An homage to his homebrewing club, Adam Robbings and Reuben's Brews release Stouter Limits. The next in their series of 10th anniversary beers.
One Small Sip. One Giant Treat...
Stouter Limits Imperial Stout is the fourth release in the Reuben’s Brews 10th Anniversary Collaboration Series, brewed with the great folks at Homebrewers Guild of Seattle Proper. This is the homebrew club where our co-founder Adam Robbings cut his teeth, leading to the formation of our brewery. In fact, a number of our recipes still date back to those heady days of homebrewing. Homebrewing is the epitome of “glass backwards” - brewing unconstrained by production efficiencies - which Adam learned at the club and carried those philosophies forward to this very day at the brewery.
Stouter Limits is a MASSIVE imperial stout brewed with literally tons of malt with a super long boil so that it can reach a mouth-filling 12.5% ABV. This beer is thick, heavy, rich, and packing a wallop.
-Reuben’s Brews’ latest 10th anniversary release, Stouter Limits
image courtesy Adam Robbings & Reuben’s Brews
Like so many before him, before he and his wife Grace started Reuben’s Brews, Adam Robbings was a home brewer. No longer a novelty and more a gauntlet required by most aspiring brewers and business owners, home brewing at one point was the beer equivalent of moonshining, hidden away in college dorm room closets, basements, or garages. But with the popularity of “microbrew” the nation and its inexperienced imbibers sought a “cheap” albeit less consistent way to make beer. Today, home brewing has risen to the level of novelty, much like cooking, baking, or sewing. And yeah, among those who count themselves an alum of a homebrew club is none other than Adam Robbings, alumnus of the Homebrewers Guild of Seattle Proper.
It was here that Robbings, along with a pot-pourri of other like-minded wort worshippers, that Adam would experiment and grow his appreciation for beer. It was also here, on one fateful day that Adam and his fellow members sought the support of nearby Naked City Brewing Company, to brew what would become Opacity. Designed to be a low-roast, chocolate-inspiring, imperial stout, Opacity is a beer that those who enjoyed it remember well.
Now in his 10th year of owning Reuben’s Brews, Adam and by association his wife Grace honor the Homebrewers Guild of Seattle Proper, by brewing a special edition of Opacity.
Repackaged in a fancy label and available in 16-ounce cans, Stouter Limits is the latest in a series of 10th anniversary beers, supporting those who inspire and inspired the brewery.
More on Stout Limits. Opacity evolved.
For Stouter Limits, the fourth beer in our 10th Anniversary Collaboration Series, we ratcheted up the Opacity recipe while maintaining the essence of the original. Large portions of flaked oats and Golden Naked Oats—a favorite specialty malt among the homebrewers—contribute to the creamy body and the rich, nutty character of the beer, while kilned malts add color as well as layers of sweet caramel, dark chocolate, and roast coffee. Finally, Magnum and East Kent Goldings hops provide just enough bitterness along with some herbal, woody character.
Released the weekend of April 2nd, Stouter Limits isn’t just a beer to consume but in the spirit of Adam’s early days in beer, it’s a beer that you can brew yourself. Again, is Adam with the homebrew recipe for those who wish to replicate this elevation of a beer Adam once brewed.
STOUTER LIMITS IMPERIAL STOUT
Batch size: 5.5 gallons (21 liters)
OG: 1.120
FG: 1.030
IBU: 50
ABV: 12.5
Malt/Grain
(Scale the percentages below to weights for your brewhouse efficiency.)
71.6% High quality UK pale malt (2–3 SRM)
8% Flaked oats (1 SRM)
6.5% Golden Naked Oats (6 SRM)
4.7% Roasted barley (300 SRM)
3.6% Perla Negra or Weyermann Carafa Special 1 (350 SRM)
3.6% Chocolate malt (450 SRM)
2.2% Caramunich (56 SRM)
Hops
1 oz. (40 IBU) Magnum [12% AA] at 60 minutes
0.75 oz. (10 IBU) East Kent Goldings [5% AA] at flameout/whirlpool
Yeast
(Use a big, healthy pitch of this from a 5-liter starter or about 500B cells.)
Wyeast 1728 or Imperial A10 Darkness
Water
Use baking soda to target a mash ph of 5.3, adjusting for your water. Add 1.2 g/gal CaCL and 0.35 g/gal Epsom salt to the boil.
Directions
Mash low (148°F Saccrification rest) for high fermentability. Ferment low and steady at about 62°F in a controlled environment, taking extra care for the first two days to not spike or crash your temperature while the yeast is highly active and generating additional heat. Slowly raise the temperature to 65°F as fermentation winds down over the course of a week or until you hit the target final gravity. Transfer to a keg, or bottle for conditioning.
This beer will age well and you might want to hang on to a few bottles to compare with our barrel-aged version of Stouter Limits releasing at the end of the year.
Now at their taproom, stop by Reuben’s Brews today and taste for yourself.
Reuben's Brews is located in Seattle, Washington, and has two locations at 5010 14th Ave NW Seattle, WA 98107 and 800 NW 46th St, Seattle, WA 98107. For more information about their other beers, ciders, and hard seltzers visit https://reubensbrews.com.
