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**NordeastBrewer77** · 06-16-2012, 12:29 AM

I brewed a ~1.1 OG RIS early this January. I left it in primary for ~4-5 weeks, and it's been in secondary since. I'm thinking I'll bottle it in August, and since it's north of 9% and it'll have aged off the yeast for over 6 months, I'll throw some 05 in with the priming solution to make sure it carbs up. The way I see it, a beer with that much dark, roasted malt needs a lot of time to mellow, as does the alcohol, and since I won't wanna drink a RIS before it gets cold, leave it in secondary til the end of summer. Then a couple, few months in bottles and it'll be cold out again.

**bottlebomber** · 06-16-2012, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tgmartin000

I made a 1.085 breakfast stout

isn't that like making a high gravity Mild?

Edit: never mind, Founders is 8.3%. What is it that makes it a breakfast stout? Cause an 8.3 for breakfast would make sure I didn't see lunch..

**NordeastBrewer77** · 06-16-2012, 03:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bottlebomber

isn't that like making a high gravity Mild?

Edit: never mind, Founders is 8.3%. What is it that makes it a breakfast stout? Cause an 8.3 for breakfast would make sure I didn't see lunch..

Coffee, my friend, lots of coffee makes Founder's Breakfast a 'breakfast stout'.

**sweetcell** · 06-16-2012, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NordeastBrewer77

Coffee, my friend, lots of coffee makes Founder's Breakfast a 'breakfast stout'.

Oatmeal, too. Coffee + oatmeal = breakfast!

also: Founders put chocolate in their breakfast stouts.

tgmartin000 · 06-17-2012, 02:38 PM

Yep. I did the founders. 2 oz coffee and a 4 oz bar of Godiva chocolate

It tasted incredible after a month, a bunch of people said they like this beer fresh, rather than aged ..

edin88 · 01-30-2013, 09:39 PM

I'm gonna post here rather than start a new thread since I have the same question as the OP but have a SLIGHTLY more specific question.

I brewed a Founder's breakfast clone on the 19th of this month (11 days in primary today). OG was 1.073 and the current gravity has been 1.02 for the past 5 days or so. Beer tastes aweeeessome. I brought a hydrometer sample to a bar and tried it side by side with the original and they were VERY close. Mine didn't have as intense coffee/chocolate notes but that's probably because the other half of the coffee and chocolate additions that the recipe calls for have not been added yet.

My question is should I bother leaving this longer in primary or should I bottle? I have no beers coming up that I'm going to brew, I'm just super happy with this beer and don't see how leaving it in primary for months will make it any better, i think it'll just make it different, which I MIGHT not want. The soonest I'd bottle if I did was this satuday. And since we're on bottling, what have people done at bottling with this beer? Will 3.4 oz of corn sugar give me adequate/desirable carbonation for the style?

Thanks,
-Edin

**sweetcell** · 01-30-2013, 10:33 PM

no need to go super-long on the primary, but 14 days (i.e. saturday) is on the short side for this beer. give it another week before bottling.

if you're going to bulk-age for months, you wouldn't do it in primary. you would rack to a smaller secondary vessel with little headspace (fill the vessel so that little airspace is left) and age it that way.

priming: use a calculator like http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/. there is no one-size-fits-all solution, it'll depend on how much you're getting into your bottling bucket, maximum temp it fermented at, and how much carbonation you want. FBS is pretty low carbonation, i'd go for 2.0-2.2 volumes.

dunno if you saw it, but there is a FBS clone thread: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/founders-breakfast-stout-clone-139078/

fxdude · 01-30-2013, 10:52 PM

Bulk aging in a secondary before bottling tends to keep more of the undesirables out of the bottles.

**sweetcell** · 01-31-2013, 02:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fxdude

Bulk aging in a secondary before bottling tends to keep more of the undesirables out of the bottles.

absolutely, if done correctly (little to no headspace, good sanitation, etc).

do it sloppy and you're just asking for trouble... you'd be better off with a slightly longer primary and then going straight to bottles.

BeeZeRCoX · 04-18-2013, 04:14 PM

Bumping an old thread - is there any fear of the beer getting oxidized in secondary? I've got a Russian Imperial Stout with an OG of 1.103 that should be in the 10%+ alcohol range. I left it in Primary for about a month until the gravity reading stabilized (was sitting at 1.026 for about 5 days) before moving it to a whiskey barrel my wife got me for Valentine's Day from a local distillery.

I figure I'll probably have it there for about 3 weeks or so until the flavor is right before moving it to a true secondary to let it bulk age for 2-3 months.

My concern is that with very little carbon dioxide being produced at this point by the beer, that there is a much greater chance for oxidation in the true secondary. Any thoughts on how to avoid this? I know minimal head space is ideal, but even in a 5 gallon secondary I will probably end up with half a gallon or so of head space.