Revolution Brewing Co.’s Deth’s Tar clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.134  FG = 1.040
IBU = 30  SRM = 80  ABV = 12.7%* 

The base beer of Deth’s Tar  is an English-style imperial oatmeal stout that Revolution ages in whiskey barrels. This is a big beer that will require doing two mashes to hit the target OG. * ABV is calculated prior to barrel aging or aging on whiskey-soaked oak alternatives, which may bring the actual ABV up to 13.5–14.5%

Ingredients

Mash #1 
15 lbs. (6.8 kg) North American 2-row pale malt
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) Thomas Fawcett’s roasted barley 
1.3 lbs. (0.59 kg) flaked or rolled oats 
14 oz. (397 g) oat malt 
9 oz. (255 g) Thomas Fawcett’s chocolate malt 
8 oz. (227 g) Thomas Fawcett’s Dark Crystal II malt 
1 lb. (0.45 kg) rice hulls

Mash #2: 
15 lbs. (6.8 kg) North American 2-row pale malt
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) Thomas Fawcett’s roasted barley 
1.3 lbs. (0.59 kg) flaked or rolled oats 
14 oz. (397 g) oat malt 
9 oz. (255 g) Thomas Fawcett’s chocolate malt 
1 lb. (0.45 kg) rice hulls

Post-Mash:
Munich dried malt extract (optional)
7.5 AAU Magnum hops (90 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 15.1% alpha acids) 
0.6 oz. (16 g) Centennial hops (0 min.)
1 tsp. yeast nutrients (15 min.)
Whirlfloc (10 min.)
1 oz. (30 mL) Biofine Clear (or similar fining)
American oak chips, spirals, or cubes
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB Ale), White Labs WLP002 (English Ale), or Mangrove Jack’s M15 (Empire Ale) yeast
LalBrew CBC-1 (if priming)
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by step
It is recommended that you repitch yeast from a previous batch of beer for adequate pitch rates. If that is not easily attainable, a large yeast starter (if using a liquid yeast strain) or pitching 3 sachets of dried yeast, is recommended. Revolution targets a pitch rate of 3 million cells/mL/°Plato.

We are conducting two separate, 60-minute, single-infusion mashes and running off half the desired kettle volume from each mash. Have Munich malt extract on-hand to help bump up the gravity in the brew kettle to 1.134 near the end of the boil, but only if needed.

Begin the first mash at a water-to-grain ratio of (3.5:1). Add 5.7 gallons (21.6 L) of water at 161 °F (72 °C) to the mash tun and stir in 1 tsp. calcium chloride and 1⁄2 tsp. calcium carbonate (if using soft or reverse osmosis water). Add the Mash #1 grains except the roasted barley and chocolate malt targeting a temperature of 151 °F (66 °C). Rest at this temperature for 40 minutes and then stir in the roasted barley and chocolate malt gently, keeping them as close to the top of the mash as possible. You may have to add additional hot liquor to hydrate dark grains properly. This grist:water ratio will yield a thicker mash and higher first wort gravity. 

Vorlauf or recirculate wort for 10 minutes to clarify. Collect first runnings in brew kettle. Start sparging 170 °F (77 °C) water when the grain bed is beginning to become exposed. Fill your kettle to 5 gallons (19 L) of wort, cutting your sparge at about 4 gallons (15 L) in kettle to allow sparge water to pull through the grain bed. Simmer the wort in your kettle the whole time you are mashing and vorlaufing Mash#2. 

Repeat the same steps from the first mash with Mash #2. Once you run an additional 5 gallons (19 L) of wort from the second mash to your kettle you should have between 9–10 gallons (34–38 L) of wort in your kettle. We are starting with a larger quantity to offset the volume lost from a 3-hour boil. If you need to boost the gravity to 1.134, add malt extract 30 minutes prior to flameout. Add the Magnum hops, yeast nutrient, and kettle finings at times indicated.

At the end of the boil add the whirlpool hops and use a spoon or paddle to get your wort spinning and break up all of your hop pellets. After a 20-minute rest, cool wort to 66 °F (19 °C). 

Ferment at 68 °F (20 °C) and follow the fermentation timeline:

Day 2: Raise tank temperature to 72 °F (22 °C). 

Day 4 or 5: Dump yeast that has settled or rack into another clean, sanitized, CO₂-purged carboy. 

Day 7: Dump the trub that has settled or rack to another carboy. Set temperature to 32 °F (0 °C) to further drop yeast and hop matter.

Day 10: Gently stir in 1 fluid oz. (30 mL) of a fining agent. Begin preparing your oak alternatives by adding them to a jar of your favorite Bourbon or American whiskey, unless you have a Bourbon barrel to age this beer in. (Optional: To simulate the char of a Bourbon barrel consider charring your oak alternatives and cooling prior to soaking them.) 

Day 14: Transfer beer into a cleaned, sanitized, and CO₂-purged tank containing the oak alternatives and age the beer for up to a year at 50–60 °F (10–16 °C).

If kegging post-aging, transfer your clear beer off the oak to a Corny keg that has been cleaned, sanitized, and purged with CO₂, and set the temperature at or as close to 32 °F (0 °C) as possible and force carbonate up to 2.4–2.5 volumes. 

If bottling directly from the carboy, pitch a cask-conditioning yeast such as LalBrew CBC-1.

See the Recipe Breakdown section in our story on Revolution Brewing for more tips on brewing this monster of a beer.