Dark Night of the Soul Russian Imperial Stout - Page 9

2-0turbo · 04-20-2010, 08:43 PM

I'm at 3.5 weeks now and its not done. I'm kind of stuck right now because I don't have an empty fermenter to even transfer into. I'm waiting on a DFH 60-minute clone to finish (now at 2.5 weeks and still bubbling) before I have an empty fermenter.

The more I'm thinking about this beer now, at probably over 12% alcohol, does anyone think I'll be able to bottle condition this? I have no keg equipment, so I always use bottles. I'm kind of wondering if the yeast will be viable enough to make any carbonation with this thing. The good thing is that I'm willing to be patient and let it take 3-4 months if needed, but I'm not sure if that will be enough.

Any thoughts from those of you who bottle condition high ABV beers?

**smokinghole** · 04-20-2010, 09:03 PM

I'm bottle conditioning mine right now. I just threw one in the fridge to see how it's doing. It's been a month since bottling so I'm not real confident that it has much if any carbonation but I'll let you know.

**smokinghole** · 04-20-2010, 09:53 PM

Damn that was quick and I'm surprised it's carbed this nicely. It's good but has a serious alcohol flavor right now. It should be great by christmas.

2-0turbo · 04-20-2010, 10:08 PM

Smokinghole, what sugar did you prime with? How many volumes did you carb to? Based on what you see above, is it right? Too much? Too little?

**smokinghole** · 04-20-2010, 10:53 PM

I, for some reason did not write it down. I believe I used corn sugar and primed to 2.4 or 2.5 volumes. I would drop it down a tad since I was on the high end and it seems a little too much. Also the pic shows a fairly bad pour into a fresh glass. I used WLP099 for additional fermentation. My wlp001 stalled out and with the wlp099 I ended up at 1.023.

2-0turbo · 04-21-2010, 09:45 AM

I was at 1.026 last week using Wyeast 1272, so I'm sure I'm below that now. So, I don't think mine stalled out. I haven't thought yet about adding more yeast during bottling. That is kind of my unknown at this point. But, if I'm below 1.026 (I'll know in a few weeks when I check it again), my attenuation has been very good. I'm just not sure how many yeast I still have alive in a 12% brew to make more CO2 for carbonation.

**smokinghole** · 04-21-2010, 10:16 AM

My guess is that you'll be fine with that yeast. I do believe it has a high alcohol content. I've never used it but I think that's the wyeast comparable yeast to wlp001, right? If you're worried you can always grab a packet of champagne yeast for bottling if you're worried.

2-0turbo · 04-29-2010, 10:10 PM

I posted my brew session and current status to my blog. It includes some more write-up and pictures.

Apendecto · 05-26-2010, 02:39 PM

I brewed 5 gallons of this bad boy on May 25.

I split it into two 5 gallon Better Bottles and half of a 1 gallon jug. The jug was diluted with water, just to see what a Dark Night of the Soul Stout Jr. would taste like.

May 26 was spent cleaning up brown blow off from my floor and ceiling.

**smokinghole** · 05-26-2010, 02:44 PM

I'll be making a batch again in the fall months. The first time I made it with extract but this time it'll be all grain.

Did your blow off clog?