Imperial Stout: Grain to Glass (13% ABV)

Two years in the making, enjoy the start to finish of this national award winning 13% ABV Imperial Stout.
FOLLOW ME ON IG: @hopkillerbrewery
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Time Travel Links:
00:00 - Intro
00:15 - Background of beer, awards, story
01:24 - Young Dylan
02:03 - Setup overview
03:42 - Hot Side
08:05 - Cold Side/Cellaring
10:06 - Kegging
11:00 - Tasting
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Music:
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Pop 07 -Grigoriy Nuzhny
House Vibes - Alejandro Mangaña
Tech House Vibes - Alejandro Mangaña

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Here is the recipe, thanks to reddit user “Colobrew19” for typing this out on the reddit post to this video! • ⁠20lb 2-row • ⁠2 lb roasted barley • ⁠1lb black patent malt • ⁠1lb crystal/caramel 120L • ⁠1/2lb crystal/caramel 60L • ⁠1/2lb chocolate malt • ⁠1/2lb special B • ⁠2oz CTZ @ 60 min • ⁠0.5oz CTZ @ 30 min • ⁠0.5oz CTZ @ 15 min • ⁠1oz CTZ @ 0 min • ⁠San Diego Super Yeast (wlp090)

[@AK-lu7rk]

can I get a breakdown step by step

[@adrianknox8328]

Great looking recipeI want to make it ...Love the RIS...Can you please tell me the quantity of mash water used and what is the final volume after the boil ...Cheers

[@rob1965g-i3b]

This is for a 5.5 Gallon batch. @@adrianknox8328

[@murilocaldereroazenari3487]

I'm from Brazil, i've been searching for recipes to use as base for my one RIS, can't say how valueble this video was. Nice video, thanks for it!

[@ajoyce]

One of my all time favorite styles. Nice work.

[@HopKillerBrewery]

One of mine as well! Thanks 🤙🏼

[@Homebrew58]

Awesome video. So many homebrewers both old and new think they have to have the shiny stainless steel equipment all electric and digitized and this is proof positive that great beer can be made with an "old school" setup.

[@_stars_at_nite_7184]

Good work. Sounds like and amazing beer! Happy brewing.

[@HopKillerBrewery]

You as well! Brew on fellow Hop Killer

[@oibal60]

Well done. I just made 2.5L of Brewferm 'Sinister Stout', currently conditioning in the basement.

[@HamSamich87]

Oh man that looks so delicious thank you

[@nastyswe]

Thank you for this video! I'm brewing my second big stout in a few weeks, so that's why i stumbled upon this video. My first one was about 11%, rested on cacaonibs soaked in bourbon, coffeebeans and a hint of vanilla. When i kegged i also added a few cups of rum to the keg. It ended up really good but had a small sour taste to it, it's either from no water treatment or its from the coffeebeans. This one i will try to reach same ABV as yours but i guess it will be a bit hard since i use the Grainfather 30L last time went pretty well so i'll give it a go. I'll try get some efficiency byt stirring every 20 minutes in the mash and see what happens. Also planning on a very long brew day for a looong boil :) Take care! You have yourself a new subscriber!

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Did you make a tincture with the vanilla beans in vodka? I know those can carry a ton of bacteria as well! Good luck on this coming up brew & I really appreciate the comment, I’m stoked for you! Hopefully you can reach that +13% ABV. Cheers & thank you for subscribing! Comment back once it’s done and let us know how it came out! 🤙🏼🍻

[@texw4062]

7:30 me watching hot engine oil pour into a bottle, "that looks delicious"

[@HateRedStephen]

'one last sip' been doing that for years now. SKOL

[@HopKillerBrewery]

CHEERS!

[@jessemarshall7131]

Awesome video and recipe! Certainly want to give it a whirl, though I might need a cooler-converted mash tun for all that grain - pushing the Anvil Foundry 10.5G 9.5lbs over the recommended grain limit might be a bit too much haha!

[@samergamer2552]

thank you for the recipe bruv i can't wait to brew the beer but on a lower scale so i would like to know what was the final quantity so i can scale it down to my desirable quantity.

[@tylerolesen6793]

Sounds like something I'd like!

[@HopKillerBrewery]

It's worth brewing! I plan to re-brew this and make a 10 or 15 gallon batch. Bottle 5 gallons once finished for a future home brewing competition stash, 5 gallons for now and 5 gallons to add cacao nibs, coconut and roasted almonds too. Cheers!

