A GOOD Imperial Stout

[calumrobertson]

Keen to make a good tasty imp stout (about 7.5% ish so not a big imp but middling). Problem is i'm pretty experienced in making paler beers but only ever made one stout at 5.5% which was ok to average.
Want something thats quite thick, good balanced sweetness...something to savour over the winter...anyone got any really good recipe suggestions?
Thanks,
C

[Aleman]

Not for this winter . . . my recipe needs at least two years to mature.

Of course you can always just scale the recipe down to the gravity you want

[calumrobertson]

That looks great...howd it turn out??

[Aleman]

That looks great...howd it turn out??

Ditch thought it was ok

[JKaranka]

I made one that turned out very well, but took about 4 months to condition. During this time the flavours mixed better and some residual sweetness went away. I'll try to dig the recipe. It turned around 7.5% and 70IBU or similar and was made with leftovers...

Found it:

18l, 7.5% ABV, 70 IBU

Fermentables: 4.5kg maris otter, 250g amber malt, 250g chocolate malt, 200g dark crystal malt, 125g roast barley, 100g wheat malt, 100g caramalt, 20g roast rye malt, 125g muscovado sugar

75 minute boil.
75 - 15g Calypso, 15g Dana
5 - 25g Marynka, 25g Northdown, 10g Cascade
Steep - 25g Northdown

It's good. It's roasty but with a sort of mild expresso flavour. There are touches of milk chocolate and vanilla. Some raisin and dark fruit. The finish is fairly dry with a long lasting bitterness that is not overpowering.

[JKaranka]

Some things I'd change would be simplifying the bill and adding a tad more roast barley. Get rid of the caramalt and substitute by dark crystal malt. Add some Calypso late and up the Cascades. The recipe above worked well (it does taste pretty good) but simplifying the bill might make it more elegant.

Imperial stouts must be the most personal style there is... everybody likes a slightly different combo. I personally don't like black malt, and I don't like ashy flavoured stouts. Some sugar for dryness is good, and late additions of hops too (they'll be barely noticeable but play a small part against all the dark malt).

[BitterTed]

I suggest this Stout from Ron's blog, 1890 Truman Export Stout, freaking excellent!!

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2010 ... xport.html

[calumrobertson]

JKaranka that does look a good one...but yes i'd prefer a simpler grain bill.... BitterTed i'd seen that recipe before and yup it looks a good one and nice and simple..although as one of the commenters said i cant see how those grain amounts could produce such a big beer! But guess useful to use the %ages as a guide and work from their for the strength i want. Im surprised it doesnt have roasted barley in...does it not give a nice 'stoutyness' to a stout?
Whats the differences chocolate, brown, black, roast etc malts?

I was thinking of putting it on my kegerator but then probably too big a beer for drinking that much of so thought i might bottle it which will give me scope to experiment..so thought do a quarter just the stout bottled, another quarter with wild blackberries in it (since loads about at the mo), another quarter on whisky oak chips and the final on coffee...might be interesting comparisons...

[Matt12398]

Chocolate, brown an black malts are malted whereas roasted barley is made from raw unmalted barley.

Roasted barley contains some starch that can be converted during the mash and can provide a sweeter finish than black malt on its own which will finish mush drier.

Both will provide a roasty character though.

[BitterTed]

JKaranka that does look a good one...but yes i'd prefer a simpler grain bill.... BitterTed i'd seen that recipe before and yup it looks a good one and nice and simple..although as one of the commenters said i cant see how those grain amounts could produce such a big beer! But guess useful to use the %ages as a guide and work from their for the strength i want. Im surprised it doesnt have roasted barley in...does it not give a nice 'stoutyness' to a stout?
Whats the differences chocolate, brown, black, roast etc malts?

I was thinking of putting it on my kegerator but then probably too big a beer for drinking that much of so thought i might bottle it which will give me scope to experiment..so thought do a quarter just the stout bottled, another quarter with wild blackberries in it (since loads about at the mo), another quarter on whisky oak chips and the final on coffee...might be interesting comparisons...

Yes, I used the percentages to get the OG listed in the recipe, also I believe the recipe is for 5 U.S. gallons, which ended up being 75% efficiency with the exact recipe for 5 U.S. gallons.
Matt12398 is correct with his explanation, they are just different stages of roast, oh yes it is "stouty" (is that even a word? ).
I adjusted my water to resemble London water and did the 3 hr. boil called for in the recipe. To date it is the best and favorite stout that I have made.

[JKaranka]

Wow, that Truman's export is quite something. Not sure if I can deal with those levels of black malt and piles of bittering straight away, but the brown malt bill and the dry hopping are definitively interesting.

[BitterTed]

Wow, that Truman's export is quite something. Not sure if I can deal with those levels of black malt and piles of bittering straight away, but the brown malt bill and the dry hopping are definitively interesting.

IMO black malt gets a bad rap! With a little conditioning the black malt settles down and has wonderful flavor especially with some brown malt and fuggles to play off. I think these tasting notes from Kristen nailed it:

Tasting Notes: Tons of dark fruit. Rich cocoa and rummed raisins. Treacle, dates and sultanas. Dark roasted espresso. Assertive herbal bitter with a near quinine tonic-like character. A massive drying accentuates the hop flavours and resins. The finish is like a very strong espresso with a hand full of winey fruits and a good dose of alcohol completely reminiscent of caffè correctto

Don't fear the dark side!

[weiht]

Black malt is actually v misunderstood. The flavour is very mild and subtle, and I would say it is less harsh than roasted or black barley.

Wychwood used to make a fantastic stout called Blackwych, and they used 10% black malt. YES!!

[coatesg]

No one has mentioned yeast. For strong beers you need a correspondingly larger pitch of healthy yeast. Beer is made in the fermentation - pitching the right amount of yeast and fermenting at the right temperature is vital.

[seymour]

Black malt is actually v misunderstood. The flavour is very mild and subtle, and I would say it is less harsh than roasted or black barley.

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