Anyone brewed a Russian Imperial Stout Brewer's Best kit????

Can get that online for around $31, which is pretty cheap for that style.

Has anyone brewed this from them?? Did it turn out well???

Any comments on Brewer's Best kits in general??? Notice most don't give you a yeast option upgrade, so we don't like that!

Thanks.

I have done three BB kits. The only one I did not like was the American Light. I have brewed the Irish Stout, Oktoberfest, English Brown Ale, and the American Light. I was told by the LHBS to just discard the yeast and buy a fresh pack because the kits are not stored in the cold. Hope this helps!

What does the kit come with? What do the instructions say? If it's one can of prehopped extract, you would want to buy another 3-6lb of DME to get you to a high starting gravity, so it can be a true RIS. You probably also want to buy some hops to boost the bitterness and get at least two packs of dry yeast to pitch a big cell count. But if you have to do all this, I'd say just buy a RIS kit from a HB web store, it might be more expensive but you will enjoy the results much more. I think it's worth spending some money for such a strong beer that you will probably age for, at least, a couple of months.

Brewers Best kits are pretty decent kits and come with everything you need. They include unhopped LME and possibly DME, precrushed speciality grains, grain bag, hop pellets, bottle caps and dry yeast. The yeast is a dry yeast (mine was Danstar Nottingham) so should be fine unless sitting on a shelf for a long time. The description is OG 1.070-1.080 and IBU of 50-80 so I don't think you need to add any thing to it.
I have not done the RIS kit but the Red Ale and Irish Stout kits I did were easy to do and made good beer.
BB kits are recipe kits like HB web store kits not a no-boil kit.
Craig

CBBaron said:

Brewers Best kits are pretty decent kits and come with everything you need. They include unhopped LME and possibly DME, precrushed speciality grains, grain bag, hop pellets, bottle caps and dry yeast. The yeast is a dry yeast (mine was Danstar Nottingham) so should be fine unless sitting on a shelf for a long time. The description is OG 1.070-1.080 and IBU of 50-80 so I don't think you need to add any thing to it.
I have not done the RIS kit but the Red Ale and Irish Stout kits I did were easy to do and made good beer.
BB kits are recipe kits like HB web store kits not a no-boil kit.
Craig

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Excellent work CB!!!! Here is what is actually says and comes with:

Brewer’s Best Bold Series TM
Recipe for
RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT*
Yield: 5 gallons
Starting Gravity: 1.070 - 1.080
Final Gravity: 1.020 - 1.030
Alcohol by Volume: 7% - 8%
Hop IBUs: 50 - 80
NGREDIENTS (INCLUDED): EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
6.6 lbs. Plain Dark Malt
2 lbs. Plain Dark Dry Malt Extract
8 oz. Crushed Roasted Barley
8 oz. Crushed Black Patent
1 lb. Crushed Crystal Malt 60L
2 each Grain Steeping Bags
1 oz. Yakima Magnum Hops (Bittering)
5 oz. Priming Sugar
60 each Crown Caps
1 each Beer Yeast

That looks like a good deal, I have never use one of their kits, so I didn't know. Only think I would suggest is buy one more packet of yeast to ensure that the beer ferments completely.

i bought out a stores entire stock of brewers best kits and they were all pretty good and most were a couple years old..i don't use kits anymore and have gone on to all grain brewing in the fall and winter and extract in the spring and summer..all in all BB kits are very good and contain everything needed to make a fine beer..

I've used nothing but BB kits. Never had a bad one. If you want them cheaper, check this site out.

www.leisure-time.com

I made the BB Russian Stout and have been very pleased with the result- big malty/chocolate flavor and nice warm alcohol mouthfeel. I bottled this batch about 5 weeks ago and each bottle over time gets tastier. Great creamy head and good lacing. I look forward to making this again and putting it in a keg.

As far as the BB kits go, I have made about 7 different styles which all came out great. If you want to substitute whitelab yeasts and do some dry hopping you can make some respectable/nice brew. Space and equipment limitations keep me from going all grain right now-- Making different styles of brew and tasting the results is the best part of brewing and these kits have all been winners in my book.

i am rather new to home brewing and currently have the brewer's best RIS kit in the primary fermenter. I'm thinking about adding some cold extracted coffee to the secondary. any recommendations for what kind of coffee to use to maintain good head retention? Also, any thoughts on adding vanilla beans or cocoa to the secondary?