[@helladankseedco.2411]

Wow, 2 years... Looks worth it...

[@HopKillerBrewery]

It was! Can’t wait to brew this again

[@Bazsa80]

I brewed the beer. I thought the hops and the roasted barley would be too much, but I was completely wrong. The beer is fantastic and amazing complex. Thanks for the excellent recipe!

[@HopKillerBrewery]

That’s awesome! I’m glad you like it and it turned out great. How old is it now?

[@Bazsa80]

It is just 3 month old but we couldn't wait more to taste it. We would like to drink the beer in December...we need a lot of patience.:) The final abv is around 11.5%, but I gues the lower efficiency is acceptable without any professional equipment.

[@kloppyg4397]

Brewing a 48L batch of this tomorrow. I am adding 4% flaked oats though. Hope it tastes as good as yours looks

[@TheCBScott7]

How do you only have 500 subs? I've been dancing around starting to brew at home for years now and would love to try this recipe out as my first brew.

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Thanks my man! I appreciate that a lot. Check the recipe down below in the comments and go for it! Big beer for your first brew, I’d advise doing something simple like a SMaSH beer(Single Malt and Single Hop) just to dial in your system and get the hang of things. But, you can do whatever you want and if that gets you fired up, go for it.

[@TheCBScott7]

@@HopKillerBrewery I like a challenge. I'm not sure I have the required space for a setup such as yours, but am eager to give it a shot.

[@brookskenderdine1307]

Your tasting section made my up and buy some snifters. Your appreciation for the beer was contagious man. Thanks a lot for sharing.

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Tulip glasses are great for helping capture aroma! I do drink from them when I’m feeling the itch to be a beer nerd! I really appreciate the comment! Cheers!

[@grandpahickory613]

COME TO SCOTLAND FRIENDS ! HAVE A SCRUMPTIOUS FISH SANDWICH AT THE PUB, WITH A DELICIOUS PINT OF TADDY PORTER, OR NITRO BLACK BELHAVEN STOUT BEER....THE CHIPS ARE MOUTH WATERING GOOD !

[@ryanblystone5153]

Thank you

[@HopKillerBrewery]

You're welcome!

[@javierdiazsantana]

Damn. Looking at the beer you served gave me chills

[@HopKillerBrewery]

I’m sorry

[@javierdiazsantana]

@@HopKillerBrewery No worries dude. Hehe

[@mikekalafsky3042]

I'm going to be brewing this style for the first time in the next couple days. Any pointers to include when brewing this? I only have a basic set up. I'd like to have the similar flavor profiles and aromas as you explained. Cheers!!

[@HopKillerBrewery]

If you follow the recipe I posted in the comments along with the target Mash temp around 152-154F, you’ll be good. Just make sure you have a lot of yeast to pitch & control the temperature during fermentation around 65-67F for the first week or so to minimize fusel production.

[@michaeljames3509]

