My Imperial Sweet Stout

[Jimbodaman]

I realize it's not an officially recognized style but I can't really figure out what else to call it so I.S.S. it is.
Tasting Notes:
This is my favorite recipe to date, creamy mouthfeel with a slight warmth of alcohol, sweet malt character (as the name implies), with a hint of honey and noble hops in the nose, black except when help up to light it's a very dark clear amber. Definitely malt forward but "noble ish" hops balance nicely. Not a session beer more a sweet dessert after dinner kinda beer.

Recipe
5.7 gallons into fermentor
Detroit city water

Malt
12 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb Crystal 80L (could be lowered to .5lb for sessionability)
.25 lb Honey Malt
.6 lb Chocolate Malt (450L)

Hops
1 oz Northdown pellets 60 min (9.6AA)
1 oz Willamette pellets 15 min (5.5AA)
2 oz Saaz whole leaf 10 min (3.0AA)

Mash 158F, 75 min, 1.7 qts/lb ( very high temp)
Yeast 1 packet Nottingham
Fermented at 65F (beer temp) in controlled chamber

extra
1 lb of honey added to primary at 3 weeks, let sit for another 2 weeks.

Bottle carbed to 2.3 vol

Starting gravity 1.064 - 1.068, if you add the honey to the boil it would be 1.071 - 1.075
Final gravity 1.018-1.020 (thanks Honey)
ABV 6.8-7.2

 

[Dynachrome]

Recipe
5.7 gallons into fermentor
Detroit city water

The recipe sounds delicious. The Detroit city water, does that impart any nuances to the overall flavor profile?

...mine that is similar: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=445659

 

[Jimbodaman]

The recipe sounds delicious. The Detroit city water, does that impart any nuances to the overall flavor profile?

...mine that is similar: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=445659

Detroit City water
Mg 8.33 mg/L
Ca 29.7 mg/L
Na 8.52 mg/L
S04 31.2 mg/L
Cl 9.50 mg/L
Total Hardness: 104 mg/L
Total Alkalinity: 76 mg/L
Carbonate Alkalinity: 0 mg/L
Bicarbonate Alkalinity: 76 mg/L
Non-Carbonate Hardness: 28 mg/L
pH in pH units: 7.76

 

[clone63]

(thanks Honey)

Honey will not effect FG. It should ferment out completely, to 1.0 or .99whatever. Unless you meant maybe the .001 point the extra ethanol might have lowered it?

 

[Jimbodaman]

It appeared to lower it about .001-.002 but could very well just be a poor hydrometer reading somewhere along the line.

 

[JosephN]

No Carafa, black patent or roasted barley? Most stout recipes at least have a few ounces of one of those. And I thought that's what makes the difference in a porter and stout, more roast/burnt character. Still looks great but I might call it a porter. Hey next time you brew something like this try out some golden naked oats, YUM!!!

 

[Jimbodaman]

No Carafa, black patent or roasted barley? Most stout recipes at least have a few ounces of one of those. And I thought that's what makes the difference in a porter and stout, more roast/burnt character. Still looks great but I might call it a porter. Hey next time you brew something like this try out some golden naked oats, YUM!!!

Totally agree with your analysis of what a stout should contain, but I wanted a different black beer without as much roastiness, maybe it's more of a dark Wee Heavy, whatever you wanna call it I recommend it. Scale the volumes down to 5 gals and you'll really have something Imperial.(same grain weights/hops)

Great suggestion about the golden naked oats. I will try some next time I brew this, even tho it goes against my normal recipe making mantra of how simply can I make great beer. Cheers

 

[55x11]

No Carafa, black patent or roasted barley? Most stout recipes at least have a few ounces of one of those. And I thought that's what makes the difference in a porter and stout, more roast/burnt character. Still looks great but I might call it a porter. Hey next time you brew something like this try out some golden naked oats, YUM!!!

Carafa will not impart much flavor, it's for color mostly (like Black IPAs).
Black patent can add roasty flavors but can also provide bitter/astringent taste in large amounts, depending on water profile etc.

 

[JosephN]

Carafa will not impart much flavor, it's for color mostly (like Black IPAs).

Black patent can add roasty flavors but can also provide bitter/astringent taste in large amounts, depending on water profile etc.

Agreed that there are different levels of roastyness, but if you ever each come Carafa II or III you'll notice that it's packed full of it. It would depend on how much you add and of what version. That's just my observation.