Don’t miss our New England Beer & Baseball adventure in 2026! Click here to register!

recipe

Bitter Chocolate Imperial Stout

Bitter Chocolate Imperial Stout

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.071  FG = 1.022 IBU = 33  SRM = 35  ABV = 6.8%

Ingredients

8 lbs. (3.6 kg) Briess traditional dark dried malt extract
4 oz. (113 g) black malt
4 oz. (113 g) chocolate malt
4 oz. (113 g) roasted barley 8 AAU Target hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 8% alpha acids)
4 AAUs Fuggles hops (15 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 4% alpha acids)
2 oz. (57 g) unsweetened baker’s chocolate, broken (15 min.)
White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) or Wyeast 1968 (London ESB Ale) or Lallemand Windsor Ale yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step

Steep the black and chocolate malts and the roasted barley in 3 gallons (11 L) of cold water. Gradually raise heat to 170 °F (77 °C). Remove grains and rinse them back into the pot with hot water. Stir in dried malt extract, bring to boil, and add Target hops. Boil 45 minutes, add Fuggles hops and the baker’s chocolate. Boil 15 minutes, remove from heat, cool 15 minutes. Add to fermenter along with enough water to make 5.25 gallons (20 L). Cool to 70 °F (21 °C), pitch yeast. Seal and ferment for ten days at this temperature. If you would like, rack to secondary and age in a cool dark place for a month. Keg or bottle condition as normal.

You might also like…

recipe

Trans Canada Brewing Co.’s MisBEEhavin’ clone

This extra special bitter blends the sweetness of buckwheat honey with the bitterness of the hops. As a homebrewer, this prize was an amazi

Stemmed glass of strong beer. recipe

Gordon Strong’s Strong Scotch Ale

This wee heavy strikes a good compromise between strength and drinkability. It uses homebrew techniques like kettle caramelization, but othe

Can of Transmountain Diversion beer with lake in the background. recipe

Weldwerks Brewing’s Transmountain Diversion clone

Like all of Weldwerks’ hazy IPAs, DDH Transmountain Diversion does not include any hops during the boil. The only hops added on the hot si

Glass and can of Juicy Bits IPA. recipe

Weldwerks Brewing’s Juicy Bits clone

Juicy Bits is an iconic hazy IPA and makes up more than 40% of Weldwerks’ production. The juicy aroma and flavor is attributed to equal ad