The brewing method won't produce ale. To produce ale with the brewing method, malt would have to be unique, in such a way, that the low temperature activated enzymes needed for producing ale and lager wouldn't denature during the high temperature rest, which is impossible, Beta in particular, rapidly, denatures. It is chemically and enzymatically impossible to produce ale and lager by soaking malt in hot water at a single temperature, due to the way that enzymes function. The single infusion brewing method produces distillers beer where only a single temperature rest, Alpha and glucose are needed to make the beer. A grain distiller uses 66C as a rest temperature because at the temperature Alpha releases the highest amount of glucose, as possible, from amylose within an hour. The more glucose, the more alcohol. Glucose is responsible for primary fermentation. The high temperature denatures Beta because the enzyme gets in the way of a grain distiller. The lower the rest temperature the drier and thinner the beer and high in alcohol. The higher the rest temperature, the sweeter tasting the beer and lower in alcohol. The higher the rest temperature, the quicker Alpha denatures. When the Stout was produced three steps needed for producing ale were skipped, conversion step (60C, Beta, complex sugar, secondary fermentation), dextrinization and gelatinization steps (boiling mash, Alpha, limit dextrin, body and mouthfeel), were skipped. When the steps are skipped, the extract is chemically imbalanced, sugar imbalanced, and unstable. When yeast is added to the wort off flavors develop during fermentation and conditioning, making it difficult to produce a consistent, final product. An entirely different brewing method and under modified, low protein, malt are used for producing ale and lager. High modified, malt and single temperature infusion are used for producing distillers beer, which is distilled. Weyermann floor malt and Gladfield's American Malt are under modified and good choices for making ale and lager. Under modified, malt is richer in enzyme content than high modified, malt. Malt should contain less than 10 percent protein, the less protein, the more sugar is in the malt. Modification and protein content are two important numbers listed on a malt spec sheet. A malt spec sheet comes with each bag of malt because malt is inconsistent and the spec sheet is used for determining the quality of malt before a brewer purchases the malt. It's an E Caveat Emptor thing where the malthouse is making the buyer aware of the quality of the malt. To view a malt spec sheet click on Gladfield's website and find American Malt, the spec sheet is on the page. Part way down on the spec sheet is Kolbach. Kolbach, SNR and S/T determines level of modification. When purchasing malt I use the data listed in the EBC column, which uses Kolbach. Malt, 40 Kolbach and lower is under modified. The higher the Kolbach number and percentage of protein, the less suitable the malt is for producing ale and lager. High modified malt can be 52 Kolbach and 16 percent protein. Depending on the level of modification an Alpha-Beta enzyme mixture would need to be added to the mash for conversion to occur. To take advantage of rich, under modified, malt, at the least, a three temperature step mash should be used, which will produce pseudo ale and lager. To take full advantage of the malt, the triple decoction method is used, which produces authentic ale and lager. Under modified, malt is usually more expensive than high modified, malt and to soak the more expensive malt at one temperature will give the same results as soaking at one temperature less expensive high modified, malt. Skim off hot break as it forms and continue to remove hot break until it drastically reduces, when that happens add hops. Less hops are needed because the extract is cleaner. Skim off second break, as well. To learn how ale and lager are produced start with DeClerks books. Abstracts from the IOB are free, online, and interesting to read. The IOB made malt, modern in the 19th century when they invented the malt spec sheet. Instead of brewers having to test malt to determine quality, testing was handled by the IOB and all the brewer needed was the malt spec sheets from the IOB to determine quality. The IOB, EBC and MBAC are agencies that test malt and produce the data that is listed on a malt spec sheet. Stay safe, stay thirsty, brew on.

[@underaway]

What is the white thing with hops in 5:45? and the white pill?

[@johnyboy19685]

Looks like a great beer just having a homemade black treacle stout very nice but only about 6.5% that is a monster at 13% but sounds very good it’s subzero outside but that would keep you warm. You are bang on the money you don’t need to spend thousands on fancy equipment tom make good beer you just need to know what you’re doing and control your temps and keep everything clean.

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Slow temps and big healthy yeast starters/slurrys are king when it comes to low Easter/fusel alcohols on these big beers. Also plenty of oxygen!

[@hugedickerinokripperino5299]

You know its good when the head is a nice brown

[@stewheart]

the first shot of the beer - the head looks so dark, but less so in the final shot . either way it looks like a damn good beer, well done! I've made a few imp stouts - well worth the effort and the wait. any experience with adjuncts in imperial stouts?

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Might have been the camera settings but it does have color to the head for sure. It’s a great beer, only have one bottle left of this bad boy. I haven’t brewed many adjunct heavy stouts yet but keep an eye out for future beers with that style! 👀

[@trentt4618]

What about adding a lightly peated malt?

[@nh1662]

The head on that is a thing of beauty

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Ain’t it? Beautiful

[@Nickpaintbrush]

Hi Ive liked and subscribed, Id love to have a go at making this but might it be a bit complicated for a first try, maybe not. How much money would I spend on this kit, and why dont you have more subscribers? Thanks!

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Thank you for the support! It is more complex than a standard beer but once you get past the complex grain bill, needing a lot of healthy yeast & oxygenating twice(if you can) it’s no more complex than any other beer!

[@Nickpaintbrush]

@@HopKillerBrewery Thanks

[@christianvonholdt4910]

Let me get this straight, you fermented in a plastic carboy for a week. Then you transfered it to a keg just to put it in a bottle and let it sit for 2 years? Did you put priming sugar and hot water in the keg before bottling?

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Fermented for a total of 3 weeks if I remember correctly. Carbonated/conditioned in the keg for about a month, bottled the rest to age for almost two years.

