Imperial Stout Mephistopheles Stout

[Evan!]

Recipe Type

Partial Mash

Yeast

WLP099

Yeast Starter

2L, stepped up over 6 days

Batch Size (Gallons)

5.5

Original Gravity

1.147

Final Gravity

1.037

Boiling Time (Minutes)

300

IBU

107.4

Color

70.5

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

8 days @ 68f

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

20 days @ 68f

Mephistopheles

A ProMash Recipe Report

BJCP Style and Style Guidelines
-------------------------------

13-F Stout, Russian Imperial Stout

Min OG: 1.075 Max OG: 1.114
Min IBU: 50 Max IBU: 100
Min Clr: 30 Max Clr: 48 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.50 Wort Size (Gal): 5.50
Total Grain (Lbs): 24.13
Anticipated OG: 1.146 Plato: 33.46
Anticipated SRM: 65.3
Anticipated IBU: 105.7
Brewhouse Efficiency: 83 %
Wort Boil Time: 180 Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate: 15.00 Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 10.00 Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.080 SG 19.40 Plato

Formulas Used
-------------

Brewhouse Efficiency and Predicted Gravity based on Method #1, Potential Used.
Final Gravity Calculation Based on Points.
Hard Value of Sucrose applied. Value for recipe: 46.2100 ppppg
% Yield Type used in Gravity Prediction: Fine Grind Dry Basis.

Color Formula Used: Morey
Hop IBU Formula Used: Tinseth
Tinseth Concentration Factor: 1.30


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
56.0 13.50 lbs. Gleneagle's Maris Otter Pale Great Britain 1.038 5
6.2 1.50 lbs. Roasted Barley Belgium 1.030 575
8.3 2.00 lbs. Corn Sugar Generic 1.046 0
8.3 2.00 lbs. Turbinado Sugar Generic 1.046 0
8.3 2.00 lbs. Generic LME - Extra Light Generic 1.035 7
6.7 1.63 lbs. Aromatic Malt Belgium 1.036 25
4.1 1.00 lbs. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 120
2.1 0.50 lbs. Black Patent Malt America 1.028 525

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.00 oz. Northern Brewer Whole 6.50 37.4 90 min.
2.00 oz. Warrior Whole 14.50 55.7 90 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 6.00 6.5 20 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 6.00 3.9 10 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 6.00 2.1 5 min.


Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.50 Oz Oak Cubes - American, House To Other 7 Days(fermenter)
2.00 Tsp Irish Moss Fining 15 Min.(boil)
3.00 Tsp Gypsum Powder Other 90 Min.(boil)


Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP099 Super High Gravity Ale


Water Profile
-------------

Profile:
Profile known for:

Calcium(Ca): 0.0 ppm
Magnesium(Mg): 0.0 ppm
Sodium(Na): 0.0 ppm
Sulfate(SO4): 0.0 ppm
Chloride(Cl): 0.0 ppm
biCarbonate(HCO3): 0.0 ppm

pH: 0.00


Mash Schedule
-------------

Mash Type: Multi Step

Grain Lbs: 18.13
Water Qts: 19.06 - Before Additional Infusions
Water Gal: 4.76 - Before Additional Infusions

Qts Water Per Lbs Grain: 1.05 - Before Additional Infusions

Acid Rest Temp : 0 Time: 0
Protein Rest Temp : 0 Time: 0
Intermediate Rest Temp : 133 Time: 25
Saccharification Rest Temp : 152 Time: 50
Mash-out Rest Temp : 158 Time: 20
Sparge Temp : 170 Time: 10


Total Mash Volume Gal: 6.22 - Dough-In Infusion Only

All temperature measurements are degrees Fahrenheit.



Notes
-----

-Make 1L starter 4 days before brew; step up at 3 & then 2 days; cold-crash and decant starter liquid before pitching.

-Withhold sucanat & LME additions from primary boil; once fermentation has been underway for several days, boil 1/3 of the sucanat & LME and add solution to the fermenter. Repeat with the final two thirds (in 1/3 increments) several days apart.

-Soak oak cubes in bourbon and 3/4 cups espresso for 7 days during primary fermentation.

 

[c.n.budz]

I was following your other thread on this. I'm guessing it turned out well?

 

[Evan!]

So far, so good. The difficult part is carbonating it. I've been keeping it in the warm room and shaking up all the bottles here and there, trying to get everything to ferment out okay and give me more carbo. But it tastes just absolutely awesome.

 

[fightguy]

I wish I knew how to make this with extract

 

[Evan!]

I wish I knew how to make this with extract

It's pretty simple, actually. Keep the recipe basically the same, steep the specialty grains rather than mashing them, and sub 9.5 lbs of DME or 12.5 lbs of LME for the Maris Otter. It gets expensive, given the cost of extract, but that's how you do it.

