1 Gallon Vanilla Russian Imperial Stout critique/help

EDIT: SEE POST #3 FOR TWEAKED RECIPE SCALED UP TO 5 GALLONS!

I was trying to work on a recipe for a very sweet RIS, but I don't want to invest in a full 5 Gal batch so I'd like to test it/tweak it with a 1 Gal batch. I looked at a few recipes for Dark Lord and Crème Brûlée from Southern Tier for the inspiration. Keep in mind this will scale up to a 5 gal batch once it's delicious enough. Also keep in mind that this is one of my first recipes!

Here's the recipe I have so far:


1 gal Vanilla RIS
13-F Russian Imperial Stout
Author: Max Spang

Size: 1.0 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 354.03 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.105 (1.075 - 1.115)
Terminal Gravity: 1.026 (1.018 - 1.030)
Color: 37.52 (30.0 - 40.0)
Alcohol: 10.49% (8.0% - 12.0%)
Bitterness: 79.5 (50.0 - 90.0)

Ingredients:
2.0 lb Pale Ale Malt
4 oz American Chocolate Malt
1 oz Black Roasted Barley
4.0 oz Molasses
5.0 oz Lactose
1.0 lb Crystal Malt 60°L

.2 oz Columbus (15.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
.2 oz Chinook (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min

1 Vanilla (whole bean) - added dry to secondary fermenter

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 0.0 m


Results generated by BeerTools Pro 1.5.12




I will probably cut the Vanilla bean in half (if not smaller) and soak it in Bourbon for a week before racking the beer onto it. 1 bean for a 1 gallon batch seems like wayyy overkill.


Thoughts?

Anyone?

Hey guys - I tweaked my recipe and scaled it up so it's a little bit easier for people to judge. Check it out:

Size: 5.0 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 349.1 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.104 (1.075 - 1.115)
Terminal Gravity: 1.026 (1.018 - 1.030)
Color: 36.98 (30.0 - 40.0)
Alcohol: 10.34% (8.0% - 12.0%)
Bitterness: 79.5 (50.0 - 90.0)

Ingredients:
13.0 lb Pale Ale Malt
1.5 lb American Chocolate Malt
.5 lb Roasted Barley
1 lb Molasses
1.5 lb Lactose
1.0 lb Crystal Malt 60°L
.5 lb American Caramel 120°L
1.0 oz Columbus (15.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.0 oz Chinook (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
2- 3 ea Vanilla (whole bean) - added dry to secondary fermenter

It looks good, but i think you might want to ease up on the molasses. It tends to overpower everything.

In my opinion, a lot of fermented molasses tastes like ass. So I would also reduce the amount of molasses.

Thanks for the feedback. What about if I cut to molasses back to half a pound?

I would ditch the lactose. It's going to end up sweet anyway due to the high OG.

With 5 ozs of Lactose (in 1 gallon), you are never going to get close to a 1.026 FG. The lactose will add about 12 points of unfermentables on it's own.

Calder said:

I would ditch the lactose. It's going to end up sweet anyway due to the high OG.

With 5 ozs of Lactose (in 1 gallon), you are never going to get close to a 1.026 FG. The lactose will add about 12 points of unfermentables on it's own.

Click to expand...

Looking back, I'm thinking that the lactose is going to be a bit too much.

I cut back on the molasses and took out the lactose, and bumped the 2-Row up.

Let me know what you think of the updated recipe:

Size: 5.0 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 344.95 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.102 (1.075 - 1.115)
Terminal Gravity: 1.026 (1.018 - 1.030)
Color: 36.9 (30.0 - 40.0)
Alcohol: 10.22% (8.0% - 12.0%)
Bitterness: 63.8 (50.0 - 90.0)

Ingredients:
15.0 lb Pale Ale Malt
1.0 lb Victory® Malt
1.5 lb American Chocolate Malt
0.5 lb Roasted Barley
1.0 lb Crystal Malt 60°L
0.5 lb American Caramel 120°L
1.0 lb Rice Hulls
0.5 lb Molasses
3.0 ea Vanilla (whole bean) - added dry to secondary fermenter
1.0 oz Columbus (15.0%) - added during boil, boiled 30.0 min
1.0 oz Chinook (13.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 ea WYeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

Notes
Cut Vanilla, Age in Bourbon for a few weeks