what does starting a beer on an old yeast cake do for you?
Imperial Stout Russian Imperial Stout (2011 HBT Competition Category Winner)
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what does starting a beer on an old yeast cake do for you?
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Gets me enough yeast to ferment this 1.106 OG RIS. Maybe not on the yeast cake (depends on what it looks like), but at least washing the yeast from my dry stout for this RIS.
If you are talking about the recipe posted on the previous page, that one was only modified due to availability from the LHBS. I haven't had any of it due to just making it. I didn't put it one here for another option, but just for feedback.
I would go with the original recipe, it has been proven.
Just brewed this recipe sunday 8-14-11, used a huge starter and hit an OG of 1.100. added the yeast and saw airlock activity almost immediately, thats a first for me. I plan to bulk age this brew in my cellar through the fall which should start in the 60s and by winter be in the low 40s
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing
Do you add any yeast at bottling? Or just priming sugar?
OP
OP
I've only kegged this one, so I can't comment on bottling. You should be fine as long as you make sure to pick up some of the remaining yeast at the bottom when racking to the bottling bucket.
SankePankey
Well-Known Member
Do you think that WPL 007 would be good for this recipe? I know that balance of sweetness is critical in an RIS. I particularly like the dryer kinds like Old Rasputin rather than the super round 'only have a pint' kind of RIS.
From the comments, it seems more like it is on the sweeter side.
I have a Lagunitas Sumpin Sumpin clone (also supposed to be 002) finishing and want to repitch the 007. I just mashed at 2 degrees hotter since the yeast attenuates more. Maybe I can do the same with yours. If yours is sweeter, I'll mash as is.
Thanks for your opinion.
From the comments, it seems more like it is on the sweeter side.
I have a Lagunitas Sumpin Sumpin clone (also supposed to be 002) finishing and want to repitch the 007. I just mashed at 2 degrees hotter since the yeast attenuates more. Maybe I can do the same with yours. If yours is sweeter, I'll mash as is.
Thanks for your opinion.
OP
OP
I'm not sure anyone has tried it with 007 yet, but since it resembles the same flavor profile and just attenuates a bit more, I don't see any real problems. You're right and this recipe is on the sweeter side, so if you knock a few points off with this yeast I don't think it would do much harm. Especially if you prefer them a bit drier anyway. Good luck.
user 84304
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I'm gonna do this one, but a bit modded. *Feverishly goes mad scientist on your recipe* Congrats on the win, btw. Maybe I'll get one of those in my future, haven't entered a competition yet. Cheers!
boilmeimirish
Active Member
I'm not sure anyone has tried it with 007 yet, but since it resembles the same flavor profile and just attenuates a bit more, I don't see any real problems. You're right and this recipe is on the sweeter side, so if you knock a few points off with this yeast I don't think it would do much harm. Especially if you prefer them a bit drier anyway. Good luck.
Marubozo,
First of all, thanks for a great recipe! I can't wait to brew it myself--but I wanted to see what you thought of using 004 instead of 002 on it?
Thanks for any advice.
SankePankey
Well-Known Member
I can't give much report on my success or failure w/ 007. I had a process failure (whereby I include my brain in the term 'process'). I unbeknownst shot my mash temp up to 160 for about 20 mins into the mash. Left the probe out... too sweet.
Maybe I'll leave it in a warmer area to age faster. Maybe I'll infect it. Does anyone know if you wreck the fermentability of the wort if it will ferment more with more voracious sugar devourers (like maybe brett, bacteria, or something...?). OK so this is way off topic, sorry.
On another off topic side note, I didn't love either batch I brewed with 007. What a fluffy MF... For the first time I couldn't sample from my racking dip tube because at it's depth, it was all fluffy cake. Only after crashing could I even sample or rack at all.
Maybe I'll leave it in a warmer area to age faster. Maybe I'll infect it. Does anyone know if you wreck the fermentability of the wort if it will ferment more with more voracious sugar devourers (like maybe brett, bacteria, or something...?). OK so this is way off topic, sorry.