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

Evan!, FYI for next time, one of the brewers/employees at Avery brings his dog to the same dog park that I go to, he let it leak that they use Wyeast 3787 for Mephistophiles, among other beers they brew (Salvation and the Reverend). He said that with the dark malts, it combines to create a cherry/plum flavor that is present in Meph. Personally, I have not tried meph (going to the release party for the 2007 batch next week!), but I did just do a Russian Imperial Stout with 3787, the OG was 1.080, it is down to about 1.024 right now and still going, I expect it to get to about 1.018 or so if I get the max 78% attenutation out of it. It can handle up to 12% ABV, and I bet it can go higher if it is used by Avery for Meph. at 15% ABV or so. Right now, the flavors the strain has produced in my stout are very interesting, I am getting some cherry, apricot, and a little bananna (the last of which I know fades with aging).

 

[Soulive]

Evan!, FYI for next time, one of the brewers/employees at Avery brings his dog to the same dog park that I go to, he let it leak that they use Wyeast 3787 for Mephistophiles, among other beers they brew (Salvation and the Reverend). He said that with the dark malts, it combines to create a cherry/plum flavor that is present in Meph. Personally, I have not tried meph (going to the release party for the 2007 batch next week!), but I did just do a Russian Imperial Stout with 3787, the OG was 1.080, it is down to about 1.024 right now and still going, I expect it to get to about 1.018 or so if I get the max 78% attenutation out of it. It can handle up to 12% ABV, and I bet it can go higher if it is used by Avery for Meph. at 15% ABV or so. Right now, the flavors the strain has produced in my stout are very interesting, I am getting some cherry, apricot, and a little bananna (the last of which I know fades with aging).

That's interesting. Thanks for the info :rockin:

 

[Sleepyemt]

Evan,
Any update on this one since its had time to age? Sorry to dig up an old thread, But I'm really curious as to where it stands or if anything you'd change?

Thanks

 

[blizzard]

Reviving the dead here to ask if anyone can think of a good parti-gyle to come out of this. A dubbel maybe? I'm gonna brew it up when i get my 3787 ready. Thanks for the input all, and thanks to evan for creating this beast. -b!

 

[chefmike]

be more like a mild I would think. 6 lbs of that sugar is not in the mash, and there is a lot of dark grain in there.

But I love a good mild!

 

[Silentnoiz]

And here I am digging up an old thread. I can't help it, this is one of my favorite beers, it is amazing, and I want brew it. I have a complete (starting at Batch 1) vertical of this beer in my cellar. I had an extra Batch 4 recently that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I read that Avery used 2-row barley, black malt, roasted barley, Belgian Special B and aromatic malts, and used Magnum and Styrian Goldings hops (to 107 IBUs).

Anyways, I wanted to see if anyone has brewed/aged/drank this, what their results were, and what they would do differently on a next batch.

My mouth is watering just thinking about this brew.

 

[snpr13]

working on my batch this weekend.

 

[Silentnoiz]

Nice! I'd love to hear how it goes.

 

[blizzard]

Mine has been aging a year. Very smooth until after a few sips when the warming alcohol sensation builds up on you and you realize how much alcohol is in there. I wish I had let it warm just a little more. I have some on oak I'm very excited about and will probably add wine to a small portion.

 

[looneybomber]

Is anyone trying this with the Wyeast 3787 and then finishing with either champagne or WL099, or is everyone sticking with WL099?

I'd love to try making this beer sometime. It and bourbon county are my two favorite stouts. A blend of those together in one glass would be perfect!

 

[blizzard]

I used 3787 and hit 17+%, but then I force carbed.

 

[looneybomber]

I used 3787 and hit 17+%, but then I force carbed.

In about 10 days, I will have a large yeast slurry/cake from the quad I am brewing and would like to try this beer. That said, the first post wasn't explicitly clear how the boiled additions were boiled. Was the LME, turbinado, and corn sugar added to water to boil or are you supposed to save some wort and use that to boil?

Did you aerate your wort at any time after pitching your yeast?

What temps during fermentation should I aim for? Normally I try to ferment around 68F with this yeast, but would 71-72 be better?

Thanks.

 

[truckmann]

For the simple sugars, according to the notes in the original post

-Withhold sucanat & LME additions from primary boil; once fermentation has been underway for several days, boil 1/3 of the sucanat & LME and add solution to the fermenter. Repeat with the final two thirds (in 1/3 increments) several days apart.

From my experience and research into high gravity beers you would be best served to keep some of the simple sugars out and use it to feed the yeast during fermentation in order to help keep from over whelming the yeast. If you kept some out it wouldn't hurt to dissolve them in a solution of water and boiled for 5-10 minutes just to make sure to avoid infection. Looks like the OP did this in 3 increments.

As for aeration on a beer this big, pure oxygen is almost a must to give the yeast every chance at a healthy fermentation and I would suggest aerating several times, every 6-8 hours for the first couple days if possible, to make sure the yeast have plenty of O2 to do their work.

