RIS recipe critique

[dasBeer]

I'm working on a RIS recipe that i'd like to do in a couple months. Any thoughts/suggestions welcome!


Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Imperial Stout
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 6 gallons (ending kettle volume)
Boil Size: 6.98 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.088
Efficiency: 75% (ending kettle)


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.103
Final Gravity: 1.024
ABV (standard): 10.3%
IBU (tinseth): 88.14
SRM (morey): 39.98

FERMENTABLES:
20 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (89.1%)
0.5 lb - United Kingdom - Crystal 60L (2.2%)
0.7 lb - United Kingdom - Chocolate (3.1%)
0.5 lb - United Kingdom - Roasted Barley (2.2%)
0.75 lb - Belgian - Special B (3.3%)

HOPS:
0.8 oz - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 9.2, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 16.54
2 oz - Warrior, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.3, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 64.27
2 oz - Fuggles, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 7.33


YEAST:
White Labs - California Ale Yeast WLP001

Note: i'm throwing the Centennial in there with the Warrior just because it's what i have in the freezer and needed more IBUs. I'm targeting 0.9 IBU/OG ratio.

 

[kev211]

Looks good to me. How many packas are you gonna use of the 001? I would either use multiple and make a big starter or use it in conjunction with WL high gravity and/or San Diego Super. With an OG that high youre gonna need a lot of happy, healthy yeast

 

[Steveruch]

The only thing that I'd change is to use more roast barley, maybe a bit of black patent.

 

[bowserm]

I would probably use at least 1lb of roasted barley. I would add black malt but not a lot or add it last 15 minutes of mash to not get those harsh tannins I find black malt gives out.

 

[hopbrad]

Ive never used special B in a stout so its throwing me off with how much dark malts to use. I usually go Roasted barley to about 5-7%. Chocolate 5-7% and crystal 3-5%. sometimes ill throw in Vienna or Munich and lower the crystal.

 

[dasBeer]

I was planing on making a big starter. Not sure on cell count but was going to use a calculator

 

[dasBeer]

special B is about 115L. I wanted to split the C malts so went with special B instead of C120 for more flavor/complexity

 

[Bullshivit-brew]

Why warrior and centennial at 60min? All hop aroma and flavor will probably be muted in this big of a beer at 60min.

 

[dasBeer]

Loving this input! So if I up the roasted barley to 1lbs the SRM jumps to 50. Is that too high?

 

[dasBeer]

Why warrior and centennial at 60min? All hop aroma and flavor will probably be muted in this big of a beer at 60min.

That's what I have with high AA. I was going to go with just warrior but don't have enough. I noticed that a lot of people tend to use Centennial for RIS so thought, "why not"?

 

[jmark]

I typically use just a single bittering addition (Warrior normally) and don't bother with any other hops... by the time my big RIS' are smooth enough (6+ months) I don't feel that I'm missing anything in the way of hop flavor since I'm not really looking for that.

Another thing I do is try and blend some of my malts - e.g. Instead of using, say Crystal 80, I'll use some 120 and some 40... similar color contribution but more depth in flavor. Similarly cut some midnight wheat with chocolate malt in my last batch to good effect. My last batch using this approach to the malt bill was one of my better incarnations scoring in the (very) low 40s and high 30s in recent comps after 6-8 months of aging.

 

[hopbrad]

adding the roasted malts later in the mash is something to think about too, like boswer said. granted your pH is in check. or consider a cold steep with some/all of them.

Regarding the hops, I think you could either go with or without the Centennial. When I go higher on the roasted malts, I dial back the IBUs a touch since they can be harsh/bitter as well. guess it depends what you want out of this brew.
sounds like you have a great brew day coming up!

oh and maybe some....OATS!

 

[Bullshivit-brew]

That's what I have with high AA. I was going to go with just warrior but don't have enough. I noticed that a lot of people tend to use Centennial for RIS so thought, "why not"?

I see makes sense. I use warrior or magnum I'm my recipe normally.

 

[Steveruch]

Loving this input! So if I up the roasted barley to 1lbs the SRM jumps to 50. Is that too high?

No. Not even close to too high.

 

[Raoul_Duke_PhD]

I'd personally back off a little on the Special B. That stuff is strong. I'd also increase roasted barley, or add some black patent.