Imperial Stout Sarah Pantry A guide to

Origins of imperial stout? • Russian imperial stout came into being at the end of the 17th century • Peter the Great enjoyed porter in England and asked for it to be shipped to the imperial court of Russia • The porter went bad before arriving in Russia • Alcohol, malt and hop content was increased until it could survive the journey and creating the first imperial beer @AnigelUK

Origins of imperial stout? • Peter the Great came to England around 1697 • He was back in Russia by 1698 and died in 1725 so is unlikely to have ever had Porter let alone ask for it to be imported • Barclay Perkins starts exporting porter to Russia in 1797 • The Barclay’s porter was the strongest version they brewed and became known as Russian Imperial tout • It continued to be brewed with only minor recipe changes right up to 1990 by Courage then another Southwark brewer @AnigelUK

Style overview An intensely flavoured, big, dark ale with a wide range of flavour balances and regional interpretations. Roasty-burnt malt with deep dark or dried fruit flavours, and a warming, bittersweet finish. Despite the intense flavours, the components need to meld together to create a complex, harmonious beer, not a hot mess. 20C Imperial Stout @AnigelUK

Style overview Malt aromas light to strong Hop aromas low to aggressive Relatively dry to moderately sweet Cocoa, chocolate & coffee or raisins, plums and prunes Full bodied but not always @AnigelUK Very wide descriptions

Typical recipe @AnigelUK Pale malt 88% 5.7 kg Roasted barley 3.5% 290 g Dark crystal 3% 210 g Chocolate malt 3% 210 g Brown malt 2.5% 180 g East Kent Goldings 60 minute 69 g East Kent Goldings Steep 56 g 19 litre batch of imperial stout

The AHA recipe site has a recipe for Epic Stout
 
 Featuring over 13.5 kg of 15 different malts and over a kilo of DME for 19 litres of 12.1% ABV https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/ homebrew-recipe/epic-stout/ BREWING TECHNIQUES @AnigelUK The EPIC malt bill

To Øl - Long Time No See Planned to be an subtle, low alcohol stout The brewer forgot about it and left it boiling for 6 hours Turning a low alcohol stout into a 9.1% ABV beast BREWING TECHNIQUES @AnigelUK The long boil

Equipment limits can hamper brewing big ABV beers Replace some base malt with extract Don’t replace too much as most of the diastatic power for breaking down starches comes from the base malt BREWING TECHNIQUES @AnigelUK Adding extract

Sugars / syrups can be used to increase ABV and also increase complexity by adding flavour. Common additions include Dark brown sugar Molasses Treacle BREWING TECHNIQUES @AnigelUK Adding sugar or syrup

If you are happy with the beer profile but want more ABV add alcohol. Commonly used spirits include Vodka Bourbon Flavoured spirits BREWING TECHNIQUES @AnigelUK Add alcohol

Thanks Sarah Pantry @anigelUK @WelshBrewComp DaftCatBrewing