My first imperial stout

[ire2661]

I brewed my first all grain imperial stout yesterday and after I checked the OG, I tasted it and it was VERRRRY bitter. My recipe called for 60 minute hop addition and a 5 minute hop addition. I skipped the 5 min because I am one of those rare people that do not like hoppy beers and I figured that late of a hop addition would add an unwanted hop flavor. After thinking about it more, I was wondering if it was so bitter because I didn't add those late hops. Are all imperial stouts very bitter before pitching the yeast and I'm just being paranoid or did I mess up? I was thinking I could dry hop when I rack into the secondary? Advice please!

 

[carton132]

What was your bittering addition? Which hop and how much?

 

[drainbamage]

Some Imperial stouts are quite bitter by nature. On the other hand, the taste of the wort prior to fermentation (or really even prior to carbonating) doesn't always give the best indication of how the finished beer will taste. Let the yeast do its thing before you get too worried.


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[ire2661]

bittering hops were 2 oz of magnum. Looking at the directions again, it says "Bittering hops boiled for 60 minutes" next to it. The second addition was supposed to be 2 oz cascade and that says "Flavoring hops boiled the last 5 minutes" next to it. I think I should be ok but if anyone has advice, I'm all ears.

 

[ire2661]

I also plan on letting it sit for 6 months in the secondary before I drink so hopefully the bitterness will subside.

 

[strambo]

Cascades at 5 mins wouldn't have added much. What was the OG and what is the predicted FG? A RIS can have lots of ibus and not seem overly bitter if it is in the 10% ABV range.


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[ire2661]

The recipe said the OG should be about 1.080-1.084 and it should yield a 8% ABV, but my OG was 1.074. I think mine was off because a number of things that I will correct next time I brew, but I'm fine with the 1.074.

 

[strambo]

Ok, it will probably be on the bitter side, but aging will probably help.


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[ire2661]

HELP! I'm 24 hours from pitching and i keep getting blow off. I cleaned int and replaced the bubler and it blew off about 3 minutes after I replaced it and this I've done this 3 times now. I don't have a blow off tube on hand, what can I do? should I scrape out some krausen next time it happens?

 

[drainbamage]

If you don't have a blowoff hose, you can either keep cleaning out the airlock or just put some foil over the opening until activity settles down. The CO2 out gassing will be enough to fill the headspace, and you probably don't want to try scooping krausen off the top.


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[ire2661]

I was able to come up with a solution with an extra food grade 5 gal lid from Lowes I had, some extra 5/8" tube I had left over from another home project and a 5/8" paddle bit. I think I'm gonna go to Lowes tomorrow and pick up a thicker hose

 

[drainbamage]

That'll work.


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[ire2661]

Thanks for the advice!

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[mallard75]

Check your recipe. This happened to me on an imperial stout right when I switched to all grain. Some recipes are templates used for mini mashes , extracts and all grains with just fields for grain bills and hops ect. I pitched the full dose of cascade and saw the fine print: "for all grain use 20% less hops". Ended up with really bitter wort. It turned out fine. I always read the full recipe first. And after a while you will find your own grain bill standard and start tweaking. And I personally would not worry about the late addition (5min) hops making it too hoppy. At that time it would affect the aroma more than contribute to bittering. The longer the hop oils break down I'm the boil the more bitter they become.


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[ire2661]

So it finally stopped bubbling and I decided to switch the lids back to a normal lid with a regular bubbler. When I took the lid off, there was zero krausen floating on top and I noticed that I'm not missing a half gallon of beer. Is this common to lose so much during the active fermentation?

 

[ire2661]

Nevermind, I found a thread that says it can happen in bigger beers

 

[AgentHubcap]

What temp were you fermenting at? I just did a really big RIS (1.112 OG) and didn't even come close to needing a blow off. I kept mine at 62F for the active fermentation.

 

[ire2661]

Mine was around 68-70. Did you make a yeast starter?

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[AgentHubcap]

I racked on an existing yeast cake.