I’d been planning to brew an Imperial Stout for some time so the idea of having a mass New Year’s Day Imperial Stout brewday seemed like the perfect opportunity to get this going. The original idea came from Leedsbrew and the other good folks at Jimsbeerkit. I’m writing this three weeks after the big day as the stout is finally bottled and I can relax and reflect on the process (yes it really was that stressful!).
I’d never brewed anything as strong as this before so I knew that there would be additional challenges. Given the limitations of having to mash in a bag and in a 20L stockpot, I realised that a lot of planning was in order if I was going to pull this off. I decided that the only way to brew a beer of this size, given the constraints of my setup, was to do a double mash. According to Randy Mosher, the idea of doing a second mash using the wort from a prior mash was something which was familiar to brewers in Victorian times. Apparently it was referred to as the ‘Doble-Doble’.
I expected my efficiency to be a lot lower than usual so I set it to 65%. My aim was to end up with a stout in the region of 10.5%ABV but I knew that this was ambitious given the expected losses.
In addition to the nature of this brew, the nature of my hangover on New Years Day added to the odds of failure. Fortunately I had a brewing assistant in the form of my good friend Paul who took photographs and poured beer.
- Maris Otter Pale Malt – 81%
- Chocolate Malt – 6%
- Table Sugar – 6%
- Roasted Barley – 4%
- Flaked Wheat – 2%
- Pale Wheat Malt – 1%
- Black Malt – 1%
Batch Size – 17L
2 90 minute mashes @65˚C
Hops – 50g Pacific Gem 14.6% @FWH
80g Willamette 5.6% @30 mins
20g Willamette 5.6% @15 mins
77.1 IBU
Yeast WLP001 (4L Starter)
O.G. 1.112 (ended up with 1.097)
F.G. 1.030 (ended up with 1.018)
ABV 10.7% (ended up at 10.3% so happy with that!)
Monster grist
Water treatment (both this and the grist were prepared on new year’s eve. Definitely a good idea)
Mash on. Temp is about there.
Lost about 2 degrees over the course of the first mash, which was fine.
Bringing wort back up to strike temperature
Second mash. This was the weird part… doughing in to wort rather than hot water
Once more, the temp looks about right. Very malty second mash!
After a fair bit of faffing around calculating water volumes, the first wort Pacific Gem hops go in
Nice vigorous boil
Unfortunately I don’t seem to have taken a picture of the original gravity reading but it was 1.097. Although initially disappointed that I only got 59% efficiency, I can live with this.
WLP001 starter. The spent wort was discarded and just the yeast pitched.
I let it ferment for two weeks before transferring to secondary for a few days. The WLP001 really worked some magic as my final gravity reading was 1.018.
These oak cubes had been soaking in bourbon since October…
I racked 5L of the stout to a demijohn with some of the oak cubes. This will be bottled in a couple of months. The unadulterated stuff was bottled immediately.
It was definitely a lot of work for such a small quantity of beer although I have a feeling that if I can wait a year it’ll be worth it.
What will be really interesting is if we all get to sample each other’s efforts in a year’s time.
Here are the other folks’ brewdays:
Pdtnc’s Abyss Imperial Stout and here
Leedsbrew’s Titan Imperial Stout
Barney’s Eye Patch Imperial Stout
Lugsy’s Supermassive Black Hole Imperial Stout
Jimp2003′s Event Horizon Imperial Stout
Spikesdad’s Imperial Stout
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Great set of photos, I’ll maybe do two mashes next time and a second small beer.
Same time next year then?
Maybe a Double Imperial IPA next year, a Savagely hopped strong ale.
Cheers! Definitely on for next year, a DIIPA sounds just the ticket!
Nice one Tom!
Well done on the doble-doble, might have to give this a go one day. So we’re doing it again next year then eh? DIIPA sounds like a plan to me!
Thanks Lugsy, I’d use that method again but would rather just have a bigger set-up to be honest. I really like the idea of brutal hops next time… Roll on 2013!
Tom,
Where did you find that finishing hydrometer? The ones I’ve seen on some of the beer stores online don’t seem to be as clear or boldly marked as yours.
The beer looks delicious already…was looking for good BIAB RIS recipes and this has given me some ideas, so thank you.
Hi Brad,
Thanks for your comments on the RIS. I had a sample about a month back and it was pretty hot…. hopefully time will prove to be a healer with this one.
The hydrometer is a standard Stevenson Reeves which are fairly common here in the UK. If they’re not readily available in your country you should be able to order one online.
Good luck with the stout!