Russian Imperial Stout

My friend Adam wanted to watch an all-grain batch of beer being brewed. I figured that since my first attempt at all-grain was an Imperial Stout collaboration with my friend Evan, I should initiate Adam in the same "learn to swim by jumping headfirst into the deepest part of the pool" manner.We brewed an imperial stout from a recipe that I have been tweaking around with for the better part of two years. I wanted to come up with a good ratio for dark grains. I decided upon a 3:2:1 ratio for roasted barley, chocolate, and black patent, respectively.


14.0 lbs Canadian 2-Row
3.0 lbs Munich Malt
1.5 lbs Roasted Barley
1.0 lbs Chocolate Malt
1.0 lbs Caramel 60
1.0 lbs Instant Oats
0.5 lbs Black Patent

0.50 oz Northern Brewer FWH (90 minutes)
1.00 oz Millenium @ 75 minutes
1.00 oz Goldings @ 10 minutes

Yeast: Wyeast 1028 London Ale

1.092 OG

65 IBU's

I used 100% distilled water treated with 4 grams of Gypsum and 5 grams of Calcium Chloride. This was my first attempt at water chemistry and, while I didn't completely fail, I still did not do it correctly. In hindsight, I should have double the amounts of both Gypsum and Calcium Chloride and added a hefty dose of chalk to keep the pH in an acceptable range with that much roasted grain going into the mash.

I was aiming for an original gravity of 1.100, but I only ended up with 1.092. Apparently, I should have added about 2 more pounds of base malt due to the fact that my system's efficiency drops from 72% for most beers to 63% for big beers. I was expecting a drop in efficiency, just not that big.

I plan on aging one gallon of it with the equivalent of 10 oz of Bourbon and 1 oz of medium toast oak cubes for five gallons (2 oz of Bourbon and .2 oz of oak cubes for 1 gallon). Another 1/2 gallon will get the equivalent of 12 oz of cacao nibs and 1 cinnamon stick for 5 gallons (1.2 oz of cacao nibs and 1/10th of a cinnamon stick for .5 gallons). I want it to be a Mexican chocolate flavor.