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Barbarossa Imperial Stout Recipe

Brewing with extract doesn't mean sacrificing flavor. Rather than going heavy on the chocolate malts, this recipe spreads the wealth and includes healthy additions of light crystal, dark crystal, and more.

Josh Weikert Mar 16, 2019 - 3 min read

Barbarossa Imperial Stout Recipe Primary Image

EXTRACT with steeped grains

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.092
FG: 1.026
IBUs: 85
ABV: 8.7%

MALT/GRAIN BILL

10 lb (5 kg) Liquid pale malt extract
1 lb (454 g) Maltodextrin powder
1 lb (454 g) British light crystal (35L)  1 lb (454 g) Crystal 120  8 oz (227 g) Brown malt  8 oz (227 g) Chocolate malt
4 oz (113 g) Roasted barley

HOPS SCHEDULE

1.75 oz (50 g) Nugget [13% AA] at 60 minutes
1 oz (28 g) Northern Brewer at flame-out/whirlpool
1 oz (28 g) Centennial at flame-out/whirlpool

YEAST

Wyeast 1007 German Ale yeast

DIRECTIONS

Bring 5.4 gallons (20.4 l) of water to about 162°F (72°C) and hold there. Steep the grains for 15 minutes, then remove the bag and allow to drain into the wort. Add the liquid malt extract and maltodextrin powder while stirring and stir until completely dissolved. Boil for 60 minutes, following the hops schedule. Add Irish moss as desired. After the boil, chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 63°F (17°C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 64°F (19°C) for the first seven days, then let the temperature free rise to 70°F (21°C) and hold there until the completion of primary fermentation. Once the beer completes fermentation, reduce the temperature to 32°F (0°C), then bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.25 volumes.

Brewer’s Notes

The theme here is “less is more.” Rather than going heavy on the chocolate malts, this recipe spreads the wealth and includes healthy additions of light crystal, dark crystal, brown malt, and then drops in an appropriate amount of roast and coffee flavor. It also incorporates a fair amount of largely unfermentable maltodextrin powder to build up the body—adjust to your preferences after the first batch! You may find you want more or less to achieve the “full” mouthfeel common to imperial stouts.

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