It could be the easiest beer recipe you ever brew. This Imperial Stout recipe kit comes with every pre-measured ingredient you need to brew Martin's Imperial Stout, a 5-gallon all-grain batch, from grain to glass.

The Imperial Stout began as an export beer, brewed extra-strong in London in the eighteenth century for shipment to the Russian imperial court. The high alcohol kept it sound on the long haul to the Baltic, and Catherine the Great's fondness for it gave the style its name. It has been the benchmark for big, dark beer ever since.

This is a nearly black, full-bodied beer built on Maris Otter and a heavy hand of dark malts. Expect intense roast, bittersweet chocolate, espresso, and dark fruit, with a firm hop bitterness holding the sweetness in check at 8.5%. It drinks well fresh and better with age, mellowing over a year or two in the bottle.

What's In The Kit

Your Imperial Stout recipe kit includes everything below, portioned and ready to brew. All you add is water.

Fermentables

• 14 lbs · Maris Otter
• 2 lbs · Crystal 45 → we include Crystal 50
• 8.0 oz · Barley, Flaked
• 8.0 oz · Roasted Barley
• 8.0 oz · Special B
• 4.0 oz · Black (Patent) Malt
• 4.0 oz · Chocolate Malt

Hops

• 2 oz · Magnum (Boil, 60.0 min)
• 1 oz · East Kent Goldings (EKG) (Boil, 10.0 min)

Yeast

• 2 packets · London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs 1028) → we include SafAle S-04 (English Ale)

Water treatment salts and any specialty extras are noted with the recipe.

Recipe At A Glance

A Note On Substitutions

This kit includes Crystal 50 in place of the recipe's Crystal 45. We stock dry yeast only, so SafAle S-04 (English Ale) dry yeast stands in for the recipe's London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs 1028).