As featured in CAMRA’s – The Modern Homebrewer – Andy Parker & Jamil Zainasheff and sponsored by ourselves The Malt Miller.

We would highly recommend purchasing and reading this book as it feature not only a wide selection of recipes but some great knowledge and techniques from Andy and Jamil on how to brew the best beer possible at home.

This recipe was provided for the book from a professional brewer, all of the recipes were scaled by the writers to a 20ltr batch size using 75% efficiency.

Where ever possible we have matched the exact ingredients, however in some recipes slight changes may be required and volume adjustments based on ingredient available to homebrewers. Be sure to fully read the below details before purchasing so you are fully confident in the process and aware of any ingredients which are not included with this kit that you will need to add.

Weights are removed on this page due to publishing agreements but will be provided on the bags when the recipe is purchased or are present in the book for those who purchase it.

 

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Ingredients Included

Warminster Flaked Malted Oats
Thomas Fawcett – Pale Chocolate Malt
Crisp – Roasted Barley
Weyermann CaraAroma
Thomas Fawcett – Brown Malt
Weyermann Rauch Malt
Crisp Best (Pale) Ale Malt

Total Grain Bill 9090g

Hallertauer Magnum – BarthHaas® Pure Hop Pellet (15 grams)
Fermentis SafAle US-05 11.5g (4 packs)

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Method

Beer Style (main): American Ales
Beer Style (sub): American-Style Imperial Stout
Batch Size: 20
Original Gravity: 1.134
Final Gravity: 1.052
ABV %: 11.0
IBU: 28
Mash efficiency: 75

THE MASH
Temperature °C (Step 1): 67
Length (mins) (Step 1): 90

Mash notes: Water: Casita does not treat their (soft) water for this beer but does keep some baking soda on hand to potentially increase the wort pH back up towards 5.0pH post boil.

THE BOIL
Boil time (mins): 240

Hop / kettle additions and timing:

Boil (240 minutes or until target SG is reached)
Magnum 15g/0.52oz @ First Wort
Brown/Demerara Sugar 1.7Kg/3.75lb @ 60 mins – Not Included

 

Yeast: 4 x Fermentis SafAle™ US-05
Fermentation temperature/steps: Pitch 4 packs (46g/1.6oz) of Fermentis SafAle™ US-05 and ferment at 19°C/68°F for 7 days or until gravity is stable, then add adjuncts

Secondary additions:

Adjuncts Not Included (at terminal gravity, during conditioning)

Cacao Nibs 80g/2.82oz
Habanero Peppers 9g/0.31oz
Pasilla Peppers 9g/0.31oz
Gujialpo Peppers 9g/0.31oz
Ancho Peppers 36g/1.26oz
Chipotle Peppers 22g/0.77oz
Cinnamon Sticks 30g/1.05oz
Vanilla Pods 18g/0.63oz

For this beer, you could create a tincture with the peppers and cinnamon and dose that into the finished beer according to your taste, then mature the beer on the vanilla and cacao nibs. Revisit our chapter on adjuncts for tips!

Comments:

Casita Brews – Querido Y Perdido – Mexican Chocolate Imperial Stout

Casita was founded by industry veterans Mahalia and Ryan Witter-Merithew. Mahalia started in the beer industry by chance when she got a job through a temp agency at a beer distributor in 2003 after finishing her undergraduate degree. Ryan started in the beer industry very much on purpose in 2006 at a beer distributor in Pennsylvania. He got his first brewing job in 2007 at Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery in Farmville and the couple met soon afterwards. They relocated to Europe in 2009 where Ryan brewed at Fano Bryghus in Denmark before becoming founding Head Brewer at Siren Craft Brew in Berkshire, England in 2013. On returning to the US in 2015, Ryan took up a role at Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro, VT. It was here that Casita (the “little house” – a brand focused on home, love and family) was born as a cuckoo brand. In 2017 they relocated back to their home state of North Carolina, and in 2020, they opened their taproom in Mahalias hometown of Wilson. Here they have made it their mission to use their business to help better the community. Since opening their doors, they have directly donated over 80,000 to local nonprofits and helped these nonprofits raise tens of thousands more dollars for themselves.

Querido y Perdido (Cherished and Lost) is a rich and complex imperial stout brewed with cinnamon, cocoa nibs, vanilla, and chili peppers. “This beer is dedicated to those we have loved and lost and ones who have survived for whom life will never be the same. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this beer will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.”

The beer is double-mashed to produce 130% of the target wort volume in two 65% portions to factor in evaporation during the very long boil. The boil is started as soon as possible after the first run off, with the aim of keeping the boil rolling all the way through to the end of the second wort collection and beyond. Sugar is then added to further boost the gravity until a starting gravity of around 31.5 plato (1.1364 SG) is reached. Given the quantity of grain, you may need to adopt a similar approach unless you have a particularly large mash tun and kettle! In the recipe below, we have scaled for a single mash so you may wish to adjust according to your chosen approach.

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