Session Imperial Stout?

My wife likes barrel-aged imperial stouts — think bourbon-flavored motor oil —, but she’d also like to be able to drink more than 4 oz of a beer.

How would you go about making a “session” imperial stout? So far, I’m thinking (1) mash hot for lots of residual viscosity and (2) lots of whisk(e)y-soaked American oak. But it’s there anytime else I can do to make a beer feel big without actually driving up the ABV?

I love this concept! I pretty much quit buying or brewing this style, partly because I’m burnt out on them, and partly because even a 12 oz. pour is too much for me.
What follows are some thoughts based on my experience with other session beers. For recipe, I would mash high (156 - 158), use a decent dose of dark crystal malt, add some flaked grains (oats or barley), and aim for a more character-rich base grain (e.g., Maris Otter or Vienna; maybe Munich, but it might clash with the roasted grains…). You’ll probably want to reduce the relative amount of roasted malt (e.g., roasted barley or whatever), so it doesn’t get too harsh. For yeast, use a variety (probably English?) that will have a lower attenuation.
I found this recipe from Craft Beer & Brewing, which may be a start.

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Sorry it’s one of those can’t get there from here

I would imagine that most FG of an imperial stout are close to the OG of the beer you want to brew

There is no amount of crystal malts or high mash temperatures that will give you what you are looking for

I also imagine the whiskey flavors would really dominate as the beer is to light to moderate those strong flavors

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I don’t think you’d ever get something that is indistinguishable from a barrel-aged stout, but I do think you can get something that fits many of the characters. Just like a session IPA – it will never be a Pliny the Elder, but you can get something that hits aspects of it. Something like a session barrel-aged stout approximation would take some iterations to dial in all of the stuff (e.g., how to get the bitterness/whiskey/body balanced)…I guess I’m more of an optimist on this kind of project, with eyes open to the challenges.

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First off, I don’t think you’d be able to pull off a beer with the viscosity of 10W50 on a cold winter morning without enough alcohol to balance it out. I expect that would just end up too sweet and syrupy to be enjoyable. But I also haven’t ever tried a “session” version of something like that, so who knows?

I did an experiment a while back while trying to achieve a really thick body for a pastry stout that I was thinking about trying. It ended up having a pretty good mouthfeel but it still was shy of what I was shooting for. Overall, though, it might be in the ballpark for you.

Like you suggested, I mashed high. I also boiled it down from about 1.044 to 1.096. The US-05 only fermented it down to about 1.034, so it was pretty “sessionable” for the style.

I thought the end result was pretty enjoyable. It felt like something that should’ve been several percent higher ABV. I should make that again. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Lactose. I’ve brewed my take on a Hill Farmstead Porter that has it, coffee, and vanilla and is less than 6% alcohol. It drinks like a bigger beer; I think because we associate vanilla and coffee flavors with bigness and the lactose gives a bit of additional sweetness and contributes to the mouthfeel. I can post the recipe if anyone is interested.

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This one is close to what I was thinking, too:

Certainly!

That is one of my fears — alcohol contributes a “bite” that will be missing. It is possible that no workaround will quite get us there…

Yeah — I am optimistic that we can get something that hits the right notes … just an octave lower (to abuse a music metaphor). It needn’t even have any black malt. Monday Night’s Ante Meridiem is one of our inspirations, and it’s a barrel-aged imperial brown ale.

I was hoping to avoid using exogenous sugars, but lactose does contribute a certain “roundness”.

Looked it up- looks like I split the batch and used 3 of the 5 gallons for coffee and vanilla additions.

Coffee vanilla milk porter

5.25 gallon pre-boil
70% efficiency
OG 1.038

5 lbs. pale ale malt
0.75 lb. dark munich malt
0.5 lb. 120L Crystal malt
0.6 lb. Golden Naked Oats
0.5 lb. Black malt
0.25 lb. chocolate malt
0.5 lb. pale chocolate malt

soft well water with 2 g CaCl for brewing liquor

18 IBU British hops (I used homegrown Saxon) - 60 min.
3-4 IBU British hops (I used homegrown Goldings) - 10 min.

1 lb. lactose added at flameout

fermented with BRY-97

post-fermentation- 3 gallons of this Porter got 1200 mL of strong cold-brew coffee (I think I replaced water with finished beer for this) and 225 mL of home-extracted vanilla. I recommend doing what I did- add small amounts of coffee, vanilla to a glass of the finished beer and scale up.

This beer was likely under 5% and tasty!

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I guess what do you mean by session? Another way to get a big body is to add a significant amount of oatmeal. My 1.050 ish oatmeal stout has nice body esp when served at a lower co2. However I would be reluctant to add whiskey anything as it would overpower the flavor. Also it won’t have the heavy “motor oil”’nor sweetness from a beer that finishes at a high FG. Lactose will sweeten the beer and add some mouthfeel but the wrong kind. Also I would not call 1.050’a session beer.

Not saying not to try it but temper expectations.

I just recently made a 6% Porter and I added some bourbon that was soaking with oak chips and two vanilla beans. It has the barrel aged flavor without the high alcohol of an Imperial stout or using a barrel. Oh yeah, you can drink more than one.

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While I would normally define “session” as around half the strength of a typical craft beer, say 2.5 to 3.5%, my use of “session” here is rather jocular — a half-strength imperial is just a craft beer strength beer, say 4 to 6.5%.

In my head, I was thinking of something like 4%.

Sounds like Dannyjed has a solution.

Wow. I wasn’t expecting that you’d try to take it that low. If you manage to pull this off, please share the recipe!

Hey, I’m going to be leaving an ale sit on oak cubes for about 3 months. (feel free to agree or disagree with this - im always open)

But, when did you add the bourbon? Early on or just before packaging?

I had about 8 Oz of bourbon with oak chips and 2 vanilla beans (cut up and scraped the insides) soaking for about 2-3 weeks. I strained and added it to the keg at packaging. You can leave it on oak as long as it takes. You can taste it periodically and let your own taste decide when it’s ready.

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I also think a 4% stout or porter could work as well. I guy from my Homebrew Club won a club competition with a 4% Barrel Aged Mild. It was a delicious beer. The main thing to think about is making a beer at that strength that doesn’t taste thin and that can be hard to do.

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Actually that is a very good idea. I was thinking adding the whiskey oak chips at kegging. That would be overpowering but adding it at secondary and then removing when you reach a desired flavor is brilliant.

Thanks for sharing

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