Hybrid Session Stout

To brew the Imperial Stout with Evan, we needed a huge amount of yeast cells (or buy 5 yeast packets or build a 9 liter starter, which are both huge wastes of money). I brewed a 2.5 gallon low gravity session stout to build up the yeast cells so that we could pitch the new beer on top of the yeast cake. I was aiming for something with notes of caramel and chocolate with a viscous mouthfeel and low alcohol content.

The recipe:

3.25 lbs Canadian 2-Row

6.0 oz Caramel 60

4.0 oz Roasted Barley

4.0 oz Chocolate Malt

4.0 oz Flaked Oats

2.0 oz Caramel 120

0.50 oz Goldings @ 60 minutes

Mash Temperature: 156 degree F for 45 minutes

Yeast: Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale

Specs:

OG: 1.045

FG: 1.015

ABV: 3.9%

IBU: ~22.2

I bottled it 3 weeks after brewing. I put one gallon into my cubitainer and added enough table sugar to carbonate it to ~1 volume of CO2. I bottled the rest and carbed them to approximately 2.2 volumes of CO2. Review to follow shortly.