Imperial Russian Stout

Well the Brown Ale is finished in primary, so I will have to rack in the morning. And that would leave a carboy empty, we couldn't have that!!!! So I went today and bought an Imperial Russian Stout extract kit says 8%ABV but I picked up 2 pounds of Amber DME so it should end up a tasty9.5 or better!!!!! Going to try to brew in the morning after clean up!!!

I suggest you also buy another carboy - because a RIS takes a long time to age.

Thanks for the heads up on that one!!! I love RIS, so I figured why not brew on for my second brew! Yeah I was thinking of aging in keg, free up carboy faster for another brew.

And make sure you pitch plenty of yeast! I tried an imperial stout as my second brew and ended up with a stuck fermentation. If you're going to get 9.5ABV out of that, you're going to want to make a starter.

cool thanks doc! can't wait to get my beer on tap instead of AB's

brrman said:

I suggest you also buy another carboy - because a RIS takes a long time to age.

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While it's true that you should wait a few months before drinking this you don't need to age it in a carboy. I would age it in kegs (which sounds like your plan) or bottles instead.

Bottles are a pain in the A$$, from what I hear. I am sticking to the kegs. Just finished racking the brown ale to keg. I do have one proble though. I need a new kegerator with more room!!!! .

Good luck. Pitching plenty of yeast is always good. In my RIS I pitched 4 packets of rehydrated Nottingham. Blowoff in less than 12 hours (I woke up to it). Yes I began to hate bottling more and more every time I did it. It wasn't bad at first, but after bottling 10gal a few times, it got annoying. I now have 6 kegs, however, I plan to still bottle certain batches. I would definitely bottle a RIS, but that's just me. I'm waiting for mine to age a few more months in bottles before I try it again. I'm probably going to bottle my Foreign Extra Stout I have in primary now.

Just finished brewing and but in the carboy. I think I might have a problem. The kit (Brewer's Best Bold Russian Imperial Stout)
6.6 lbs Plain Dark Malt Estract
2lbs Plain Dark Dry Malt Estract
8 oz Crushed Roasted Barley
8 oz Crushed Black Patent
1 lb Crush Crystal Malt 60L
1 oz Columbus Hops
1 Beer Yeast
I add 2lbs Plain Amber Dry Malt Estract on recomendation of HBS, to get to a 9.5%ABV

Kit stated a stated starting gravity of 1.070 - 1.080. I took mine and it was only 1.040, should I be concerned? AM I going to meet my mark of a 9.5%ABV? I know relax and just let the beer do it thing. But is it normal to get a reading that low?

If you added all those ingredients, you should end up with a starting gravity of around 1.090. With extracts, it's pretty near impossible to be too far off, and you have enough extract in there to ensure a gravity well above 1.040, even if you didn't get any extraction from the steeping grains. My guess is that you did a partial boil and then added an additional 2-2.5gal of water on top of your wort once you got it in your fermenter. If that's the case, you probably just got a gravity sample that wasn't well mixed. It should be fine.

Took a gravity reading last night 1.033 put an air lock on it and it is still bubbling a little. Hoping to rack to secondary on Thursday, free up one of my 6 Gallon carboys. That way I can do two brews!!!!

Up date on the RIS, I did the secondary for 2 weeks and put in a keg to age. The plan was to let it age until Thanksgiving. After a really sucky day (work ing 2 hours over my shift, mothers house flooded, and lack of sleep) I decided to get a cigar and tap the keg. Well let tell you it is great!!!! I wish I could have waited but after today I needed a good Home Brew!!! Working on number 2 right now and it is still WOW freaking awsome!!!!!

Also I am working the kinks out of my mash tun, getting ready to brew this weekend.

Thank you all for all the help and support that has let me start enjoying good brew with out having to go to the store!!!!