Hi guys. Having recently ordered a small bourbon barrel (8 gallon from Woodinville’s maple syrup) I’m planning on making my first Imperial Stout and wanted to get some advice for the recipe. I’m working off of an 8 gallon BIAB setup so have to cut it with a little DME & sugars to get the gravity. Here’s my recipe so far:
you can. it will probably be plenty black without it if you bump up the RB and Choc. some people like to use the carafa to restrain the roast via replacement. but I like roast - my american oatmeal stout 1.070SG, uses 16% between chocolate and roasted barley. wouldn’t go that high in a RIS because there is some thought that the roast is more exponential than proportional, but I would definitely approach 10%, especially if you are going to age it.
black patent, to me, is more acrid. think black coffee (roasted barley) vs. black espresso (black patent). each have their place, just different flavors/acidity.
I’ll add that 4 oz of maple syrup is not going to do anything for you at all. I put 2 lb in 5 gallons of barley wine and it’s a note, not the main note even but a note. unless you are just taking a guess on how much is in the barrel.
+1 to bumping up the roast malts. Personally, I’d drop the Carafa and use 8 oz each roasted barley and chocolate. And using the DME (which is less fermentable) I’d be sure to mash low, as in ~ 148 or 149F, to get down to the FG you’re shooting for.
Have you brewed this recipe before and reached that FG, or is the FG a software estimate ? I just ask because extracts are not as fermentable as grain, and contribute to a higher FG, and a sweeter beer. Though the lb of turbinado would help some. I don’t think you’re in any danger of this beer being too light in body.
Definitely agree you want more dark malts in that beer. With barrel aging you may want to go a little heavier on the dark malts than you would without a barrel-aged beer because the barrel is going to contribute a set of flavors and the time will help smooth out some of the roast character. Of course that depends upon how long the beer will age before you drink it. You may not want to age a beer in a fresh barrel for very long.
Have you brewed this recipe before and reached that FG, or is the FG a software estimate ? I just ask because extracts are not as fermentable as grain, and contribute to a higher FG, and a sweeter beer. Though the lb of turbinado would help some. I don’t think you’re in any danger of this beer being too light in body.
Black patent is malted where roasted barley is not. I also get more burnt and ashy flavors from it. I don’t like to use acrid to describe it because acrid to me is a negative description.
First time I used it was an accident. LHBS was out of roasted barley so I used black patent. Worked well so I ran with it.
Some pretty good advice all around here. I would only add that I wouldn’t mash lower on account of the DME. You’re only using two pounds, so it shouldn’t have too significant of an impact. My experience is that you can find some highly fermentable light DME.
I regularly add more than 2lbs to my beers and have mashed low to account for what I would expect to be a higher FG. Right now, I’m looking to adjust recipes and process to get more body into my beers.
Of course, the darker you go with DME/LME the more of an impact it will have on final gravity. Extra light dry just doesn’t seem to cause issues in my experience.
Aside from the DME in the recipe, I like to mash my own high gravity beers (RIS, Barleywine, etc.) ~ 148 or 149F. Personal preference - with a normal strength beer some styles might finish a bit thinner than desired, but I’ve never found it to be the case in a high OG beer. But I have had big beers finish higher (and sweeter) than I wanted. Lots of different ways of getting there, though !