• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

imperial style

lordrahl

Apprentice
Joined
Mar 8, 2016
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
does any one have experience with these they call them imperial and theres more of everything. theres more grain, longer boil time and more concentration and more alcohol. i guess what im asking is if anyone does have any experience are they as easy as a regular one? and also if it would be better to do it as all grain or extract?  i have a recipie for one but would like more information before trying. i guess i could always just google it
 
Yeah imperials are great to brew. Depending on the type of imperial beer you're making (stout, IPA, etc.), I'm not sure the boil times change all that much. I've never gone over 90 minutes. I don't think they are any more difficult than a standard brew day. Conditioning to your taste might take longer.

Knowing your equipment is important here. If your grain bill is more than what your max mash tun volume is, then you might need to alter the recipe by substituting some of your base malt for extract.

For example, let's assume your recipe is only pale malt (keep it simple). If your mash tun can hold 18 lbs of malt with whatever your strike water is, but your grain bill is 20 lbs, then you would remove 2 lbs of malt from your grain bill. Now you're mashing 18 lbs of malt which is what you can fit. For the remaining 2 lbs, convert that into extract to be added during the boil. Multiply the number of pounds of malt by 0.75 to get the pounds of liquid extract. So in this case, it's (2 x 0.75) = 1.5 lbs of extract. If you're substituting dry extract, I think the equation is a little different. You'll have to search for it.

I have heard, that some brewers that make imperial IPA's, take a typical grain bill and bulk it up slightly, but most additional gravity points come from standard fermentable sugar that they toss into the boil to create a drier beer with higher alcohol. In this case, you shouldn't be as concerned with mash tun volume.

 
Back
Top