On another off topic side note, I didn't love either batch I brewed with 007. What a fluffy MF... For the first time I couldn't sample from my racking dip tube because at it's depth, it was all fluffy cake. Only after crashing could I even sample or rack at all.
OP
OP
004 should yield good results. Both strains have similar characteristics so I don't think there would be any drastic differences.
CheCulo
Member
I'm getting ready to pull the trigger and brew this. I have never attempted anything this big. I was wondering how much water do you mash with to get the 5-6 gallons of wort to go into the boil kettle?
Thanks
Thanks
OP
OP
I was shooting for about 1.5 quarts per pound of grain, so I think I was a little over 7.5 gallons. But this completely maxed out my cooler. The lid wouldn't even close tight because the mash water was just slightly above the lip. If you've got a 10 gallon cooler you can certainly do it, but it will be a very tight fit and/or you may have to go with a slightly thicker mash.
I used 1.3 quarts per pound in my mash achieving 77% efficiency. That being said I used a long boil and ended up about a half gallon short of my target, I bet if I had used a higher water to grain ratio and maybe even more sparge water I would have ended up with a higher overall extraction.
Just bottled this after 2-1/2 months in primary. Sample was excellent - a slight bit of alcohol bite, which should diminish in the bottle, and a really nice roasty-chocolaty- darkness to it. Very pleasant to drink the sample and am looking forward to cracking a bottle in a few months - should make a nice Easter beer. Thanks for the recipe!
I primary all my beers for at least a month. Bigger beers for usually 2 months. This one got an extra two weeks because I was lazy. Makes for some good, clear beer. Never do secondary anymore with the exception of when I dry hop, just primary
dougdecinces
Well-Known Member
A coworker of mine was thinking about getting into brewing and wanted to brew a Guinness clone with her first recipe. After I bought all of the ingredients and suffered through one postponement, she decided to leave me in a lurch for good and cancel outright, leaving me hold the bag (of grains). Luckily I ran accross your recipe. After buying an extra couple pounds of pale malt and specialty grains, I'll be brewing a 2.5 gallon batch of your RIS instead. And, yes, I am keeping it all to myself.
gluttonoussloth
Member
Just bottled 5 gallons of this last week. I will post a picture when finished and let you guys know how it turned out. Merry Christmas to me. 
Thanks for the recipe! I impulse brewed this one yesterday but had to modify it quite a bit based on what I had on hand (a classic case of "I want to brew NOW and consequences be darned").
I used (in equivalent quantities/IBUs) carafa II instead of roasted barley, wheat malt instead of cara-pils, columbus and saaz on the hops, and 05 for the yeast. Yes, I know much of that isn't to style and will drastically change the final beer, but it was the best I could do on short notice.
The OG came in quite high (1.113!), but it tasted GREAT, and is happily bubbling away right now. I'm very excited about this one and will report back in several months on it's progress. Thanks again!
I used (in equivalent quantities/IBUs) carafa II instead of roasted barley, wheat malt instead of cara-pils, columbus and saaz on the hops, and 05 for the yeast. Yes, I know much of that isn't to style and will drastically change the final beer, but it was the best I could do on short notice.
The OG came in quite high (1.113!), but it tasted GREAT, and is happily bubbling away right now. I'm very excited about this one and will report back in several months on it's progress. Thanks again!
bluehenbrew
Member
This looks great. I am planning to brew it next week. Question about the hops though. I plugged the recipe into Beersmith and total IBUs show 39 which is below the RIS style guideline of 50-90. Is this on purpose? Am I doing something wrong in Beersmith?
bluehenbrew
Member
Thanks discndyno, you were right. I am new to the software. So, after bumping up the boil volume, my IBUs are too high. Tried messing with the hop alpha values and the brew efficiency to match but no luck. I am not too worried about it.
I am thinking about aging it with some oak cubes in the secondary. Any thoughts?
I am thinking about aging it with some oak cubes in the secondary. Any thoughts?
I was thinking the same thing. Just brewed this last night. Followed the origingal recipe to yield 5 gallons to primary at 1.094. The second runnings yielded 5 gallons at 1.035.
