that i repeat brew. The Grain Bill is pretty complex for a stout, and the hop schedule is not normal for a stout, but it is the way I like it.I do a full 30 day primary on this one then Keg it.I give this one a Full Year in the keg, so needless to day i dont make it often lol.




RIOS (Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout)



Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 8.50 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min Equipment: My Equipment


Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb Pale Malt, Golden Promise (Thomas Fawcett) (3.0 SRM) Grain 33.73 %
5.00 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 24.10 %
5.00 lb Oats, Malted (1.0 SRM) Grain 24.10 %
2.00 lb Wheat - Red Malt (Briess) (2.3 SRM) Grain 9.64 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 4.82 %
0.50 lb Roasted Barley (Briess) (300.0 SRM) Grain 2.41 %
0.25 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 1.20 %
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (90 min) Hops 7.9 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (80 min) Hops 7.8 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (70 min) Hops 7.6 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 7.4 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (55 min) Hops 7.2 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (40 min) Hops 6.5 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (30 min) Hops 5.1 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (20 min) Hops 4.0 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (10 min) Hops 2.4 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (5 min) Hops 1.3 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast-Ale (Starter)
1 Pkgs Super High Gravity Ale (White Labs #WLP099) Yeast-Ale (Pitch in after 4 Days in Primary)



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.115 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.031 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 11.04 %
Bitterness: 57.1 IBU
Est Color: 31.7 SRM


Mash Profile


Single Infusion, Full Body
45 min Mash In Add 25.94 qt of water at 170.5 F 158.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 10.38 qt of water at 196.6 F 168.0 F

Thanks for all the responses; it sounds like there'll be a difference in the different malts, but it's unlikely to be a huge one. It may end up being a decision I make based on which malts the LHBS has in stock--I know they carry flaked wheat, but I can't recall if I've seen wheat malt there or not.

Vance:
That's a ton of oats; I don't know that I've seen an IS recipe with such a large amount. How did you settle on that hop schedule? It reminds me a bit of the Dogfish style of hop additions .