Comrades Joseph & Pitr's #1 Russian Imperial Stout

Batch Size: 5 gallon

Grain Bill:

• 14.0 lb Rahr 2-Row Pale Malt
• 1.0   lb Roasted Barley 550L
• 0.5   lb Caramel Malt 80L
• 0.5   lb Chocolate Malt
• 16.0 lb Total Grain Bill

Hops:

• 1.0 oz / 90 Minute East Kent Goldings Hops
• 1.0 oz / 45 Minute UK Fuggles Hops
• 1.0 oz / 30 Minute UK Fuggles Hops
• 1.0 oz /   5 Minute East Kent Goldings Hops

Yeast:

• English Ale Yeast (London Ale)

OG: 1.082

FG:  1.024
ABV: 7.7%

So Mark wants to brew a higher-gravity Imperial Stout.  This might not be the recipe we end up using, but his interest in the style got my research self revved up for coming up with a good basic recipe to try out some day.  High gravity means lots of sugars, so the recipe is loaded with 14 lb of pale malt. Roasted barley, caramel and chocolate malts give this stout a good black color (50 deg. SRM).

I think technically the Imperial Stout should have 75% pale malt, but I was having difficulty figuring out how to get the higher gravity without absolutely bottoming out on the SRM and sweetness, so there's a heftier amount of the pale than usual, I think.

The recipe calls for lots of hops for both bittering and aroma - gotta have something to balance out all that malt sweetness.

I'm not sure if this is going to be high-gravity enough for Mark, but I'll run it by him.  If not, maybe we can try this one shortly after that.  Now is the perfect time to start some good dark beers to enjoy during the cold, dark winter.  Well, as cold and dark as the winters here in North Carolina get, anyway.

by Chris Collins, for his fictional brewery, Joseph and Peter's - named for his cats.