Imperial stout...

[drjim]

I really like the occasional bonkers strong beer whether that be a belgian quad or an IPA, but I absolutely LOVE an imperial stout. Can't think when I've drunk one made by someone other than myself, but it tastes great.

The latest thought is a chocolate/orange/coffee 12ish percenter which I'll make using the CROSSMYLOOF 05 yeast cake from a bitter, dark brown sugar coffee and oak chips in secondary then let it sit in my king keg pressure barrel for a while.

Mind focused by drinking the 6% stout I made a year ago which has been resting in said king keg for a year - or rather the last few suviving pints have!

POR hops as I have a load that need using as not vac packed and getting old.

Recipe...

"Squabble"



Imperial Stout
12.2% / 24.9 °P
Recipe by
Jimbrew

All Grain

Jimbrew
67.4% efficiency
Batch Volume: 25 L
Boil Time: 120 min

Mash Water: 24.03 L
Sparge Water: 13.36 L
Total Water: 37.39 L
Boil Volume: 31.53 L
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.073

Vitals
Original Gravity: 1.096
Total Gravity: 1.105
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU (Tinseth): 80
BU/GU: 0.76
Colour: 143 EBC

Mash
Temperature — 65 °C — 90 min

Malts (8.9 kg)
4 kg (34.8%) — Crisp Lager Malt — Grain — 3.4 EBC
2 kg (17.4%) — Crisp No19 Floor Malted Maris Otter Malt — Grain — 6.2 EBC
1 kg (8.7%) — Crisp Vienna Malt — Grain — 7.8 EBC
850 g (7.4%) — Crisp Roast Barley — Grain — 1375 EBC
550 g (4.8%) — Crisp Chocolate Malt — Grain — 1045 EBC
500 g (4.4%) — Crisp Torrefied Wheat — Grain — 5 EBC

Other (2.6 kg)
1 kg (8.7%) — Cane (Beet) Sugar — Sugar — 0 EBC — Boil — 60 min
1 kg (8.7%) — OIO Rolled Oats — Adjunct — 2.6 EBC
500 g (4.4%) — Brown Sugar, Dark — Sugar — 98.5 EBC — Secondary
100 g (0.9%) — Cane (Beet) Sugar — Sugar — 0 EBC — Bottling

Hops (130 g)
100 g (75 IBU) — Pride of Ringwood 9% — Boil — 120 min
30 g (5 IBU) — Amarillo 9.2% — Aroma — 60 min hopstand @ 80 °C

Hopstand at 80 °C

Miscs
5 g — Canning Salt (NaCl) — Mash
20 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Mash
100 g — Ginger Root — Boil — 120 min
1 items — Protafloc — Boil — 15 min
200 g — Orange Peel, Bitter — Boil — 5 min
100 g — coffee beans — Boil — 5 min
100 g — Oak Chips — Secondary
50 g — coffee beans — Secondary

Yeast
1 pkg — Crossmyloof FIVE 78%

Fermentation
Primary — 20 °C — 14 days

Carbonation: 2.4 CO2-vol

OK so thoughts...

brew soon, cool for hop stand, leave to chill from there. ? stick into NCC in tank to cool and can pitch onto the cake when Bumpa finishes...

2 weeks primary

drop into secondary with sugar oak and coffee

2 weeks warm secondary


transfer to shed to cool

2 weeks

then into pressure barrel

[IPA]

Another yeast to consider is available from BrewLab.
I sent them a sample that I recovered from a bottle of 1985 Courage Russian Imperial Stout.

[Cobnut]

I made a CML AG kit earlier and quite pleased with the outcome. I used their Beoir yeast (2 packs into 19L 1099 wort), but it struggled to get below about 1036 (and tasted too sweet). So I added 1ml of amyloglucosidase enzyme and gave it a good stir which got it going again. It finished at about 1010 giving me an ABV of 12.7%. It is still a bit “hot” (bottled in March), but also nice and smooth.

[drjim]

I'm going to go with the yeastcake of five from the batch of bitter I have underway. When I did my previous imperial I used saf 04, again the residues of a batch of bitter, and that went to 11.4% with no bother.

Said batch of bitter is now on day 4 and chugging along nicely. It was in the utility room and at exactly 18 degrees for first day or so and didn't want to get going, that's bottom of range for the five, so moved into boiler room and now hovering 20ish. I'll give that about a week then move it to the cooling shed to settle out before firing up the mash tun for the imperial.