For fermentation temp I would start this one out at 63-65F for the first couple of days and then raise it to 68F. It's generally a good idea to keep the temps low for the initial fermentation to avoid generating fusel alcohols and making a rocket fuel headache beer.

On a side note, I would not personally use a yeast cake that just did the work of fermenting a Quad. That yeast has already had a large stress put on it from the previous fermentation and may not be healthy enough to do it again on an even bigger beer without generating some harsh alcohols. If I wanted to use a previous yeast cake I would use something that just fermented a beer around 1.050 or less and probably supplement that yeast with a starter of the Super High Gravity yeast. There is a good article on brewing high gravity beers in the latest Zymurgy suggesting that some have had good luck with the Wyeast 1272 strain and gotten up to 18 abv out of it.

 

[blizzard]

In about 10 days, I will have a large yeast slurry/cake from the quad I am brewing and would like to try this beer. That said, the first post wasn't explicitly clear how the boiled additions were boiled. Was the LME, turbinado, and corn sugar added to water to boil or are you supposed to save some wort and use that to boil?

Did you aerate your wort at any time after pitching your yeast?

What temps during fermentation should I aim for? Normally I try to ferment around 68F with this yeast, but would 71-72 be better?

Thanks.

I didn't use LME (mashtun was VERY full) but I boiled the reserved sugars in water before adding. It's a lot of sugar, so don't forget to break it out into a few additions.

I added air using an aquarium pump before pitching and then again 24 hours after pitching.

The temp range on this yeast is 64-78. I let mine get to the higher end of the range early on and then let it drop down to about 70. There is so much going on in this beer that the belgian-yeast flavors aren't prominent. I would let it get above 70 to help it finish out.

 

[looneybomber]

@blizzard. I too was going to use my aquarium pump but was nervous about oxidation if I aerated again in the middle of fermentation.

For fermentation temp I would start this one out at 63-65F for the first couple of days and then raise it to 68F. It's generally a good idea to keep the temps low for the initial fermentation to avoid generating fusel alcohols and making a rocket fuel headache beer.

On a side note, I would not personally use a yeast cake that just did the work of fermenting a Quad. That yeast has already had a large stress put on it from the previous fermentation and may not be healthy enough to do it again on an even bigger beer without generating some harsh alcohols. If I wanted to use a previous yeast cake I would use something that just fermented a beer around 1.050 or less and probably supplement that yeast with a starter of the Super High Gravity yeast. There is a good article on brewing high gravity beers in the latest Zymurgy suggesting that some have had good luck with the Wyeast 1272 strain and gotten up to 18 abv out of it.

Good point about the temp (I don't want rocket fuel) and I didn't think about that quad yeast cake being damaged goods. What kind of off flavors will it produce if part of it is combined with a 3L starter of WLP099 or wyeast 4347?

Do you have a link to the zymurgy 1272 article? I wasn't able to find it.

 

[truckmann]

With the stressed yeast you may just get some extra esters that may not hurt too much or you might end up with some soapy or phenolic character that could be unpleasant. With the addition of the fresh yeast you might be okay though, I'm not really sure how adding some fresh yeast to old yeast will affect the output of the old yeast.

I can't get you a direct link to the article since you have to log in to see the online publication, but the article starts on Page 17 titled Making Big Brews Like the Pros. The reference to the use of 1272 along with some other yeasts is on page 18 in the last paragraph. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/zymurgy/current-issue

 

[blizzard]

@blizzard. I too was going to use my aquarium pump but was nervous about oxidation if I aerated again in the middle of fermentation.

Don't wait until the middle. A shot before pitching and then another one about a day later will help the yeast without producing off-flavors, but I wouldn't wait too long to re-aerate.

 

[wzd]

With the stressed yeast you may just get some extra esters that may not hurt too much or you might end up with some soapy or phenolic character that could be unpleasant. With the addition of the fresh yeast you might be okay though, I'm not really sure how adding some fresh yeast to old yeast will affect the output of the old yeast.

I can't get you a direct link to the article since you have to log in to see the online publication, but the article starts on Page 17 titled Making Big Brews Like the Pros. The reference to the use of 1272 along with some other yeasts is on page 18 in the last paragraph. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/zymurgy/current-issue

Which issue? I can't find the article

 

[truckmann]

Since this was a couple of years ago I'll have to dig through some past issues to see if I can find it.

 

[truckmann]

Which issue? I can't find the article

It is in the January/February 2013 issue, which is also happens to be the 7th annual gadget issue.

 

[wzd]

It is in the January/February 2013 issue, which is also happens to be the 7th annual gadget issue.

Thanks, found it. Also this link appears to work, if you first sign in and view the magazine (any issue), then use the link: http://digital.ipcprintservices.com/display_article.php?id=1259072&id_issue=138618