Imperial stout isn't very roasty

[QuercusMax]

I made an imperial stout and it's very tasty, but it doesn't seem to have a lot of roasty flavor to it. Here's the recipe - it was based on a clone of Yeti.

18 lbs 3 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
4 lb Dark Munich
1 lb Crystal 120
12 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)
8 oz Chocolate Malt (350 SRM)
8 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (200.0 SRM)
12 oz Roasted Barley (500 SRM), Powdered
8 oz Rye, Flaked (4.6 SRM)
8 oz Barley, Flaked (1.6 SRM)

2 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 60 min
0.7 oz Chinook [13.0%] - Boil 30 min
1 oz Centennial [10.0%] - Boil 15 min
1 oz Cascade [10.0%] - Boil 5 min

I would expect with all the roasted malts for it to come out super roasty, but it's actually pretty mellow and extremely drinkable, which is dangerous since it started at 1.092 and ended at 1.021!

Any suggestions? I'm thinking next time I'll drop the pale chocolate and increase the black patent and roasted barley.

 

[davekippen]

5 gal batch? Looks like it should have been plenty roasty!! Maybe the crystal is hiding some of it?

 

[QuercusMax]

Yes, 5 gallons. I was also thinking maybe the crystal is reponsible.

It's only been a week since bottling, and this was a half-full bottle. It seemed pretty well carbonated, but maybe the fill level made it seem more carbonated than it really was. Perhaps it will dry out and get roastier? Before bottling it seemed very coffee-like to me...

 

[cluckk]

I'd think the crystal and hops may be working together to overpower the roast. As it ages the hops and many other flavors will mellow and this may allow the roast to come more to the front.

 

[QuercusMax]

I'm drinking another one today. Picture for fun:

I definitely get more of the roasted flavors now after another 2 weeks. It's definitely fully carbonated at this point. At this point it's more of a burnt flavor than coffee/chocolate. The sweetness isn't as intense, probably due to the completed carbonation. This leads to an increased bitterness, which helps balance it out.

All in all, this came out really nice.

 

[VikingChrisColby]

Did you adjust your brewing liquor for a dark beer and take the pH of your mash and post-boil wort? Dark grains are acidic and if your beer ends up too acidic, it masks the flavors of roast grains somewhat.

Chris Colby
Editor
beerandwinejournal.com

 

[cluckk]

Nice looking beer. Good job.

 

[QuercusMax]

Did you adjust your brewing liquor for a dark beer and take the pH of your mash and post-boil wort? Dark grains are acidic and if your beer ends up too acidic, it masks the flavors of roast grains somewhat.

Chris Colby
Editor
beerandwinejournal.com

I did not take a ph reading; I always seem to forget to do so. I ran my grainbill thru the EZ Water Calculator spreadsheet using Cleveland's water profile and it comes out slightly on the high end. I've never had any problems with my mash pH coming out too low... I generally get pretty good results just not messing with my water at all.