Imperial Stout: Stuck or Finished?

[Clint Yeastwood]

My first imperial stout is either stuck or finished. It went from 1.085 to 1.026 in a few days. It tastes excellent, but it's a little sweet.

The beer it's based on is also a little sweet. I took my old stout recipe and increased everything in proportion to get 1.084, and when I brewed, I hit 1.085.

The original stout gets a little drier in the serving keg, but I have never measured the gravity of the kegged beer. Last time, the FG was 1.016.

Beersmith predicts 75.3% attenuation for the imperial, and I got 67.9. It predicts 73.9 for the weaker stout, and I got 69.4.

The bill for the new stout is:

Pale malt 9 lb
Oats 2.7 lb
Dark Munich 1.8 lb.
Carapils 0.9 lb
Chocolate 0.9 lb
Roasted barley 0.9 lb

What do you think? Stuck or finished? No change in gravity for three days.

 

[lumpher]

That's a lot of un- or barely-fermentables. I'd say it's done.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Tough for me to tell with a beer that is expected to be a little sweet, especially as an imperial stout noob.

I'm kegging it in any case. If it's not good by the middle of the month, I'll man up and do a starter next time.

I may shoot for a higher ABV next time. I wonder if dumping a pound of sugar in would get me to a better place.

 

[lumpher]

I'd just keg it and let it age. It will smooth out over time. May be a little sweet after aging, but better. After some time, it should be a tasty beer. Next time I'd scale down the unfermentables some. Maybe drop some of the Dark Munich, lower the oats, 1/2 lb carapils. Just throwing out some suggestions. Take them with a grain of salt (just don't put that salt in your beer, unless you need it to condition your water...)

 

[passedpawn]

My first imperial stout is either stuck or finished. It went from 1.085 to 1.026 in a few days. It tastes excellent, but it's a little sweet.

The beer it's based on is also a little sweet. I took my old stout recipe and increased everything in proportion to get 1.084, and when I brewed, I hit 1.085.

The original stout gets a little drier in the serving keg, but I have never measured the gravity of the kegged beer. Last time, the FG was 1.016.

Beersmith predicts 75.3% attenuation for the imperial, and I got 67.9. It predicts 73.9 for the weaker stout, and I got 69.4.

The bill for the new stout is:

Pale malt 9 lb
Oats 2.7 lb
Dark Munich 1.8 lb.
Carapils 0.9 lb
Chocolate 0.9 lb
Roasted barley 0.9 lb

What do you think? Stuck or finished? No change in gravity for three days.

You're gonna be fartin a storm if you drink that.

Add alpha amylase enzymes, 2 tsp is plenty. Get the temp up to room temp and let it go for at least two weeks. You should get 80 - 85% attenuation. It will be far more drinkable if you do that.

 

[AlexKay]

High gravity beers need more bitterness. What was your BU:GU ratio?

Also, I can’t think of a good reason to have Carapils in that recipe. And it certainly doesn’t help attenuation.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

You're gonna be fartin a storm if you drink that.

Bonus! Thanks for looking at the bright side.

I don't want to add anything right now. This is a test batch, so I don't want to do anything beyond things like repitching or agitating the yeast. I want to see how it does pretty much as-is so I know what to do next time around.

High gravity beers need more bitterness. What was your BU:GU ratio?

Also, I can’t think of a good reason to have Carapils in that recipe. And it certainly doesn’t help attenuation.

Beersmith says IBU/SG 0.530.

It has been so long since I wrote the original recipe, I can't recall my reasons for everything, but the dry (ish) stout this beer was adapted from is exactly what I like. It works. I guess I added Carapils to give it a serious head.

Sounds like maybe Beersmith is not that great at estimating attenuation when unfermentables abound.

This beer will definitely taste great as it is. My main concern right now is that it might not be finished. Sounds like it probably is.

The stout it's based on is on beer gas, and this one will be all-CO2. Wondering what that will be like. Maybe I should go sneak a sample. It was at 11 psi at 75 degrees. I stuck it in my storage fridge at 35 today. Maybe it's cool enough to get a sample that isn't 100% head.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Oh my gosh. It's like alcoholic chocolate milk.

 

[AlexKay]

A little Googling suggests 0.7-0.8 for non-sweet stouts. I personally like my stouts pretty bitter. But more to the point, the bittering charge is one of the absolute easiest knobs to turn. Sometimes it’s all you need to tweak to turn a sickly sweet recipe into a great one.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I wonder if it's going to stay this good. I've only tried one milk stout, and it was disgusting, but this beer is sweet and really pleasant. I feel like I made a stout juice bomb, but I like it anyway. Maybe it's possible to make a good juice bomb.

The alcohol taste isn't there until after you swallow. Then, BANG! There it is.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I can't taste the yeast. Maybe it's all on the bottom now. I could literally serve from this keg.

 

[shavy]

Sorry if I missed it but, what yeast did you use?

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Lutra.

 

[shavy]

Lutra.

Ok. That’s a fairly high attenuating yeast. If you were using wlp002 (English ale yeast, low attenuating 63 - 70%) then maybe that would be the reason for the final gravity.