Imperial Stout help

[whataboutbob]

I purchased the Imperial Stout extract kit from Midwest Supplies and plan to add oak and vanilla to secondary. My questions is, the kit came with champagne yeast that says to pitch when racking to secondary, Will that affect the oak cubes and vanilla bean? When should I do what? Open to suggestions from start to finish as well because I was also looking to add oats as well. Thanks.

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

If it were me....I would skip the oats......I would check gravity and NOT use the champagne yeast unless and until it is necessary. If the gravity hangs up, add the champagne yeast to primary...don't add the oak and vanilla until your gravity is stable and where you want it...then rack to secondary and add your oak and vanilla. Let it set and check taste every so often. When the taste is where you want it cold crash it then either bottle or keg it....... As far as bottling, you may want to use the champagne yeast for that but I am not really sure..... as always, if someone else posts and completely disagrees with me, they are more than likely correct so listen to them.

 

[whataboutbob]

Thanks for your input Steve. Open to anyone else's suggestions. Gonna brew this weekend

 

[JDFlow]

I agree with Steve. Use the champagne yeast only if necessary. That said, this is a kit which leads me to believe it was but together based on successful results and not just thrown together so the person who created the recipe probably knows you'll need it.

I did an Imperial Stout with oak, cocoa nibs and vanilla last winter. It's still aging. Here's what I did and what I'd do different with these additions: For the oak addition I went with spiral oak sticks. The package says to add 1 stick to 5 gallons for 6 weeks to utilize all of it's flavor. I did a 3 gallon batch and added 1/2 stick for 4 weeks. Before adding it I soaked it in bourbon overnight with some cocoa nibs to tame the bourbon. Next time I will only use about 1/4 stick for 3 weeks. The oak flavor tastes just like the barrel aged brews you can get commercially but it's a little stronger than I'd like. I added 1/4 vanilla bean to the bourbon, cocoa nib, oak mixture about an hour before I pitched it all in the secondary. The cocoa and vanilla came through perfectly subtle. I've read a lot of people saying you can't get that authentic barrel aged taste without a barrel but as far as I can tell this concoction gave me that flavor.

 

[whataboutbob]

Thanks for the great info jd

 

[kylevester]

You can get a lot of vanilla and oak by using oak chips. Soaking in bourbon will add that much more flavor.

I did a bourbon barrel stout where I soaked 4 oz of French medium toasted oak chips in 1 pint of Jim Beam. I got a ton of vanilla, but I think it would have done much better in an imperial rather than a medium strength stout. There are multiple ways to get the oak/vanilla flavor in and my experience has been chips. Guys in my HBC have used cubes to good effect.

Start with something like half of what a package says, i.e. 2 oz of oak chips rather than 4 oz. Let it go for 2 weeks. If the flavor's not right, add more and wait a week. Taste again and once it's to your liking, bottle or keg. Add vanilla bean to taste as well, but you can get that from oak chips.

As for the yeast, only pitch the champagne if your primary stalls. Let the fermentation finish before adding the oak and vanilla as stated above.

 

[DrummerBoySeth]

I brewed a pretty big RIS back in February. I soaked 2 ounces of "medium toast" oak cubes in a mason jar with a pint of Makers Mark Bourbon for one week until the Bourbon developed this amazing black color and smokey, woody aroma. I then added the Bourbon and the oak cubes to my secondary fermenter and let that age for 2 weeks. The Bourbon/oak flavors were a little more prominent then I wanted at first, but it has been aging/bottle conditioning since March and is getting better with every month that goes by.

The bourbon and oak seem to really help a beer develop as it ages. If you do not plan for long aging, I would go with a smaller amount of bourbon and oak, or maybe only secondary for one week or so. Taste every 2-3 days to see when the flavor profile develops to the level you are looking for.

 

[whataboutbob]

Thanks guys, just did my first hop addition. The house smells wonderful!