I’m going big for a joint 30th birthday celebration later this summer and want to do a Rye Imperial Stout with some oak soaked in rye whiskey. I know it’s going to be a bit over the top but I wanted to post my recipe to see if anyone sees any glaring issues with it.
Batch = 5.25 gal
est. OG = 1.091
est. FG = 1.020
est. IBU = 72
est. Color = 51 SRM
est. Efficiency = 74%
9# 2-Row 45%
7# Rye Malt 35%
1.5# Crystal Rye 7.5%
1# Brown Malt (110L) 5%
8oz Black Patent 2.5%
8oz Chocolate Malt 2.5%
8oz Roasted Barley 2.5%
Mash @ 152 (trying to keep it on the drier side)
Boil 75min @60 min 1.5oz Columbus (15.2%) @10 min 1oz Phoenix (11%) @10 min 1oz Columbus (15.2) @flameout 1oz Phoenix (11%) @Flameout 1oz Columbus (15.2)
10 min aroma steep
*Adjusted for 21.5% less utilization @7500ft elevation
Ferment with WLP007 Dry English Ale
After two weeks add 1 med. toast American Oak spiral soaked 3 weeks in Rye Whiskey
Leave four more weeks before bottling
Four+ weeks bottle condition
I don’t think that a beer that big with that much going on is realistically going to be ready in that short of a time span. Will it be beer? Yes. Will it be the best it could be? No.
For a beer like that I would age it at least 3-6 months.
My imperial stout is very similar, without the rye though. It’s good when fresh, but it really does get better as it ages. Brew 10 gallons and age half. Crack the second half open for the 31st birthday.
The biggest regret I have ever had with big beers is not having enough to age.
Yeah I’d prefer to go longer but this is as far ahead as I thought :P I’m guessing we’ll only crack a couple bombers of it in August, the rest can wait.
Well it went into the fermenter with ingredients as posted. Ended up using too much water though, ended up with >5.5gal of 1.088 even after upping the boil to 90 min.
This fermentation has been insane! Started with a blow off going into a growler, that filled up and dumped it once and still had to put in a bucket, already lost well over .5 gallon to foam out the blow off. It’s only at about 64 degrees.