peterpiper
Well-Known Member
16.58% ABV Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. Any recipe suggestions?
Yesterday, I had a glass of Cromarty Brewing Co. Anniversary XI - Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.
It is 16.58% ABV; 82 IBU; colour Black; aged 35 months in a mix of freshly emptied bourbon & wine barrels; BBE Jan.33.
I'm not usually a huge fan of stouts, so haven't tried brewing a stout yet, but this needs correcting, urgently, now!
I often find stouts too bitter or harsh, but despite being 82 IBU, this Cromarty stout was a lovely, rounded, chockolately malt; a lot of body; a hint of sweetness; just lightly carbonated but with a good head.
Searched online in vain, highest recipe ABVs around 12%, so looking for any recipe & method suggestions. Happy to try all grain or part extract recipes. I even wonder if their product is fermented to a lower ABV, then fortified, maybe with bourbon.
Methods: has anyone tried any of these options?
i) Try fermenting to 16.58%
ii) Ferment to regular 11-12%, then fortify with spirit. To get 16%, from 11% fermented and 45% bourbon, would need around a 6:1 mix ratio, so could work out pricey.
OG
With all grain, reaching required OG, I guess around 1150, might be tricky (in brewzilla 3.1 35l), even doing a reduced batch size.
i) Replacing bulk of malts with light malt extract, at ratio of 0.65 pounds of dry extract for each pound of malt removed. Add majority of extract towards end of boil, to maximise hop extraction efficiency.
ii) Mash, just half of the grain first, drain/ part sparge, then mash second half of grain using same mash liquid.
YEAST(S)
i) A single ale yeast ferment, trying to coax it to final ABV. Maybe adding any recipe sucrose, in stages, later during fermentation. To avoid excess sweetness if ferment sticks. Which yeasts would manage apparent attenuation of around 84%, at 17% tolerance. White Labs Super High Gravity WLP099 would maybe do, but pricey, & it loosing the malt character at higher gravity's, might be a problem.
ii) Any preferred ale yeast, then (at around SG 1.030) re pitch using a wine or champagne yeast.
Maybe Lallemand EC1118 : Neutral, rapid start, with high alcohol tolerance of about 18%.
OXYGEN
When / how often & how to introduce air/oxygen for yeast growth.
SWEETNESS
Cromarty bottle doesn't say 'milk stout', but wondering if theres some lactose in there giving the right sweetness balance. Or if its the residual unfermented sugars, but then tricky getting Bottle carbonation right.
Have seen between 5%-13% lactose, suggesteded for milk stouts. 5% for nuance, and 13% for the extreme. Added at the later stages of the boil.
MATURE
A year or more, on oak cubes / chips pre- soaked in bourbon.
What quantity of Whisky Oak Barrel chips / cubes is good (/gallon).
Yesterday, I had a glass of Cromarty Brewing Co. Anniversary XI - Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.
It is 16.58% ABV; 82 IBU; colour Black; aged 35 months in a mix of freshly emptied bourbon & wine barrels; BBE Jan.33.
I'm not usually a huge fan of stouts, so haven't tried brewing a stout yet, but this needs correcting, urgently, now!
I often find stouts too bitter or harsh, but despite being 82 IBU, this Cromarty stout was a lovely, rounded, chockolately malt; a lot of body; a hint of sweetness; just lightly carbonated but with a good head.
Searched online in vain, highest recipe ABVs around 12%, so looking for any recipe & method suggestions. Happy to try all grain or part extract recipes. I even wonder if their product is fermented to a lower ABV, then fortified, maybe with bourbon.
Methods: has anyone tried any of these options?
i) Try fermenting to 16.58%
ii) Ferment to regular 11-12%, then fortify with spirit. To get 16%, from 11% fermented and 45% bourbon, would need around a 6:1 mix ratio, so could work out pricey.
OG
With all grain, reaching required OG, I guess around 1150, might be tricky (in brewzilla 3.1 35l), even doing a reduced batch size.
i) Replacing bulk of malts with light malt extract, at ratio of 0.65 pounds of dry extract for each pound of malt removed. Add majority of extract towards end of boil, to maximise hop extraction efficiency.
ii) Mash, just half of the grain first, drain/ part sparge, then mash second half of grain using same mash liquid.
YEAST(S)
i) A single ale yeast ferment, trying to coax it to final ABV. Maybe adding any recipe sucrose, in stages, later during fermentation. To avoid excess sweetness if ferment sticks. Which yeasts would manage apparent attenuation of around 84%, at 17% tolerance. White Labs Super High Gravity WLP099 would maybe do, but pricey, & it loosing the malt character at higher gravity's, might be a problem.
ii) Any preferred ale yeast, then (at around SG 1.030) re pitch using a wine or champagne yeast.
Maybe Lallemand EC1118 : Neutral, rapid start, with high alcohol tolerance of about 18%.
OXYGEN
When / how often & how to introduce air/oxygen for yeast growth.
SWEETNESS
Cromarty bottle doesn't say 'milk stout', but wondering if theres some lactose in there giving the right sweetness balance. Or if its the residual unfermented sugars, but then tricky getting Bottle carbonation right.
Have seen between 5%-13% lactose, suggesteded for milk stouts. 5% for nuance, and 13% for the extreme. Added at the later stages of the boil.
MATURE
A year or more, on oak cubes / chips pre- soaked in bourbon.
What quantity of Whisky Oak Barrel chips / cubes is good (/gallon).
