imperial stout recipe idea.. feedback?

[zorak1066]

I'm trying to hammer out a recipe for a beer to honor my bro. figure by the time I get it in the bottle and aged.... a Russian imperial stout would be great to sip and reflect on him when he's gone. any ideas for this? biab, mash temp 151f.. got the water figured out...thanks for the help madbrewer.

4.5 lbs American pale 2 row
3 oz Belgian debittered black
2 oz American victory (toasted in oven?) <-----or how about crisp pale chocolate malt instead of victory? don't want too much chocolate
2 oz crystal 60l
3 oz roast barley
1 oz acidulated malt (for ph balancing)
.4 oz warrior hops 60 mins or .5 oz galena for 60 mins...not sure yet
.25 oz cascade at 15 mins
danstar notty - rehydrated 1 sachet
batch 1.5 gals boil 2.5 gals (roughly) 60 mins

I would leave it in the primary for one full month.
rack it to a secondary and let sit for 6 weeks.
add about 1 oz of bourbon soaked light or medium toast oak cubes to fermenter without the bourbon.
add 1/2 or 1 vanilla bean.
let sit for 2 more weeks.

then bottle with priming sugar and add 2-3 grains of notty to each bottle. let sit for a couple months.

my numbers come up : og 1.095 fg 1.02 abv 9.56% ibus about 86.6 with the warrior hops.


ive never used oak cubes or vanilla. I'm looking for a little something extra.. different... from the cubes and vanilla bean. not overpowering... more for accents. I wanted to use coffee malt but my lhbs doesn't carry it.. hence the victory instead.


I'm doing the small batch size to get experience with biab and all grain. I hope to hit the lhbs in one week and start on this soon.

thanks for guidance..

-z-

[jpsherman]

You could do a full LBK/LBC sized batch by adding some LME/DME after the boil. You get a larger batch size with no real added effort on your part. You could reduce your base malt and save a little time grinding as well.

The partial volume mash technique is especially handy if you don't yet have big enough equipment for AG.

Brewbirds did a great job of helping me learn this method, you might try giving them a PM, or posting in the BIAB section.

[zorak1066]

thanks... I'm set up for small batches and my lhbs will grind the malt for me no charge if I buy it from them. I was looking to just get my feet wet so to speak with the whole biab and mashing... and keep the first few batches small. that way if I totally screw things up there isn't that much lost. one day though i'll be looking to do palmers elevenses which is a partial mash biab (northernbrewer).

[jpsherman]

I do my grinding in a small coffee grinder a few ounces at a time, so I value my grain bill size differently.

You might try chocolate malt if you can't do coffee malt. It gets you roasty flavors with larger amounts. I am a big fan of chocolate malt.

[zorak1066]

I didn't want too much chocolate (bitter or other).. I figure between the roasted barley and the victory, if I lightly toast it in the oven I might get a roasted coffee kind of vibe going. the crystal for a hint of sweetness... the black for the coloring... acidulated malt just a pinch to balance ph... and I have warrior hops on hand already so I was going to use them instead of galena. the cascade to add a little piney-grapefruity twist to it. I was looking for a roasty dark stout with vanilla and bourbon accents. syrupy is fine.. I like Black Xantus, but not as much coffee.