Huge BIAB grain bill for 3 gal batch, Oatmeal RIS

[wareaglefan23]

About to start up on a really huge Russian Imperial Oatmeal stout. Planning to BIAB with a target of 3 gals to the fermenter (primary in bucket, split out into 3 separate 1 gallon carboys for secondary). I'm looking at over 5 pounds of fermentables per gallon, so this will really be pushing the limits of my abilities and equipment. Obviously I was wanting to test the limits with this recipe, and I just hope i didn't go too far

Do you guys have any quick tips for a grain bill with this kind of ratio?

I'll post the recipe below, as well, if anyone has advice where that is concerned.

Thanks!!

-P

Big Ol' Oatmeal Imperial Stout

OG: 1.130 (29 Plato)
FG target: 1.028
3 Gallons
All Grain BIAB
Step mash, dough in at 110 F, Cereal mash step @ ~128-130 F, sacch. @ 150 F

7.5# Golden Promise
1.5# Flaked oats
1# Roasted Barley
1# Chocolate Malt
.75# Crystal 80
.25# Crystal 20
.25# Crystal 120
.75# Perla Negra
.5# Chocolate Wheat
.5# Victory
.5# Honey Malt
Molasses as needed to reach target, ~1lb

90 minute boil
Bittering hops: 1 oz Northern Brewer, 60 mins
Flavor/aroma: 2 oz EKG, 5 mins
Aroma: 1 oz Saaz, whirlpool

Fermenting with mix of Danstar Nottingham and Denny's Favorite 50 for 1-2 weeks primary, before splitting off into 1 gal secondary carboys.

 

[FreddyMar3]

A pound of molasses might be dangerous (taste-wise) in just 3 gallons of beer. I've never seen that much before. If you are just looking to adjust the OG to meet your target, maybe try something mild like brown sugar (which has molasses in it but much less) or turbinado.

1.75 lbs of crystal malt also sounds high in regards to how much base malt you have. That many specialty malts might muddle the flavor too. just my two cents!

Good luck

 

[pricelessbrewing]

I would be careful with that much molasses. My only recommendation is to expect to lose some mash efficiency due to the large grain bill.

 

[Gavin C]

11 different malts and molasses!

Simplicity can be a beautiful thing.

 

[rlmiller10]

How big can you boil? To get better efficiency you might want to sparge more and then use a 2 or more hour boil to condense down the wort to your final volume. If you up the efficiency you will need less sugar or molasses to reach your target OG.

And in my opinion the flavors from a long boil (maillard reactions) only add to the flavor of a porter.

 

[chickypad]

Gotta agree with everyone above, ignoring the molasses for a minute and even if you were to count the flaked oats as "base" that's 38% specialty malts. In a huge beer that's a whopping amount - if anything you want to slightly reduce specialty malts percentage-wise when making a really big beer. I'm thinking cut the C-20 and honey malt entirely, and reduce the dark roasted grains in half - also not sure you need all 4, the chocolate wheat and perla negra seem to accomplish similar things.

 

[jason.mundy]

I see a lot of warnings about possible changing your recipe. I also don't see what size your kettle is. Hard to know if it will fit if we don't know what the limits are.

If you are worried about getting all this into your kettle for mashing, you might consider holding back the molasses and specialty grains, steeping them after the mash.

 

[kh54s10]

11 different malts and molasses!

Simplicity can be a beautiful thing.

This was my first thought also. I would eliminate about half of all those different specialty malts. Make up any difference with more base malt.

Pot size has also been mentioned.

 

[wareaglefan23]

Thanks for the advice guys. I ended up cutting the molasses in half, dropping down on a few of the specialty malts, and steeping about half of the specialty stuff after the mash. Boil time went over 90 mins, efficiency was predictably bad but still ended up with over 1.100 OG. For what's it's worth, the wort smelled incredible, pitch black as I wanted. Pitched a very healthy portion of yeast into 3 gallons of collected wort (using hop sack eliminated trub loss which helped counteract the substantial grain absorption, bubbling happily 8 hours later. We will wait and see, I guess

 

[m00ps]

Gotta agree with everyone above, ignoring the molasses for a minute and even if you were to count the flaked oats as "base" that's 38% specialty malts. In a huge beer that's a whopping amount - if anything you want to slightly reduce specialty malts percentage-wise when making a really big beer. I'm thinking cut the C-20 and honey malt entirely, and reduce the dark roasted grains in half - also not sure you need all 4, the chocolate wheat and perla negra seem to accomplish similar things.

at 38% specialty malts, you are going to need to use your teeth to chew through that beer. I always aim to stay at 20% or under

 

[wareaglefan23]

I think that I'm going to end up adding Brett strains to at least two of the three secondaries, to see how it cuts through those "unfermentables" the sacch leaves behind.