[@christianvonholdt4910]

@@HopKillerBrewery Thank you! I am going to try and do the same thing with my batch. I decided to buy 2 - 5 gallon batches , i will most likely start drinking the first batch in the 6-12 month range and then try the next batch over the 12-24 month range.

[@kloppyg4397]

Can I ask how long did yours take to fully ferment. Mine is day 10 and only down to 1.066

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Pretty sure this was a 21 day fermentation, it took a while!

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Also, make sure you pitched enough healthy and viable yeast plus used a lot of oxygen.

[@kloppyg4397]

I didn't use any oxygen but used 200 billion yeast cells more than I needed. I splashed it slowly from a height when filling fermenter. Mines at day 14, will heck again in 7 days

[@hunterwebber6025]

The head looks delish

[@docrw]

You talk about how well it’s held up but a beer like that should really go out at least 4 to 6 years

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Never said it couldn’t last longer?

[@kloppyg4397]

Hi Dylan, can I ask what your final gravity was on your RIS

[@HopKillerBrewery]

If I remember correctly it was 1.022

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Might have been 1.016

[@kloppyg4397]

Mine is at 1.054 on day 25. I know I didn't pitch enough yeast and use enough oxygen but I am going to transfer to secondary to get some oxygen in it a bit then let it sit until she stops. Any other suggestions

[@HopKillerBrewery]

@@kloppyg4397 I would avoid racking to secondary and go straight into a keg or bottles to age from there, personally. 100% do not add more oxygen intentionally at this point. Mainly you do that within 24 hours or less of the initial yeast pitch because it’s mostly still all Wort at that point and no beer. If you add oxygen now, you would oxidize the entire batch in a negative way. I would just drink it that sweet or blend it with a drier batch of the same stout!

[@albertogalfre7758]

You looks like a beer god

[@HopKillerBrewery]

If I had a beard, this would be true!

[@Frank-the-Tank-13]

I put this into beersmith an it says abv 10%

[@HopKillerBrewery]

It depends on your mash efficiency and final gravity that you put into your equipment profile. Adjust the grain numbers to match your desired SG & FG numbers based on your efficiencies. I’ve noticed beersmith’s expected FG on bigger beers like this always tend to be higher than what it actually finishes at. I mainly like to include the grain amounts AND grain percentages so people can match the same grain percentages and tweak amounts to fit their systems. I’ll make sure to throw those in ASAP.

[@Frank-the-Tank-13]

Did you use nibs or vanilla bean or coco powder?

[@HopKillerBrewery]

@@Frank-the-Tank-13 not in this batch. In the 9% imperial stout video I posted fairly recently, I added vanilla beans and flakes coconut. Check my “Grain To Glass” playlist to find it easier.

[@trevormccullough2953]

5 gal recipe?

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Yeah this is a 5 gallon recipe. Recipes is in the comments.

[@trevormccullough2953]

@@HopKillerBrewery dont see it my dude

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Should be a comment I made, still don’t see it?

[@trevormccullough2953]

Negative sir

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Just pinned the comment so it should appear at the top of the comments, let me know if that works. If not, I’ll shoot you my email.

[@fullhulkplayground2906]

Not everyone has all this equipment

[@gmpompa0]

Secret recipe?

[@HopKillerBrewery]

No secret recipe, I show the recipe sheet in the video briefly. If you pause on it, you can see it and copy it down. I'll put it in the description shortly!

[@andycurrry8818]

Imperial Russian stout should be 11 per cent

[@HopKillerBrewery]

Says who?

[@jl-km3fe]

Stopped watching at around 10 secs because of the annoying edits! :(

[@HopKillerBrewery]

That’s a bummer! The 2-year ago footage editing was to kinda rip on myself due to the awkward gestures I was making along with not presenting what I was saying properly. Past that cringy intro, I thought it was a good video.

[@paulschroeter4987]

i want to make an imperial stout only issue is i can only hold 7 1/2 gallons in my kettle. im looking for 13-14 percent is there anything i can do? dme. lme? partial mash?

[@HopKillerBrewery]

What you can do is two mashes: Do your first mash as normal and then use the wort from your first mash for the second mash, top off second mash with needed water. After both mashed, check gravity and if you want a higher OG/SG, add some Dextrose. I’m not a fan of DME.