Imperial Stout 2022

For this post I'm rebrewing the Weldwerks Achromatic Stout recipe that I brewed back in May of 2021. For the original brew session, I used Mecca Grade Lamonta for the base, and I split it in half and fermented on two different yeasts. I also did two different treatments (TX Bourbon and Cacao). This time I only have about 17 pounds of Lamonta available, so the rest of the base malt will be Crisp Maris Otter. Also, I'm using A01 only for this fermentation. Lastly, the beer will age in a Garrison Bros Single Batch Bourbon barrel that was then used at The Bruery for a special single barrel Black Tuesday release. I'm super excited to put a beer in this barrel. This is a 15 gallon barrel, so it'll be brewed in two sessions. Here is the recipe for the first 10 gallons:

10 gallon batch

OG: 1.105

FG: 1.030

IBUs: 45

ABV 10-ish%

27.25# Mecca Grade Lamonta

1.75# Simpsons DRC

1.375# Simpsons Light Crystal

1.375# Flaked Oats

1.75# Simpsons Chocolate Malt (*cold steeped)

1.75# Weyermanns Chocolate Rye Malt (*cold steeped)

1.75# Crisp Pale Chocolate Malt (*cold steeped)

0.375# Simpsons Roasted Barley (*cold steeped)

Imperial A01 House

84g Magnum (FWH)

Yeast Nutrient

Cold steep roasted grains (1lbs/2qts RO water) overnight. Add cold steeped extraction with 10 minutes left in the boil.

Mash at 153F, 90 minutes. Collect ~12.33 gallons pre-boil volume (assuming boil-off rate of ~1.16 gallons/hour), 120 minute boil.  Aerate well; 2 minutes at 0.5l/m. Start fermentation at 60F, ramping up to 65F over 5 days.

Water

Carbon-filtered tap water treated with Campden (extra precaution against chlorine and chloramine). 

Brewing Notes

For round 1 I added the cold steeped dark malts right near the end of the boil. This ended up diluting the gravity much more than I was expecting. Round 1 was brewed 7/17/2022. For round 2, I added the dark grains at the end of the mash so I was much closer to my target gravity.

Session 1 Readings
Beginning mash pH	5.32
Ending mash pH	5.35
1st running gravity	25.7 (1.106)
Pre-boil gravity	19 (1.076)
Pre-boil pH	5.26
Post-boil gravity	21 (1.085)
Post-boil pH	5.12

Round 2 Notes

For round 2 (8/6/2022) I added the dark grains at the end of the mash before sparging.  This didn’t dilute the wort as much, so OG was much closer to target (24.2/1.099). I also only had about 14# of Maris Otter left so this got about 2# each of Avangard German Pale Malt and Great Western California Select Malt. Rahr North Star Pilsner filled the remainder of the base malt bill. Round 1was transferred to a 10 gallon holding keg until round 2 is done fermenting and the barrel is ready for filling. I also had three of my friends over to help brew round 2, so I wasn’t as good about taking readings throughout the brew day. Mash pH was right at 5.24 before adding darker malts and starting the sparge.

Update 8/19/2022

This beer went in the barrel tonight.