So I formulated a recipe for to clone Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout. Here's the original recipe (cues taken from the samuel smith website):
Malt Bill:
86% maris otter,
11% roasted malt,
3% table sugar
Hops (Tinseth):
Fuggles @ 60 min for 28 IBU
Goldings @ 30 min for 11 IBU
Goldings @ 15 min for 7 IBU
All grain, mash at 154, ferment at 66F with WLP002 in a starter.
Carbonated at 2.0 volumes
7% ABV, 46 IBU, 52 SRM. OG was 1.076, FG was 1.022, ADF 70%.
Recently did a side by side comparison. Carbonation, head amount, etc seemed appropriately similar. In my clone, I sensed a bit of harshness. Not sure whether it came from the roasted malt or the hop bittering. The Sammy smith sample was (by comparison) quite fruity in the nose, a more effervescent body, resulting in a lighter, fuller mouthfeel. It also was less harsh by comparison and had overall a better balance. The samuel smith had a slightly lighter color tan head. Mine was a bit more brown. Color of the samuel smith was just a fraction lighter than mine.
At the moment, I'm thinking I'll dial down the roasted barley and increase the table sugar addition from 3% to 5%, reduce the bittering hop addition probably by 50% to achieve 14 IBU, and ferment at a higher temp, maybe 68-69F to try to capture some of those delightful english esters from the yeast.
I know I won't be able to get it perfect due to the open fermentation they do in Tadcaster square, but I think I can get a pretty close approximation.
Any suggestions or recommendations?
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Jeremy