Thanks!

what about wood chips? maybe soaked in bourbon? anyone have any thoughts on that

I hope you used a blowoff tube, thats all I have to say about this kit...

Mine is not bottled yet. Should be awesome.

I just brewed this and I'm getting crazy fermentation. Anyone else have the same experience where it blows the airlock off the top of the bucket. I used the dry yeast and the room temp is 58 degrees.

I have not brewed this recipe but I had a BB Hefeweizen that did the same thing. Revvy hooked me up with a picture of how to brew in a bucket with a blow-off tube. I would recommend searching for it, it's so simple.

I intend to brew a RIS and BB should be as good as any. I will certainly be using a blow-off for the primary fermentation.

I have the Imperial Stout from my LHBS which from the previous post recipe above is exactly the same kit, but mine came with a liquid yeast upgrade. My initial fermentation was quite vigorous, but slowed quickly and stoped at 1.030. I racked to a secondary and fermentation restarted and continues after several days. It's a slow bubble every several minutes, but continues to date.

It developed a krausen in the carboy but never reached the airlock. I plan on allowing it to continue for a few days before racking to a keg and aging.

As for additions, I think I will forgo them as this is my first batch of Stout. Maybe on future brews, I will make adjustments and additions.

Salute!

I just bottled the BB RIS. Haven't gotten to try any of it yet but all the other BB kits I have done have turned out good. This particular kit did require a blow off tube. Used half inch hose on three piece air lock. Then ran the hose into a jar with sanitizer.

We turned this kit into a monster by adding some extra LME and a little honey. We had an OG of 1.11! We used the Nottingham yeast that came with it and added a pack of US-05. Fermentation was definitely violent at the least. This is currently bottled and aging for at least six months.

Mine almost blew the lid off the fermenter, no joke. I caught it just as it was taking off fermenting and the lid had bulged easily over 1" above its normal flat surface.

Mine is bottled now and I am letting it sit.

I have only done 4 batches, as I just started this fall, but 2 of them have been BB RIS kits. The first one I did with the dry yeast in the kit and it turned out very well after a couple months in the bottle. The second one I brewed with 2 smack packs of Wyeast Belgian Abby Ale II, and it just went into bottles after 3 weeks in primary (I'm still debating getting a secondary or not). Out of the primary, this beer has more complex, slightly fruity, but nicely-balanced character. I'm looking forward to drinking it, but am waiting several weeks. The first RIS fermented relatively smoothly, but the one with liquid yeast had crazy fermentation and needed a blowoff hose.

For my next two batches, I'm considering the Northern Brewer Wee Heavy and Nut Brown Ales. If anyone has brewed either of these, I'd love to hear about it.

I recommend the BB RIS.

Jeff

I bottled my Brewer's Best RIS on 1/17 -- can't wait to try it.

I should have used a blow off for this one -- it was very active. Next time I'll know.
I had to clean the air lock several times before it settled down.

The only thing I did different than the original kit ingredients -- I used a liquid yeast and LDME instead of the supplied Corn Sugar.

darkestdays said:

We turned this kit into a monster by adding some extra LME and a little honey. We had an OG of 1.11! We used the Nottingham yeast that came with it and added a pack of US-05. Fermentation was definitely violent at the least. This is currently bottled and aging for at least six months.

Click to expand...

What was your FG? (if it is done fermenting)

Well, for what it's worth, I made an extract BB Irish Stout and dumped a 8oz. bag of Starbucks Christmas Blend into the Secondary just before moving the beer onto it. We let that sit for 24hr and then moved 4g off the coffee grinds to a clean 5g carboy and moved 1g to a carboy onto 3/4oz water soaked oak chips. Turned out to be a very intense coffee flavor and aroma. There is a little bit of a bitterness, but also almost a little bit of a sourness from the coffee that is mellowing with time. The 1g we oaked turned out much better and smoother and the oak is completely hidden.

