Hoppy Imperial Stout Recipe Critique

[Unicorn_Platypus]

Do you guys think the amount of special B and crystal 60 I'm using in this is reasonable? I haven't used much heavy crystal in the past few years as I've mainly been brewing lighter styles. So my frame of reference isn't that great.

I don't want to overdo it with the malts and have it be cloying, but i want it to be present.

I've read that imperial stouts can tolerate heavier use of crystal to balance out the roast.

The below recipe is for an 11 gallon batch. I'm going for something like a victory storm king but a little richer.

My efficiency goes to crap when i brew super high gravity and material amount of roasted grains... Therefore I'm using DME to boost the OG. So you should take that into account when looking at the percentage of total grain bill.

I'm estimating 76% attenuation based on my mash temp and equipment

Thanks!

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Batch Size: 12.70 gal Style: Imperial Stout (20C)
Boil Size: 16.56 gal
Color: 40.4 SRM
Bitterness: 117.2 IBUs Boil Time: 75 min
Est OG: 1.093 (22.2° P)
Est FG: 1.020 SG (7.2° P)
ABV: 9.6%


YEAST
2 pkgs Denny's Favorite (Wyeast Labs #1450) Yeast with 5L starter

MALT
32 lbs Pale Malt (Great Western) (3.0 SRM) Grain
9 lbs Dry Extract - Pale Ale Malt (Breiss) (6.0 SRM) Dry Extract

2 lbs 4.00 oz Chocolate Malt (Bairds) (450.0 SRM) Grain
1 lbs 4.00 oz Roasted Barley (Viking) (338.0 SRM) Grain

1 lbs 8.00 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain
1 lbs Special B Malt (130.0 SRM) Grain

HOPS
1.50 oz Apollo [17.0%] - First Wort Hops 10
1.50 oz Chinook [13.0%] - First Wort Hops 11
1.50 oz Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) [15.5%] - First Wort Hops 12
1.50 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - First Wort Hops 13

1.00 oz Apollo [17.0%] - Boil 10 min Hops 18
1.00 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 10 min Hops 19
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.0%] - Boil 10 min Hops 20
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - Boil 10 min Hops 21

2.00 oz Apollo [17.0%] - Boil 0 min Hops 23
2.00 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 0 min Hops 24
2.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.0%] - Boil 0 min Hops 25
2.00 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - Boil 0 min Hops 26

1.00 oz Apollo [17.0%] - Dry Hop 2 days Hops 28
1.00 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Dry Hop 2 days Hops 29
1.00 oz Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) [15.5%] - Dry Hop 2 days Hops 30
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.0%] - Dry Hop 2 days Hops

 

[brownni5]

There's a lot to read through there, so I didn't look at everything, but 2.5 lbs crystal in an 11 gallon batch of RIS doesn't seem like much to me.

 

[Unicorn_Platypus]

There's a lot to read through there, so I didn't look at everything, but 2.5 lbs crystal in an 11 gallon batch of RIS doesn't seem like much to me.

Thanks! I just edited it to make it a little easier to read. Removed the water adjustments, etc.

Are you saying you would go higher?

The last time I used medium or darker crystal was in a brown IPA and a barleywine. I only added a pound of crystal 60 (per 10g) in both and felt the flavor was just right. Those didn't have the roast though.