Reviving an imp stout

[hoppyscotty]

Brewed an imp stout over a year ago now. Wanted to try to do a kind of pseudo barrel aged Impy stout as best I could in my garage without any actual barrels I brewed 40 litres, fermented out, split into two 20 litre carboys, and they've sat there in the corner of my garage all tucked up and protected since last Feb waiting for me to decide what to do.

The first question is...are they still good? no reason to think they've turned bad...abv is around 10% been tucked up and protected from light. The temp in my garage does fluctuate between winter and summer and can get quite toasty in there on a warm summer but hopefully the temp variation hasn't had much of an impact

My initial plan was to flavour them maybe with some barrel chips or coconut or something like that for a few weeks, then decant into corny kegs and prime with sugar and yeast to get some carbonation and give them a go.

Any other tips or suggestions?

 

[Stu]

I know we don't talk about distilling on here, but many distillers use oak staves that have been burnt.
Would this not have the same impact with an imperial stout?

This kind of thing
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203005092559

 

[hoppyscotty]

Yeah I like the look of the staves. Have experimented making various booze infused mixes with things like coconut and raisins but they didn't turn out like something I'd want to add to the beer. Also think adding neat booze at this stage will just make it taste too boozy.

But fundamentally I'm wondering if after 18 month its still worth reviving...I guess no reason why not. I'll give it a go anyway and see what I've got...will add a little bit of excitement in my otherwise dull life if nothing else

 

[Stu]

Sorry, I wasn't implying adding anything distilled to it, simply putting the staves in the carboys and leaving it another 6 months.
Personally, I'd split a vanilla pod and add it, but that's my favourite thing in an Imp.

 

[Sadfield]

What does it taste like now? Does it need anything other than the spritz and slight acidity from carbonation.

As for wood. Be your own Cooper. Follow this..

https://www.homebrewfinds.com/guest-post-toasting-your-own-wood-chips-by-matt-del-fiacco/

Raw oak with three levels of roast and one charred like a Bourbon barrel.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Sorry, I wasn't implying adding anything distilled to it, simply putting the staves in the carboys and leaving it another 6 months.
Personally, I'd split a vanilla pod and add it, but that's my favourite thing in an Imp.

I realise that, was just saying I'd tried to make up some tinctures and wasn't impressed by the results so decided not to add, but the addition of vanilla sounds good.

As to what it tastes like now...well it's a big heavy thick viscous impy with a kind of coffee/dark chocolate flavour but with a hint of a marmite going on - which googling tells me is likely to be autolysis from stressed yeast during fermentation . Not unpleasant, but not quite a flavour profile I'm after. The batch is split between two carboys so will defo try the vanilla thing in one if only to mask the marmite thing.

 

[An Ankoù]

Sorry, I wasn't implying adding anything distilled to it, simply putting the staves in the carboys and leaving it another 6 months.
Personally, I'd split a vanilla pod and add it, but that's my favourite thing in an Imp.

There;s no reason why you shouldn't add anything distilled to it, but at 10% abv it's probably strong enough.
How do intend conditioning it?
I've made and bottled strong stouts and they can take years to get fizzy..

 

[hoppyscotty]

Well it's not carbonated at all at the moment as it's been sat in a carboy with an airlock. Last time I did this I decanted into a keg, added some CBC-1 yeast and some sugar and expected it to condition and carbonate in the keg...it didn't, was flat as a pancake. I wonder if there was too much headspace in the keg. Maybe this time I batch prime with sugar and yeast and bottle condition...but thats alot of bottles.

So will flavour the batches first for the next few months then condition somehow. Alternatively I could just keg and force carbonate.

 

[An Ankoù]

Well it's not carbonated at all at the moment as it's been sat in a carboy with an airlock. Last time I did this I decanted into a keg, added some CBC-1 yeast and some sugar and expected it to condition and carbonate in the keg...it didn't, was flat as a pancake. I wonder if there was too much headspace in the keg. Maybe this time I batch prime with sugar and yeast and bottle condition...but thats alot of bottles.

So will flavour the batches first for the next few months then condition somehow. Alternatively I could just keg and force carbonate.

CBC-1 yeast is essentially Champagne or Cider yeast and it'll only ferment monosaccharides. You'll need to prime the bottles with glucose or invert sugar to be in with a chance.

 

[samale]

Do you have the option to force carbonate

 

[hoppyscotty]

CBC-1 yeast is essentially Champagne or Cider yeast and it'll only ferment monosaccharides. You'll need to prime the bottles with glucose or invert sugar to be in with a chance.

oh ok, maybe the is where I went wrong before.

Do you have the option to force carbonate

yeah I’ll add some flavour whilst still I the carboy then transfer to keg. Maybe force carbing is the best option. I prefer bottling vis my counterflow bottler anyway.