Hops for an Imperial ________

[Fizzycist]

This might be a no brainer, but when you make an imperial whatever (nevermind the argument about historical use of "Imperial") you increase all the grains, base and special, in the same ratio to get your target OG, right? Do you then increase your hops to get a calculated IBU increased by the same ratio? Do you only increase the bittering portion or do you increase your flavor and aroma load as well? By the same ratio for flavor and aroma, or do you have to do trial and error?

 

[chickypad]

This might be a no brainer, but when you make an imperial whatever (nevermind the argument about historical use of "Imperial") you increase all the grains, base and special, in the same ratio to get your target OG, right?

I would say no, this is not right. For example if trying to change an IPA recipe into an Imperial IPA I might actually go down on some of the specialty malts, possibly add sugar, etc. An imperial stout might be double the gravity of a dry or sweet stout, but you don't just double the grainbill to make one. These are really all different styles, not as simple as multiplying by a certain factor to change between one and another.

 

[Fizzycist]

These are really all different styles, not as simple as multiplying by a certain factor to change between one and another.

For an RIS or IIPA I can buy that; there are lots of commercial examples and a (relatively) long history to guide recipe creation. I was more talking about what some people do now creating high alcohol, intensely flavored versions of standard styles, and tack "Imperial" on them. Like, Imperial Pilsner, Imperial Bitter, that kinda thing. I think it's silly to call them all "Imperial", but I want know how one would formulate a recipe for that kinda brew.

 

[inthesound]

To me, most beers over 7.5% that aren't that big as dictated by style, would be imperial, double, etc. Though sometimes that's not the case, sometimes it's twice the flavor without being high abv. For instance, I've had what was called a double brown, and it's flavor was really intense in comparison to typical brown ale flavor, but came in at only 6.5% I believe. There are plenty of ridiculous nomenclature issues with brewing, largely in part due to regional and language variance.

 

[motorneuron]

Bittering: In creating an "imperial" or "double" or whatever version, you should consider how the increased alcohol and almost certainly increased residual sweetness and body (higher FG) will require more balance from hops. A good guide would be to think about the BU:GU (that is, IBUs/OG) ratio of the base beer, but also think about the ratio between the IBUs and the FG of the base beer. If you're scaling a recipe up, the BU:FG measure may be a better way to think about the balance between bitterness and sweetness in the doubled beer. So calculate your expected FG (which requires you to know something about what yeast or yeasts you're using).

Flavor and aroma I think depend heavily on the style you're going after. Very strong beers often benefit from (or even require) aging, and hop character--but especially aroma--will decrease quickly with time. So if you want to achieve an end product that will have hop character after, say, three or six months, you will need a lot of hops. The same goes for bitterness too--a beer aged for six months to a year will have lower bitterness than at one month. So think about how long you're planning to let it age. (This is less of a concern for IPAs, since you're usually going to drink them young--otherwise you lose the hop character. But some English IPAs are supposed to sit for a while.)

The one nice thing about strong beers is that they can be more forgiving. You have a lot of flavor and complexity to hide behind, so a difference of a few IBUs or a missing or additional 5 minute hop addition won't make or break the beer the way it could with a smaller, delicate one. So you shouldn't worry about experimenting. (Of course, you may have to wait months before you know the real result of your experiment, too!)