Today, I have made the biggest beer I have ever brewed–hence the new name, Bigiz M’cak Imperial Stout*.This desire for a really, really powerful beer entered my imagination when I first tried North Coast’s Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. Having had many dry stouts, this thick, gritty, puts-hair-on-your-chest brew became a fixation of mine. How do they brew such a gravity? How can brewers control the balance of bitterness versus full-bodied flavor?Many problems resulted from such a high-gravity recipe: among them include the extra yeast required, and the high propensity for boilovers. The thanks to the homebrew shop, I was advised against making a starter, and instead was sold a second packet of dry yeast. Just sprinkled it on top and voila! This was indeed the most challeging beer I have ever attempted. With so much sugar in the wort, even my 6-gallon kettle was subject to boilovers and had to be watched with incredible caution. Virtually no beer was consumed during this boil–I instead savored my Peggy Noonan editorial, and stirred every other paragraph. This beer was moody–almost as if it didn’t ever want to make it to fermentation. Its black, glassy meniscus frequently became ensconced with a brownish foamy blanket. Make no mistake–I was itching for a cup of coffee half of the boil as this sure resembled the morning beverage. After a quick cool-down with ice, ice-water, and an immersion in an ice-water-filled Igloo cooler, this was ready to seal with pitched yeast, but not before taking a surprising reading. I wanted to boost the recipe (which stated 1.085 as intended O.G.) with an extra pound of dark DME. While my math was pretty good, I was unprepared for the true O.G. number when I took a reading: 1.105. No, I did not miss a decimal place. This beer will probably end up at between 10-11% ABV if the two packets of yeast can sustain that kind of appetite.I have therefore decided to play with the name of the beer in relation to its gravity and weight, naming it “Bgiz Mcak”. Draw your own conclusions.Primary fermantation shall probably be a good week, secondary another week, and bottle conditioning a good month or two. Cheers! *Name pending spousal approval.