First Recipe Attempt...Imperial Stout

[calebstringer]

Hi guys, I have been all grain brewing for a few months now, trying to dial my equipment in.

I finally mustered up the courage to start trying to design my own recipes. Im working on an imperial stout, with oatmeal stout influences. It will be the base beer for my house Oaked Bourbon Stout.

What do you think of this:

Imperial Stout Trial
Imperial Stout
Type: All Grain Date: 7/23/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 11.00 gal Brewer: Caleb
Boil Size: 13.95 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: BrewHaus
End of Boil Volume 11.70 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 10.50 gal Est Mash Efficiency 71.6 %
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
32 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 84.2 %
2 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 2 5.3 %
1 lbs Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 3 2.6 %
1 lbs Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.6 %
1 lbs Carafa II (412.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.6 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.6 %
3.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 7 60.4 IBUs
1.00 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 4.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 3.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg Irish Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP004) Yeast


Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.087 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.026 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 8.1 %
Bitterness: 68.1 IBUs Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 35.9 SRM


For the yeast, I have a 4 jars of WLP004 slurry from a previous stout that I will use for a monster starter.

Im sure Im way off here, can you point me in the right direction? Or does this actually look drinkable??



Caleb

 

[dcp27]

looks pretty good, but a bit mild on the roast (unless thats what you want). i'd double the carafa and/or the black barley as well as the oats

 

[cmybeer]

looks pretty good, but a bit mild on the roast (unless thats what you want). i'd double the carafa and/or the black barley as well as the oats

^Same here, at least double the oats if you want much out of them. For an Imperial Stout I'd also use a chocolate malt instead of Carafa II and up the Black Barley as well.

This is just my opinion but if you are still dialing in your set up I would hold off a few more batches before doing a big one like this just to make sure you got everything down. I don't know what kind of efficiency you've been getting but I've had to dial down my estimation a tad for big beers in the past.

If you go ahead with it keep a close eye on temp control with the big ones.

 

[cmybeer]

I also like Maris Ottor as a basemalt.

 

[calebstringer]

Thanks for the advice guys!

How about this?

Beersmith says 1.094 SG, 65.2 IBU's, 50.5 SRM, 8.8 Est ABV.


32 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 76.2 %
3 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 2 7.1 %
2 lbs Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.8 %
2 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.8 %
2 lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.8 %
1 lbs Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.4 %

As for eff....Ive been running a 70-72% mash eff, and 70% overall.

What Mash temp do you recommend? I currently mash a single infusion, but very soon will be able to temperature mash.

 

[cmybeer]

I like that a little better. I might even toss out the Biscuit. Not that it would be bad, but lately I've been all about simplicity. Again, if you want that bready flavor you could switch over to Maris Ottor with out the Biscuit. Or leave it as is. Either way works I think.

I would mash no higher than 152. You want to make sure you don't end up too high on your FG.

Also; I run at about a steady 70% efficiency but with bigger brews I knock it down to 65% because I've noticed a drop off and I would rather be high than be low when making a RIS or a Barleywine.

 

[cmybeer]

Also; if you are serious about getting into writing recipes basically everything I've learned came from Ray Daniels Designing Great Beers book. It's a tad dry and very oriented toward brewing to style but it has a tone of great info for beginners. I just started writing my own recipes a while ago and now that's all I do unless I'm doing a specific clone kit. It's golden for everything outside of Belgians and if you don't really like style guidelines it still helps you with the basics so you can know where to start before you try upping the IBUs or adding a stylistically incorrect specialty malt.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0937381500/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[SpeedYellow]

Wow, never made an I.s. and your first batch is 11 gals. I admire your guts! Maybe you should tell us your flavor goals so we can help better. E.g. for a 94-point I.s., 65 IBUs will taste pretty hoppy. May not be what you want. Your recipe probably won't have much sweetness either.

 

[calebstringer]

Thank you for the responses guys. My goal with it is to be a great stand alone ris, for a house recipe, and also the base of strong Oaked bourbon stout. For the obs, I get alot of vanilla and spice from the oak along with the bourbon. I want something to help mellow with great drink ability.

For a standalone ris, I'm lookin for slight sweetness, nice mouth feel, good head retention, and balanced hoppiness. Im not a huge hop fan, so I don't want them to shine through.

For instance I poured a ris last night, an had a 1/4 foam head for the 90 minutes i sipped on it. (I know, long time, was sooooo full and it was dessert. )

Thanks again