Marris Otter 66.7%
Flaked Oats 8.9%
Vienna Malt 4.4%
Munich 4.4%
Chocolate 6.7%
Roasted Bar. 4.4%
Black Patent 4.4%
Yeast: Ringwood
Hops: 60IBU’s from CTZ 60m addition
Est OG: 1.083
Est FG: 1.023
Est ABV: 7.9%
I was thinking about brewing this up and letting it sit in secondary until late fall/early winter - Any thoughts on this and water ideas? Thanks!
I’d say go for it. Should be solid.
What role does the vienna serve?
I like a malt-forward water profile for imperial stouts. I would use the malty option in bru’n water that is appropriate for the color of this beer.
I’ve done Smash Vienna’s and enjoyed the malt flavor. But I also considered removing it and doing a larger portion of Munich. Or even simplifying it to have it be just Marris Otter, Oats, and Dark Malts. I mostly brew hoppy pale ale’s (one imperial stout in the past) so I don’t have a lot of trial and error experience.
I do agree that the vienna and/or munich will get lost in all the roasty goodness. Meaning, that you won’t be able to taste the difference between the two. So I would either go with vienna OR munich, not both. Have you considered any crystal or caramunich malt to balance the roast a bit?
I say between the two, go with Munich. I put it in all my porters and stouts to give a rich malty balance to the roasted grains.
I opt for special b over crystal malts in my imperial. 91 mo, 3.5 chocolate, 3.5 black patent, 2 special b. I’ve been very happy with it
Maybe caramunich instead of Munich + Vienna?
Unless you have an air tight secondary, I would recommend letting it age in a keg instead of a secondary. The recipe is pretty solid, but I would offer a few suggestions. Since pale ale malt is kilned to nearly the same color as vienna, I would eliminate the vienna and double the munich. Lastly, my beers tend to come out a little ash-like once I go over 15% dark roasted malts. Maybe dial each one back a percent.