Imperial Stout Double-W Imperial Stout

[r2eng]

Yep, I upped the IBU's to 100. Good change.

Yes on the mash temp. I was after a huge body, and this beer has it.

I think 6 months to a year is when this beer really comes of age.

 

[motobrewer]

thanks for the info. i'm still scared to mash a 1.113 beer at 158, lol. maybe i'll pitch 3 packs of US-05....

another q for you, as I've never done a beer this big:

what's your strike volume and sparge volumes? at 1.5 qt/lb, that's 9 gallons of mash water....

 

[r2eng]

Yep. It may not hurt to drop to 156, but you will need balance for the higher alcohol.

Last time I brewed this, I ran-off 9 gallons of wort for boil, then made a porter from additional runnings/sparge water.

 

[motobrewer]

ok, so 9 gallons strike, probably ~3.5 gallons grain absorption (.15 gallons per pound), leaves another 5.5 for a batch sparge. that sound right? or do you do a no-sparge for this and dough in pretty thin? The thinnest i could do would be around 2 qt/lb (58 quart cooler)

when you do the parigyle, do you leave the mash sit until the stout's done boiling or do you do it simultaneously? what kind of OG did you get on the porter?

 

[r2eng]

No partigyle... two sparges, both small: I split it in half, and did half the sparge at a time.

I lost my notes on the porter... It was OK, not great.

 

[motobrewer]

No partigyle... two sparges, both small: I split it in half, and did half the sparge at a time.

I lost my notes on the porter... It was OK, not great.

hm, I'm pretty confused as to what you just said. so you made this 1.113 RIS then made something else by doing what?

anyway, i think I might parti-gyle this.

thanks.

 

[r2eng]

Mash, then sparge (batch sparge - dump the water in the drained mash tun). I just dumped half the water, drained it, then the other half.

 

[motobrewer]

ah, ok. sorry to get sidetracked.

i think i'll dough in with ~11 gallons, should give me 7.5 gal of RIS wort.

then add enough sparge water to get me another 7 gallons of wort and boil that as a smaller beer. right? i've never done any of this, lol.....

did you go to 2.5oz of 15% warrior or 3oz?

 

[motobrewer]

you're probably sick of me by now, but let me ask this:

what is your strike water volume, run-off volume, and run-off gravity?

thanks! i'll try and pay you back for my nagging by sending you a few.

 

[r2eng]

mash with 31 qts of water, sparge #1 with 10qts, sparge #2 with 10 qts.

I ran-off 9 gallons, but have no idea of the pre-boil gravity. I boiled for 90 minutes, adding 2.5oz warrior for 60 minutes.

You need Beersmith!

 

[motobrewer]

lol, i have beersmith! but i'm a newer brewer (1 year) and haven't done anything like this.

beersmith also does crazy things, like, when i just increase boil time from 60 to 90 (even tho I keep the hop additions at 60) it increases IBUs.

there's also some inconsistencies with the "adjust mash" tool and the mash profile....

thanks!

 

[motobrewer]

Get "black malt" at BMW...

so, wait, is it "black malt" or "black barley"?

BMW has Briess Black Barley, the description reads:

Black Barley contributes a dryness to the Stout or Porter. It is not interchangeable with Black Malt. Black Malt may be used in conjunction with Black Barley to achieve the desired color.

they also have Crisp Black Malt. i'm confused....

 

[r2eng]

Crisp, Briess, Rahr, Great Northern, etc. are brands. They are the name of the malter (maltster, malt-guys, ?? ).

Buy the Crisp - it'll be great.

 

[motobrewer]

no, they have black malt, and black barley, which are different things.

 

[r2eng]

Sorry, I forgot the recipe.

The first word is the brand: buy the black barley, don't worry about the brand.

 

[motobrewer]

cheers. bought this, brewing it on dec 29th

 

[RLinNH]

Just read this whole thread, and I am now looking forward to brewing this on January 15th. I am a little surprised, but no one has asked the Liquid yeast question yet. I am teetering between WLP001 and WLP007. Both have a high attentuation rate and are tolerant to high alcohol volumes. Right now I am leaning more towards the 007 as I think that with the appropriate starter, it'll do a better job as it is a more intended yeast for this style. Comments?

 

[r2eng]

Either would work, for sure. As you said make a big starter.

When I have compared yeasts like US-05 and WLP001, the WL yeast was fruitier. The WLP007 may be a better choice.

Keep in mind, both WLP001 and 007 will create a different flavor profile than US-05.

 

[motobrewer]

brewed today. did a parti-gyle, went pretty well. Imp ended up about 1.110, small beer was around 1.040.

only screwup was i added 2.18oz warrior (17%) at 90 instead of 60.

doughed in a bit cold, 155F, but i added some boiling water. that got me to 157F.

 

[motobrewer]

Well, after 10 days its at 1.032. I'm sure it'll tick down a few more points in the next few weeks. It's really good right now, albeit a bit bitter. Still going to age for about 9 months before I keg.

 

[r2eng]

Sounds good!

The bitterness will fade a bit, so that's not surprising. This beer is a good one to age for awhile: 9mo. is good, but it will continue to change and would be good to set a few bottles for a year or more.

IMO, at the 1 year point this beer was amazing.

 

[motobrewer]

i've tapped the small stout, it's around 3.4% (1.040 -> 1.014)

its tasty, easy drinking stout. i like it a lot. can't wait for the big one....in a year, lol.

 

[nootay]

i have everything to brew this other than the yeast. Will nottingham work for this? Or should i order us-05?

 

[r2eng]

Notty will work, but it will be a slightly different beer.

NOTE: People have been having issues with Notty starting slow. If you use it, I would bloom 2 packages, or better yet make a starter.

 

[nootay]

ed at brewmasterswarehouse.com switched out some notti for us-05 before the shipment was sent so all good! PS - how do you bloom the yeast?

 

[r2eng]

It'll do fine. Just 'cause it's different than US-05 doesn't mean the beer will be worse (could actually be better!), just different.

To bloom the yeast: I boil a cup or so of water, and let it cool to 70F. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water and let sit for 20 minutes or so. Just before you are ready to pitch in the primary, stir it up a bit to get it all wet and dump 'er in.

 

[05m50dan]

Sweet, this looks nice. Gonna give it a try sometime this year.

 

[nootay]

i plan on brewing this recipe this week. I have a 10 gallon round cooler as my mash tun. Beersmith is telling me to use about 7.5 gallons of water for my mash. Is all of this going to fit in there OK?

 

[motobrewer]

probably just barely

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

 

[nootay]

ahh, nice calculator! Thanks!