Recipe: Black Is Beautiful Imperial Stout (Original Version) — Brewing Black is Beautiful Imperial Stout with Weathered Souls

Anyone can view or download the basic recipe on the Black Is Beautiful website, including a homebrew version tailored by award-winning homebrewer Annie Johnson for the American Homebrewer’s Association. This is simply our attempt to provide a version that adheres as closely as possible to the commercial template that has been used as a starting point by 1,200+ breweries and counting—and just like they did, you can adjust the recipe to your own systems and whims.

ALL-GRAIN

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.091
FG: 1.018
IBUs: 57
ABV: 9.9%

MALT/GRAIN BILL

9 lb (4.1 kg) two-row pale
2.1 lb (953 g) flaked oats
1.75 lb (794 g) Carafoam
1.6 lb (726 g) caramel malt (120L)
1.4 lb (635 g) black malt (500 SRM)
1 lb (454 g) dextrose/corn sugar
11 oz (312 g) chocolate malt (350 SRM)

HOPS SCHEDULE

3.3 oz (94 g) Cascade [5.5% AA] at 60 minutes
1.4 oz (40 g) Cascade [5.5% AA] at 30 minutes
1.4 oz (40 g) Cascade [5.5% AA] at 10 minutes

YEAST
White Labs WLP001 American Ale, Fermentis SafAle US-05, or other Chico strain equivalent.

DIRECTIONS
Mill the grains and mash at 154°F (68°C) for 1 hour. Raise the temperature to 168°F (76°C) and mash out. Lauter and sparge as necessary to obtain about 6.5 gallons (25 liters) of wort—or more, depending on your evaporation rate. Boil for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the schedule. Chill to 68°F (20°C), aerate well, and pitch the yeast. Ferment at about 70°F (21°C) until complete, then crash, carbonate, and package.

BREWER’S NOTES
From Weathered Souls: “This recipe was developed to highlight the different hues and shades of black. Our recipe is only a guideline, and please feel free to adjust as needed based on your system needs. Everyone knows their water profiles best, so we also leave that up to you. In Texas, we have very hard water, so we personally use RO and add calcium chloride and calcium sulfate to adjust PPM. … We also add a small amount of maltodextrin but will leave that up to how you want the viscosity and mouthfeel of your beer.”