Bourbon Barrel II - The Empire's Recipe
The Recipes Are Posted!
A small clandestine group of hoppers, Geoff Humphrey, Scott Smith, Adam Glaser, Jason Kruegel and I, met recently to develop the next Barrel Brew recipe for our notorious brew club.
At the onset there was intent to do this without adjuncts – just a big, bold, malt oriented monster. Additionally, once the creative minds kicked into high gear, there was a collective inspiration to move in a “smooth” stout direction. A direction that still provided coffee, chocolate, dark dry fruit elements but with focus on a more silky, less bitter brew.
Can you say “smoooooooooth”?
Or maybe “Imperial Sweet Stout”?
Beers sampled for inspiration included:
- Oscar Blues Ten Fidy
- Avery Czar (probably the favorite of the evening)
- Geiger’s Chase’s Grit
- Scott’s Oaked Imperial Stout (one with bourbon and one without)
- Left Hand Imperial Stout
Specialty grains sampled and awarded a place in the recipe:
- Crystal 120 (beat out the Special B)
- English Chocolate (beat out the US chocolate)
- Coffee Malt (unusual and unlikely candidate, but liked by all)
- De-bittered Carafa III (this started us down the smooth path)
- Honey Malt (continuing down our whim for sweet & smooth)
- Victory Malt (hard to resist a little nutty flavor)
Logistics
First… we have time as our current barrel brew, the Baltic Porter, can be removed from the barrel when everyone is ready with this new brew.
My thoughts are we brew this in December or during the first few weeks of January. Fermentation for a beer this big can sometimes take months so we can simply wait for everyone’s to finish and pick a day during March or April to get it in the barrel.
I’ll add a “Ready to Barrel” column on our tracking sheet so we know where everyone stands at any given time. Remember: please do not carbonate this beer in the keg when complete – just flush the top off with CO2 to prevent contamination. As with our last one, I have kegs ready to go if you do not have one.
Ingredients
The Brew Hut has offered a substantial volume discount for base grain. WooHoo! Please let them know the purpose of the base grain when you pick this up. I am in charge of this now, so we might have to coordinate a synchronized pick up at the brew Hut if a pallet is required for the discount.
Recipes
To print any of these recipes, use the "Print Recipe" button at the top right of the screen (you wouldn't believe how many people miss that).
- RHBC Imperial Stout - Extract (5 Gallons)
- RHBC Imperial Stout - All Grain (5 Gallons)
- RHBC Imperial Stout - All Grain (10 Gallons)
See the Big Beer Tips for suggestions on how to brew a monster like this...
Let me know if I‘ve missed anything. Cheers!
Greg Geiger
