Imperial Stout Advice

[The Soft Underbelly]

I've never made an Imperial Stout before and what i'm hoping to achieve is a more domestic version than a true British RIS. Any input from those familiar with the style would be beneficial, I cobbled this together out of a number of recopies I've found online but cant recall a specific inspiration.

I scratched out the numbers on the BeerSmith I-pad App yesterday but, naturally don't have this in front of me now. I believe the Chinooks were estimated at 12% and I seem to recall everything being pretty much within style as far as ABV, SRM and IBUs, etc.

4# Maris Otter
1# Rye Malt
1/2# Roasted Barley
1/3# Black Patent
1/3# Chocolate Malt
5# Light DME
1# Corn Sugar

3/4oz Chinook @ 60
1 oz Chinook @ 10

2 Packs Safale05

So my questions....

1) What about the Malt Bill? Proportions look okay? Selection of malts look okay? I've read about using Rye in stouts and while it may not be true to style, I'm curious none the less. Am i getting enough "Stout Flavors" with this?

2) The proportion of corn sugar and DME. I'm tempted to use 2# of corn sugar and 4 # DME. Any thoughts, suggestions??

Any other input is welcome, and thanks in advance.

 

[Jmat]

I'd suggest some more roasted barley. Normally I err on the less is more side with specialty grains but with a RIS, I think you really want that flavor up front. Another option is the dehusked carafa (the darkest one, III?) which will get you that roasty, chocolately flavor without risking the astringency sometimes associated with roasted barley.

As for the rye, go for it. I really think (without actually looking it up) that the main difference between the American and British versions of an RIS are that you get more leeway in the former as to what you can use.

I'd also suggest checking the style guidelines or maybe someone else can chime in, but you may actually want more bittering hops. I read somewhere that most of the more successful RIS's in competitions, etc., were felt to benefit from higher IBU's, though they're really not as detectable in such a big beer. I find my RIS's are better when they've got a heavy bittering addition. Remember, you're probably going to want to age this for a while and the bitterness will fade back with time.

 

[solbes]

Looks pretty good. A few of my observations. I love Maris Otter. I see you have it in your mash. You could also sub in 6 lbs of Maris Otter LME for your DME (I just used it in my barleywine to pump the gravity, yummy). I would also up the roasted barley, but get rid of black patent. I just feel it tastes ash-y to me and I am not a fan. Special B is a malt I like to add to an RIS, as I see you have no crystal malts in your recipe.

I wouldn't go 2 lbs of corn sugar, I feel it will thin it out too much. If you want to add sugar, I would suggest adding 1 lb of D90 or D180 Candy Syrup Inc stuff. You will get some stone fruit type flavors from this that are very good (Surly Darkness for example).

I would also suggest going a little heavier on bittering hop. Usually you want 60-100 IBU's depending on gravity. And no it won't stand out as bitter, but it needs to balance the residual sweetness as it will likely finish 1.025+.

 

[ddrrseio]

adding corn sugar is the opposite of what you want in this style, unless this is a personal preference. rather than drying it out, you usually want to add some flaked barley or oats to give it some viscosity.

you also have a lot of leeway as far as whether/how much crystal to use. you'll get plenty of malt richness from the chocolate and RB, but you may want to use some c40 at least here.

your gravity should be slightly on the lower side here if this is for 5gal (estimating here), but certainly reasonable for an imperial stout. you may not need two packs of 05 - check mr malty. i've grossly overpitched once when i did a wheatwine, and it lacked a lot of esters as a result. especially without crystal, you'll need the yeast to throw some fruity esters here to complement the roast.

 

[prohl84]

Special B is a malt I like to add to an RIS, as I see you have no crystal malts in your recipe.

I wouldn't go 2 lbs of corn sugar, I feel it will thin it out too much. If you want to add sugar, I would suggest adding 1 lb of D90 or D180 Candy Syrup Inc stuff. You will get some stone fruit type flavors from this that are very good (Surly Darkness for example).

I would also suggest going a little heavier on bittering hop. Usually you want 60-100 IBU's depending on gravity. And no it won't stand out as bitter, but it needs to balance the residual sweetness as it will likely finish 1.025+.

^ This.

you'll need the yeast to throw some fruity esters here to complement the roast.

^ and this.


Solid advice- continental imperial stouts are my favorite. Your recipe looks good- add some crystal w/o subtracting anything you have. Also I have had success using 2# rye in a 1.050 porter- I would be concerned it may get lost in an imperial stout at only 1# but I wouldn't necessarily consider it out of style in an American Impy (BJCP judges may feel otherwise) it is a great style to do almost whatever you want. A hearty brew to you!

 

[jbsg02]

Look for the BYO Stone Russian Imperial Stout clone, I just brewed that one and it's really really good. I used 007 instead of 002.

 

[The Soft Underbelly]

Hey gang, thanks for all the good advice. I appreciate everyone's input. I brewed this up earlier this week as follows...

6# M.O.
2# Rye
12 oz roasted barley
8 oz special b
8 oz chocolate malt
5 # light DME

1oz chinook 12.1% @ 60 min
1oz chinook 12.1% @ 20 min
1oz chinook homegrown @ FO

2 packs S-04 rehydrated.

I hit an OG of 1.087, a bit below what was predicted, but I'm satisfied with what I tasted. Some strong coffee notes and some chocolaty bitterness at the end. Might have done with a bit more sweetness but we'll see how this turns out.

I'd welcome any additional input since I'd like to brew another imperial stout within the month, tweak the recipe a bit and compare both as they develop.