Hello,
I am planning to brew an imperial pumpkin stout next weekend to have ready this winter. I haven't done a high grav stout in a few years so I'm taking a stab at a recipe I hodge-podged from a few different sources. Since I'll be incorporating a few new tweaks to my process and this will take several months to finish, I would appreciate everyone's thoughts on my plan. I'm looking for something that has some complexity, but isn't too sweet or too bitter. I also don't want the pumpkin or other spices to overwhelm the beer.
P.imp stout
Imperial Stout
10.0% / 24.8 °P
All Grain
Unibrau EBIAB
65% efficiency
Batch Volume: 6 gal (Kettle)
Fermenter Volume: 5.26 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
Mash Water: 7.93 gal
Sparge Water: 1.92 gal
Total Water: 9.85 gal
Boil Volume: 7.5 gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.084
Vitals
Original Gravity: 1.105
Final Gravity: 1.029
IBU (Tinseth): 54
Color: 33 SRM
Mash
Temperature — 152.6 °F — 60 min
Malts (24 lb 8 oz)
21 lb (82.4%) — Briess Brewers Malt 2-Row — Grain — 1.8 SRM
1 lb (3.9%) — Briess Barley, Flaked — Grain — 1.7 SRM
1 lb (3.9%) — Weyermann Munich I — Grain — 7.1 SRM
12 oz (2.9%) — Black (Patent) Malt — Grain — 500 SRM
8 oz (2%) — Caramel/Crystal Malt — Grain — 60 SRM
4 oz (1%) — Thomas Fawcett Pale Chocolate — Grain — 305 SRM
Other (1 lb)
1 lb (3.9%) — Pumpkin Puree — Adjunct — 2 SRM — Mash
Hops (3.5 oz)
1.5 oz (44 IBU) — Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) 13.7% — Boil — 60 min
2 oz (10 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 4% — Boil — 20 min
Miscs
0.56 g — Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) — Mash
1.48 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Mash
60 ml — Phosphoric Acid 10% — Mash
0.11 g — Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) — Sparge
0.28 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Sparge
Yeast
5 pkg — Wyeast Labs 1335 British Ale II
5 L starter
18.84 oz DME / 23 oz LME
12343 billion yeast cells
2.5 million cells / ml / °P
Fermentation
Primary — 66 °F — 14 days
Conditioning — 60 °F — 100 days
Carbonation: 2.4 CO2-vol
Water Profile
Ca+2 - 44
Mg+2 - 8
Na+ - 5
Cl- 16
SO4-2 - 46
HCO3- 87
Add to Secondary
nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla bean, brown sugar - To taste
A few questions I have:
1. Since it's so high grav should I hit it with O2 again after 12 hours of pitching? I haven't done this before so just looking for some perspective from someone who has.
2. Any suggestions on how many vanilla beans I should use in secondary? Again, I don't want it to be too sweet. I'd like to shoot for subtle notes of these adjuncts.
3. This will be my biggest starter to date. I have made 5L before, but not adding 5 packs to the mix. Ideally I would like a FG in the low 1030s. I'm nervous to under pitch with such high-abv. Any suggestions on how to keep from over attenuating?
I am planning to brew an imperial pumpkin stout next weekend to have ready this winter. I haven't done a high grav stout in a few years so I'm taking a stab at a recipe I hodge-podged from a few different sources. Since I'll be incorporating a few new tweaks to my process and this will take several months to finish, I would appreciate everyone's thoughts on my plan. I'm looking for something that has some complexity, but isn't too sweet or too bitter. I also don't want the pumpkin or other spices to overwhelm the beer.
P.imp stout
Imperial Stout
10.0% / 24.8 °P
All Grain
Unibrau EBIAB
65% efficiency
Batch Volume: 6 gal (Kettle)
Fermenter Volume: 5.26 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
Mash Water: 7.93 gal
Sparge Water: 1.92 gal
Total Water: 9.85 gal
Boil Volume: 7.5 gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.084
Vitals
Original Gravity: 1.105
Final Gravity: 1.029
IBU (Tinseth): 54
Color: 33 SRM
Mash
Temperature — 152.6 °F — 60 min
Malts (24 lb 8 oz)
21 lb (82.4%) — Briess Brewers Malt 2-Row — Grain — 1.8 SRM
1 lb (3.9%) — Briess Barley, Flaked — Grain — 1.7 SRM
1 lb (3.9%) — Weyermann Munich I — Grain — 7.1 SRM
12 oz (2.9%) — Black (Patent) Malt — Grain — 500 SRM
8 oz (2%) — Caramel/Crystal Malt — Grain — 60 SRM
4 oz (1%) — Thomas Fawcett Pale Chocolate — Grain — 305 SRM
Other (1 lb)
1 lb (3.9%) — Pumpkin Puree — Adjunct — 2 SRM — Mash
Hops (3.5 oz)
1.5 oz (44 IBU) — Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ) 13.7% — Boil — 60 min
2 oz (10 IBU) — East Kent Goldings (EKG) 4% — Boil — 20 min
Miscs
0.56 g — Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) — Mash
1.48 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Mash
60 ml — Phosphoric Acid 10% — Mash
0.11 g — Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) — Sparge
0.28 g — Gypsum (CaSO4) — Sparge
Yeast
5 pkg — Wyeast Labs 1335 British Ale II
5 L starter
18.84 oz DME / 23 oz LME
12343 billion yeast cells
2.5 million cells / ml / °P
Fermentation
Primary — 66 °F — 14 days
Conditioning — 60 °F — 100 days
Carbonation: 2.4 CO2-vol
Water Profile
Ca+2 - 44
Mg+2 - 8
Na+ - 5
Cl- 16
SO4-2 - 46
HCO3- 87
Add to Secondary
nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla bean, brown sugar - To taste
A few questions I have:
1. Since it's so high grav should I hit it with O2 again after 12 hours of pitching? I haven't done this before so just looking for some perspective from someone who has.
2. Any suggestions on how many vanilla beans I should use in secondary? Again, I don't want it to be too sweet. I'd like to shoot for subtle notes of these adjuncts.
3. This will be my biggest starter to date. I have made 5L before, but not adding 5 packs to the mix. Ideally I would like a FG in the low 1030s. I'm nervous to under pitch with such high-abv. Any suggestions on how to keep from over attenuating?