RECIPES
Cam’s Barrel Aged Imperial Stout (2nd Place VicBrew & 1st Place AABC)
Recipe:
This beer is a product of 3 different vintages of similar, yet different, beers.
In order to reproduce this beer, time is needed, as well as a keen sense of taste to know how to best blend the vintages.
Aging and Blending
To fully develop the rich flavour profile desired in an imperial stout, complex ingredient and maturation can be used. With maturation comes problems in an of itself which need to be addressed. Oxidation can add both plesent and unpleasent flavours over time, it's important to try and obtain the right balance of those flavours in a final beer. Blending back older vintages into younger vintages helps to acheive this. Much the same as lambics are blended to acheive the desied flavour profile, we can do the same with any other beer, in this case an imperial stout.
Vintage 2017 has been aged now for 2 and a half years. The first 6 months of it's life was spend in a stainless keg, under pressure. After this time, the beer has been slowly de-carbonated over the course of a week, then bottled in glass bottles with priming sugar to achieve 1.8-2.0 volumes of C02. These bottles have been aging for 2 years in a temperature controlled environment.
Vintage 2018 was aging for the first 3 months of its life in a 2nd use ex whiskey barrel. After this it was kegged, pressurised and carbonated. It remained in stainless for another 6 - 9 months before being bottled via counter pressure filling into PET bottles. These bottles have since been aging for another 12 to 18 months in a temperature controlled environment.
Vintage 2019 was aging for the first 4 months of its life in a 2nd use ex whiskey barrel. After this it was kegged, pressurised and carbonated. No further packaging has been done with this vintage yet.
At this stage all 3 vintages produce entirely different flavours. Vintage 2018 on its own is the most well balanced and rounded for this style, but is also quite low in ABV and warmth. Vintage 2019 is still very, very young and has a lot of alcohol heat and strong whiskey flavours. Vintage 2017 lacks any whiskey or barrel flavours, due to it not being aged in whiskey barrels, due to its age it has oxidised significantly developing complex sherry like flavours. There is a need to strike the balance between all the different flavours for each vintage. A good example blend here has been about 60% 2017, 30% 2018 and 10% 2019, this bring across all the complex flavours from the aged vintages, while freshening up the whiskey and barrel flavours from the latest vintage. This is entirely up to taste, there is no method for ascertaining what each vintage percentage should be.
2017 Vintage
This recipe yields a 23 litre batch. 60 minute boil. Was done as a single mash originally (system dependent).
OG - 1.103
FG - 1.019
IBU - 63.5
Water Additions
| Amount | Type |
|---|---|
| 15g | Calcium chloride (CaCl2) |
| 5g | Epsom Salt (MgSO4) |
| 5g | Gypsum/Calcium Sulfate (CaSO4) |
| 5ml | Lactic Acid |
Grain Bill
| Weight | Grain | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| 7.83KG | Marris Otter | 69.9% |
| 1.00KG | Flaked Barley | 8.9% |
| 0.86KG | Dark Chocolate Malt (1,300 EBC) | 7.7% |
| 0.52KG | Roast Barley (1,450 EBC) | 4.6% |
| 1.00 | White Sugar | 8.9% |
Hopping and Boil Additions
| Amount | Addition | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 60g | Magnum Hops | 60 mins |
| 5 drops | Fermcap-AT | 60 mins |
| 40g | Magnum Hops | 30 mins |
| 1 tab | Irish Moss | 15 mins |
Fermentation
| Amount | Yeast Strain |
|---|---|
| 450 Billion Cells | White Labs WLP013 (London Ale) |
2018 Vintage
This recipe yields a 21 litre batch. 60 minute boil. Was done as a double mash, evenly splitting the grain between the 2.
OG - 1.085
FG - 10.27
IBU - 86
Water Additions
| Amount | Type |
|---|---|
| 15g | Calcium chloride (CaCl2) |
| 5g | Epsom Salt (MgSO4) |
| 5g | Gypsum/Calcium Sulfate (CaSO4) |
| 5ml | Lactic Acid |
Grain Bill
| Weight | Grain | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| 8.41KG | Marris Otter | 78.9% |
| 1.01KG | Flaked Barley | 9.5% |
| 0.90KG | Chocolate Malt (1,100 EBC) | 8.4% |
| 0.34KG | Roasted Barley (1,300 EBC) | 3.2% |
Hopping and Boil Additions
| Amount | Addition | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 60g | Warrior Hops | 60 mins |
| 5 drops | Fermcap-AT | 60 mins |
| 20g | Warrior Hops | 30 mins |
| 1 tab | Irish Moss | 15 mins |
Fermentation and Aging
| Amount | Type | Process |
|---|---|---|
| 3 packets | Danstar Nottingham | Primary Fermentation |
| 3 months | 20L Whiskey Barrel | Ageing |
2019 Vintage
This recipe yields a 20 litre batch. 60 minute boil. Was done as a double mash, evenly splitting the grain between the 2.
OG - 1.110
FG - 1.029
IBU - 73.6
Water Additions
| Amount | Type |
|---|---|
| 15g | Calcium chloride (CaCl2) |
| 5g | Epsom Salt (MgSO4) |
| 5g | Gypsum/Calcium Sulfate (CaSO4) |
| 5ml | Lactic Acid |
Grain Bill
| Weight | Grain | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| 8.00KG | Marris Otter | 66.9% |
| 1.20KG | Flaked Barley | 10.0% |
| 0.70KG | Vienna Malt | 5.9% |
| 0.60KG | Crystal - 110L | 5.0% |
| 0.50KG | Chocolate Malt (1,110 EBC) | 4.2% |
| 0.50KG | Roasted Barley (1,300 EBC) | 4.2% |
| 0.46KG | Munich Malt | 3.8% |
Hopping and Boil Additions
| Amount | Addition | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 60g | Magnum Hops | 60 mins |
| 5 drops | Fermcap-AT | 60 mins |
| 1 tab | Irish Moss | 15 mins |
Fermentation and Aging
| Amount | Type | Process |
|---|---|---|
| 3 packets | Danstar Nottingham | Primary Fermentation |
| 2 ml | Amylase Enzyme | Primary Fermentation |
| 4 months | Whiskey Barrel | Ageing |