The BISness Belgian Imperial Stout

The BISness Belgian Imperial Stout

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.085 (1.100 after sugar additions)  FG = 1.016
IBU = 90  SRM = ~60  ABV = 12%

Ingredients
15.5 lbs. (7.0 kg) organic 2-row malt
1.75 lbs. (0.80 kg) roasted barley
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) flaked barley
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) Special B malt
2.0 lbs. (0.91 kg) cane sugar (added during fermentation)
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) treacle (black strap molasses will also work)
26 AAU Magnum hops (60 min.) (1.6 oz./45 g of 16% alpha acids)
2.0 oz. (57 g) E.K. Goldings hops (5 min.)
1 tsp. Whirlfloc (10 min.)
2 tsp. Wyeast yeast nutrient (10 min.)
Wyeast 1214 (Abbey Ale) or White Labs WLP500 (Trappist Ale) yeast

Step by Step
Mash in at 149–150 °F (65–66 °C) at a mash thickness around 1.20 qts. of water for one pound of grain. Let the mash rest for 60 minutes. Do not perform a mash out. Run off to the kettle, sparging with 172 °F (78 °C) water. Boil the wort for 90 minutes. At 60 minutes until the end of the boil add your bittering hops. At ten minutes until the end of the boil add whirlfloc, yeast nutrient and treacle. At five minutes until the end of the boil add your flavor and aroma hops. At the end of the boil, whirlpool or let the wort stand for ten minutes to extract a bit more flavor from the late addition hops.

Cool the wort to 70 °F (21 °C). Run cooled wort into a clean carboy that has a yeast cake from a previous brew. Oxygenate the wort for three minutes with pure oxygen through a diffusion stone. Keep the fermentation temperature between 75 and 80 °F (24 and 27 °C) for the entire fermentation. Once fermentation is approaching high kräusen, add one pound of hydrated cane sugar directly to the carboy. (On the brew day boil 2 qts./2 L of water for a few minutes and then dissolve the two pounds of sugar in it. Split the mixture into two sanitized mason jars and store in the fridge until needed.) Twenty-four hours later add 1 pound of hydrated cane sugar to the carboy. Let the beer sit in the primary fermenter for three weeks. After the three weeks rack to a secondary 5.0-gallon (19-L) carboy and cold condition cold for two months. Bottle condition to around 2.60 volumes of CO2. I use the kräusen method outlined by George and Laurie Fix on page 69 of the “Märzen, Oktoberfest, Vienna” Classic Beer Style Series books.

Extract Option:
Reduce pale malt to 2.25 lbs. (1.0 kg). Steep grains at 149–150 °F (65–66 °C) in 2.0 gallons (7.6 L) for 45 minutes. Add water to make 6.5 gallons, stir in 5.5 lbs. (2.5 kg) Cooper’s Light dried malt extract and boil the wort for 90 minutes, adding hops at times indicated. Add treacle with 10 minutes left in boil. Ferment between 75 and 80 °F (24 and 27 °C). See all-grain recipe for conditioning instructions.