I just brewed this one last night for my first attempt at brewing. I will have to keep an eye out for the blow off, glad to have found this site, wish I would have found this yesterday before brewing. I do have some questions though. The instructions don't say anything about secondary fermemter, should it be? If so, I'll need to go buy another fermemter pail. Only one came with my kit and I didn't think I should use the bottling pail as a secondary. And secondly, the instructions said to bottle after 3 to 7 days when fermentation stops, then condition for 21 days. From the earlier posts I am assuming those times are a little off. I had read about other RIS's that took months to ferment and then bottle aged for months as well. Since this is my first time brewing I don't want to rush things to much. I did get another BrewersBest English Pale Ale kit to brew next. Sounds like I should have brewed that one first.

Many people do not secondary; they just leave their beer in primary for longer (3-4 weeks). I've done this kit twice, both times with good results leaving it in primary for at least 3 weeks. Bottling early, especially with a big beer, could result in unfermented sugars in your bottles. When combined with priming sugar, your beer could be, at the least, overcarbonated, or at worst, you could have bottle bombs. Letting the beer go for three weeks or so lets you be more sure that fermentation is complete and it also lets the yeast clean up after themselves.

This beer gets better with some aging, but is very drinkable after one month in bottles, in my experience. Longer aging lets the flavors and the alcohol balance themselves out.

I just bottled a Scottish Wee Heavy (8%) this weekend and will let it sit at least two months. I'll probably sample in 3 or 4 weeks to make sure that it is carbing up properly. Patience rewards us with better beer.

I did it. It was at it's best after 6 months in the bottle, IMO.

I've got one of these kits sitting and waiting for a free weekend to brew up. I've been thinking of adding a pound or so of lactose, but am not sure if that would work as well in an Imperial Stout vs. a, for lack of a better term, normal stout. Making a heavy duty milk stout, if you will. I am also thinking that if I do add the lactose, I might take a small part of it (a six pack or so) at bottling and add some chai spices. Any thoughts on these additions to this recipe? Or would those work better in a standard stout and I should just leave the RIS well enough alone?

I just finished bottling this kit. I let it sit in the primary for 2 weeks, and then in a secondary for 3 weeks (with 2 cups of dark-toasted oak chips). The FG was higher than anticipated--1.027. In hindsight, I should have left it in the secondary with an electric warmer for another week, just to ensure a full fermentation. Also, I only used a single packet of dry nottingham yeast--two would have likely been ideal, based on the OG.

But, I bottled it anyways, since I'm going to Alaska for the next 2 months. IMO, a bit of unfermented carbs/sugars add a lot to a beer's flavor complexity, while the ABV suffers only slightly. This beer's going to sit in bottles for another 6-8 weeks. The beer's been bottled for merely a week, but the carbonation's already going on strong, based on what I've seen in my one "tester" PET bottle.

MrGneissGuy, I'd absolutely recommend that you follow through with your ambitions of spice additions. Stouts are all about flavor complexity. Imperial Stouts are the most forgiving beers around when it comes to that--adding lactose and spices will just make the taste and aroma bigger and better, without compromising the dark, malty fundamentals of the varietal.

AFAIK, stouts are all about making your tongue's tastebuds explode in at least 7 different directions. You can't lose, with this kit.

This was my first beer (other then a mr beer kit).

I brewed this bad boy about a month and a half ago. Fermented in my 6.5 carboy for 2 weeks, kegged it, and let it age in that for 2 weeks. It turned out very yummy. Great lacing. I wouldnt call it a russian imperial stout though, i've gotten too use to my Abyss from deschutes i guess. It has been aging nice in the keg and getting better with every glass.

This one is crazy violent during fermentation. I had to clean out my airlock as well, it damn near blew my cork and airlock off! I will definitely use a blowoff tube next time with this guy.

Just brewed the hop scare ipa from midwest on thursday. Excited to see how this one turns out.

Happy brewing.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread. But I recently bought this kit and saw the strong recommendation for a blow off tube with this beer. I was gonna go with just a regular airlock and a drop of fermcap S but I decided to go the blow off tube route. I'm glad I did! I probably would have had a huge mess to clean if I didn't have a blow off tube on my fermenting bucket, even with the fermcap S! Thanks, all!