brstilson
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- Jul 9, 2008
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I decided to do a little experimentation. I wanted to brew an imperial stout...with a twist.
Sugars/grains:
12 lbs Liquid Light Malt Extract
1 lb Munton's Chocolate Malt
1 lb Munton's Roasted Barley
Hops/spices:
1 oz Cascade hops - 60 min
1/2 oz Star Anise - 35 min
1 oz Glacier hops - 15 min
Since all I have is a 5 gallon kettle, I did a partial boil. I heated up 3 gallons of tap water in my brew pot, and put the grain bags in. After the temperature reached 170 F, I removed the bags. Once the quasi-wort started boiling, I added the Cascade hops, followed by the Star Anise 25 minutes later, and the Glacier hops 20 minutes after that. I added the malt extract with the glacier hops.
While I was waiting for the last 15 minutes of the boil, I filled the primary fermenter (a 6.5 gallon bucket from my Brewer's Best kit) with 3 gallons of cold tap water. After the boil, I siphoned the wort into the cold water, bringing the temperature down immediately to 120 F from near-boiling. Unfortunately, I underestimated the amount of water that would boil off and had an extra gallon of wort, which I sadly had to dump down the drain since I didn't have enough room for it all in the bucket. With 30% of my sugars gone, it knocked my 1.095 Stout soundly out of the "Imperial" category with an O.G. of 1.059. This is one reason I loathe the partial boil method. If only I had room for a turkey fryer or at least a decent-sized brew pot.
At any rate, I ended up pitching a vial of WLP001 (California Ale Yeast) and now the airlock has been bubbling happily for two days, unfortunately filling the apartment with that all-too-familiar smell of fruity esters, which is odd because I've never had that smell propagate so much before. Of course, even at 1.059 this is the highest gravity I've ever attempted.
I'm hoping the hop and anise flavors will play nice. I've heard a few good things about anise but I also don't see it used very often in beer. I also know I'm light on the hops for even a regular stout. I'm not exactly sure what to call this beer anyway. It's black like a stout, but light on the bittering, more like on the level of a brown ale. But I can't call it a brown ale because it's...well...not brown. Should I call it a Black Ale perhaps? Mild Stout?
Sugars/grains:
12 lbs Liquid Light Malt Extract
1 lb Munton's Chocolate Malt
1 lb Munton's Roasted Barley
Hops/spices:
1 oz Cascade hops - 60 min
1/2 oz Star Anise - 35 min
1 oz Glacier hops - 15 min
Since all I have is a 5 gallon kettle, I did a partial boil. I heated up 3 gallons of tap water in my brew pot, and put the grain bags in. After the temperature reached 170 F, I removed the bags. Once the quasi-wort started boiling, I added the Cascade hops, followed by the Star Anise 25 minutes later, and the Glacier hops 20 minutes after that. I added the malt extract with the glacier hops.
While I was waiting for the last 15 minutes of the boil, I filled the primary fermenter (a 6.5 gallon bucket from my Brewer's Best kit) with 3 gallons of cold tap water. After the boil, I siphoned the wort into the cold water, bringing the temperature down immediately to 120 F from near-boiling. Unfortunately, I underestimated the amount of water that would boil off and had an extra gallon of wort, which I sadly had to dump down the drain since I didn't have enough room for it all in the bucket. With 30% of my sugars gone, it knocked my 1.095 Stout soundly out of the "Imperial" category with an O.G. of 1.059. This is one reason I loathe the partial boil method. If only I had room for a turkey fryer or at least a decent-sized brew pot.
At any rate, I ended up pitching a vial of WLP001 (California Ale Yeast) and now the airlock has been bubbling happily for two days, unfortunately filling the apartment with that all-too-familiar smell of fruity esters, which is odd because I've never had that smell propagate so much before. Of course, even at 1.059 this is the highest gravity I've ever attempted.
I'm hoping the hop and anise flavors will play nice. I've heard a few good things about anise but I also don't see it used very often in beer. I also know I'm light on the hops for even a regular stout. I'm not exactly sure what to call this beer anyway. It's black like a stout, but light on the bittering, more like on the level of a brown ale. But I can't call it a brown ale because it's...well...not brown. Should I call it a Black Ale perhaps? Mild Stout?
