My first big Stout...Evening shades and Phantoms Imperial Stout

[krispn]

So this was my first attempt at an all grain Imperial Stout keeping it a small batch as I wanted to use a more complex grain bill. I was gonna do a Mikkeller recipe but at the last minute just pulled together a few different ideas as I wanted to try brown malt as I've recently got into Brown Ale and try Simpson's double roasted crystal (DRC) to add some raisin type flavour without the Special B 'Celebrator' vibe.

The grain bill is below and I welcome comments and advice on fine tuning it in terms of %'s etc. I based some of it from my 'Two Gallants' stout which I quite enjoyed. I added late hop additions as I want to try the beer 'early' but also put some away for 4-6 months.
Apologies for the name but I've been reading Moby Dick :)

Evening shades and phantoms - Imperial Stout

Best Pale Malt - 31%
Golden Promise - 31%
Crystal 40 - 10%
Crystal 120 - 10%
DRC - 4%
Chocolate Malt - 5%
Brown Malt - 5%
Roasted Barley - 4%

Hops used and additions.
Galena 13.9%
Northern Brewer 9.3%

60 min- Galena 20g Northern Brewer 10g
30 min - Galena 15g
15 min - Northern Brewer 10g
2 min - Galena 10g Northern Brewer 10g

OG - 1.080 (was aiming for 1.090 but that stuck mash!!)
FG - - 1.020-1.022-ish hopefully 1.020
ABV - 7.8-8.0 give or take final gravity
IBU - 85

Mash 80 min at 67c
Mash out 10 min at 75
60 min boil

I had a few 'disasters' with a stuck mash, even though I used rice hulls, filter issues etc. All this aside the beer is bubbling away happily. I split the batch and have used MJ's Liberty Bell yeast in one and Yeast Bay Voss Kviek in the other.

Some questions...
How long should I keep this in the carboy before transfer to bottle/keg?
I plan to keg (5l mini-keg) one batch and bottle the other and set aside for a couple of months. I'll drink the keg earlier but as it's just the mini keg I can leave it aside for a month or two at least and leave the bottles a while longer. I have a stable 18c cupboard I can use. I'm aware I'll lose the late hop aroma/flavour the longer it ages.

Basically any advice on aging - temp duration, how quick to drink it etc is always welcme. I have so much more to learn, patience being the main thing. When I first made a coffee stout I drank it far too early - too eager!

 

[MyQul]

There doesnt seem to be much head room in those DJ's. Both big stouts and Kviek yeasts can be quite explosive so a combination of the both might require a blow off tube (or putting it in a full size FV)
Nice bit of label art btw

 

[krispn]

Yeah I'm keeping an eye on them - I've nothing else spare kicking about just now. I hope the beer is more successful than the label :)

 

[MyQul]

I like the label. You should see some of the 'hipster art' on some micros labels, looks like a three year old has done it.

Btw, Ive been brewing about 5 years or so now, and Ive never learned the patience thing. So I just brew low gravity beers that are best drunk young (not IPA's though because I dont like them, in general)

 

[krispn]

I have a raspberry wheat which is all but ready to go for that quick turnaround summer beer :) Carbing it at the minute and hoping to get it pouring real soon!

I've rigged some old tubing to both DJ's which is working. Krausen is still manageable but it only went in last night. Few things as pleasing as hearing the knock knock of air bubbles in the brew fridge!

 

[krispn]

Did a gravity reading last night and both versions are down to about 1.032. The M36 Liberty Bell has more body than the Kveik and seems to be a bit more bitter/roasty. It does say the the M36 accentuates malts and retains body so I was kinda expecting that. The Kviek has a bit less body which I was kinda expecting too.

I'll leave them for a another couple of weeks before I take another reading and I'll likely add cacao nibs to introduce more chocolate in the M36 version during secondary.

 

[BeerCat]

20% crystal seems a lot to me especially for a strong beer. I used 20% dark malts(steeped separately) and less than 5% crystal. Cant say about your yeast but mine fermented out in less than 3 days and its ready to bottle after a week. My last one got to 1023, the one before stalled at 1045. Dont think i pitched enough.

 

[krispn]

@BeerCat
Cheers for joining in. What changes do you think might benefit? This was only a small experimental batch with 2gals fermenting. And if I can dial it in I’m happy to try those changes next time.

Always keen to get advice.

 

[BeerCat]

Hi, i used David Heaths recipe below as the basis of mine. He uses candi sugar to boost the ABV which is good as you will get better attenuation. Also uses a lot of adjuncts. Flaked barley is the classic one for stout. I don't know what DRC is but recipe looks good to me apart from the large amount of crystal. You could try and sub some of the base malt for golden syrup or make some candi sugar. Anyway you seem to have very good attenuation. My first attempt finished at 1032 and was 8.8%. Last one was 10.8% and finished at 1023. I made a very large starter last time which i think helped. I have only made 3 so i am certainly no expert but his video is well worth a watch.

 

[krispn]

Yeah the crystal is high. I’d read that it can make up to 20% of a grain bill so I decided to try that as I’ve never really used much crystal before. I was kinda hoping to get some flavour complexity going on from the darker crystal as well as the other combination of malts. DRC is double roasted crystal and it’s meant to be similar to say a Special B but without the bitterness or astringency associated with Special B.

I’m excited to try it but it’s obviously gonna be at leat 4-6 months before it’s starting to do its thing. If it’s tasting good then I’ll plan a bigger volume batch. Maybe I’ll try it with the fast method. I do enjoy David’s videos and have made a few of his recipes.