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Victory Brewing Company: Replicator

 

Dear Replicator,
My wife, Jean, and I brew together. My tastes run toward the hop head side and I brew plenty of pale ales and IPAs, but her tastes run toward the malty side and she just loves porters and stouts. Her all-time favorite stout is the Storm King IMPERIAL Stout from the Victory Brewing Company, but I’m not much help when it comes to putting together those recipes. We are hoping you can get some information so that we can duplicate this fine beer.

Kevin Baker
Bloomington, Minnesota

During my recent interview Victory Co-Owner Bill Covaleski fondly related the story of his first homebrew batches. His close friend since fifth grade, Co-Owner Ron Barchet, gave him his own homebrewing kit for Christmas in 1985. Both Bill and Ron became accomplished homebrewers and after some requisite stints in the corporate world decided that making beer was their true passion. Realizing that more technical skills would be required they chose to pursue formal brewing education. First Bill traveled to Germany and completed his studies at the Technical University of Munich at Weihenstephan. Ron followed by attending the International Course of Brewing Studies at the prestigious Doemens Academy.

By February of 1996, with a 25-barrel brew house, they opened the brewery. Following traditional German decoction brewing methods, two of their first beers were Octoberfest and a Dortmunder Export. That first year they sold 2,500 barrels. Bill says that the projection for 2012 is 94,000 barrels. There can be no doubt that this is a true imperial stout. This heavy-bodied beer is topped by a dense, creamy, dark tan head that laces the glass all the way to the bottom. Aromas of licorice, espresso and roast barley fill your nose with a lingering hint of hops. Initially bitter sweet chocolate assaults the tongue followed by a strong, dark grain profile. The high hop bitterness decidedly wins the war against residual sweetness leaving you not to question the 82 IBU level. This is a stout that you won’t soon forget.

Kevin, you won’t have to search for Jean’s favorite stout now because you can “Brew Your Own.” For more about Victory Brewing Company visit the website http://victorybeer.com/ or call 610-873-0881.

Victory Brewing Company Storm King Imperial Stout clone

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.089 FG = 1.018
IBU = 82 SRM = 53 ABV = 9.1 %

Ingredients
6.6 lbs. (3 kg) Briess Pilsen, unhopped, liquid malt extract
2.5 lb. (1.13 kg) dried malt extract
2.5 lb. (1.13 kg) Vienna malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) Carafa® malt (400 °L)
1 lb. (0.45 kg) roast barley (450 °L)
20 AAU Centennial hop pellets (60 min.) (1.9 oz./54 g at 10.5 % alpha acids)
7 AAU Cluster hop pellets (30 min.) (1.0 oz. /28 g of 7 % alpha acids)
2.9 AAU Cascade hop pellets (5 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g of 5.75% alpha acids)
½ tsp. yeast nutrient (last 15 minutes of the boil)
½ tsp. Irish moss (last 30 min.)
White Labs WLP 001 (American Ale) or Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) yeast
0.75 cup (150 g) of corn sugar for priming (if bottling)

Step by Step
Steep the crushed grain in 2 gallons (7.6 L) of water at 155 ºF (68 ºC) for 30 minutes. Remove grains from the wort and rinse with 2 quarts (1.8 L) of hot water. Add the liquid and dried malt extracts and boil for 60 minutes. While boiling, add the hops, Irish moss and yeast nutrient as per the schedule. During the boil, use this time to thoroughly sanitize a fermenter. Now add the wort to 2 gallons (7.6 L) of cold water in the sanitized fermenter and top off with cold water up to 5 gallons (19 L). Cool the wort to 75 ºF (24 ºC). Pitch your yeast and aerate the wort heavily. Allow the beer to cool to 68 ºF (20 ºC). Hold at that temperature until fermentation is complete. Transfer to a carboy, avoiding any splashing to prevent aerating the beer. Condition for 1 week. Bottle or keg. Allow the beer to carbonate and age for two weeks.

All-grain option:
This is a single step infusion mash using 14.5 lbs. (6.6 kg) Pilsner malt to replace the liquid and dried malt extracts. Mix all of the crushed grains with 6 gallons (23 L) of 175 °F (79 °C) water to stabilize at 155 ºF (68 ºC) for 60 minutes. Sparge slowly with 175 ºF (79 ºC) water. Collect approximately 6 gallons (23 L) of wort runoff to boil for 60 minutes. Reduce the 60-minute Centennial hop addition to 2 oz. (57 g) (21 AAU) and the 30-minute Cluster hop addition to 0.75 oz. (21 g) (5.25 AAU) to allow for the higher utilization factor of a full wort boil. The remainder of this recipe and procedures are the same as the extract with grains recipe.

Issue: December 2012