For the second beer, I approximated color by inputing 1/4 of the original grain bill into a calculator. My goal for gravity was 1.040. I estimated that 1 pound of DME will increase gravity in 5 gallons by about .009.
Since my gravity was at 1.035 I added one pound DME to the end up with a gravity of 1.044.
The second boil would not need nearly as much hop flavor or bitterness. I went with a 60 minute addition with 1 oz of Serebrianka and a 30 min addition with 2 ounces serebrianka. This would be added to a 1 Liter starter.
I will post the two beers side by side... eventually. I can also give a flavor report on the second beer in a couple months as I predict it will mature more quickly.
blip01
Well-Known Member
Just brewed this yesterday. The wort tasted great. Can't wait til It's ready to drink!
blip01
Well-Known Member
Guess the starter worked. Clogged the airlock and the lid was bulging from the pressure. Nearly had a blowout.
I would definitely recommend using a blowoff tube to anyone attempting this beer.
I had tons of krausen and the fermetation was super active for at least 4 days.
blip01
Well-Known Member
hoplife said:
+1
Hey guys. I plan on making a modified version of this recipe. I made a new thread for the questions I had since it's a different beer. I'd appreciate it if you'd read this and lend any advice you can. Thanks a lot.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/advice-hefty-ris-292603/#post3637925
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/advice-hefty-ris-292603/#post3637925
Brewing this Monday...
I'm hoping to get 10 gallons (total) from a partigyle... but I'm just going to wing the second batch.
Here are all my available hops:
Challenger 7.8% 8.0 oz } These were bought for this
Uk goldings 5.0% 2.0 oz } RIS recipe.
Uk goldings 5.8% 1.0 oz
Uk goldings 4.5% Partial oz (half-ish)
Unknown, partial oz
Cascade 7.5% Partial 8 oz (half-ish)
I'm thinking of just doing a mini version of the hop bill... so challenger for bittering and goldings for flavor on the half-sized stout.
*** Are your AA% correct (in the original recipe) for the Challenger hops? It seems really low... and the Goldings seems high. I wondered if they were backwards.
I'm hoping to get 10 gallons (total) from a partigyle... but I'm just going to wing the second batch.
Here are all my available hops:
Challenger 7.8% 8.0 oz } These were bought for this
Uk goldings 5.0% 2.0 oz } RIS recipe.
Uk goldings 5.8% 1.0 oz
Uk goldings 4.5% Partial oz (half-ish)
Unknown, partial oz
Cascade 7.5% Partial 8 oz (half-ish)
I'm thinking of just doing a mini version of the hop bill... so challenger for bittering and goldings for flavor on the half-sized stout.
*** Are your AA% correct (in the original recipe) for the Challenger hops? It seems really low... and the Goldings seems high. I wondered if they were backwards.
OP
OP
You know, I very well could have punched in the AA numbers in the wrong order. You're right in that challenger would typically be around 7% and EKG should be 5-6%. I don't have any hops in the freezer from that far back to verify, but I would think you are correct.
I don't have access to your BeerSmith file anymore (no longer available where you originally posted it), but when I switched the AA% in mine the IBUs were much closer to what you originally put in the recipe.
In any case, I'm going to just use the listed amounts with the hops I have since it seems to be right in style...
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's brew. The partigyle should be exciting!
In any case, I'm going to just use the listed amounts with the hops I have since it seems to be right in style...
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's brew. The partigyle should be exciting!
Ha! I use a 5 gallon bucket for grain too. Sitting there in my local shop's grain room watching the specialty malts fill up the bucket and nearly overflow was pretty hilarious.
I would skip the chocolate. I just transfered from primary to secondary, and the hydrometer sample was really good. There are a lot of subtle flavors already, I think chocolate might hide some of those good flavors from the malt.
Good call, Ill leave as is. I brewed yesterday, couldnt have asked for a better day. Everything went to plan. Preboil was 1.072 @7.5 gallons and OG was 1.100 @ 5 gallons. Ill keep yall posted!
wdchandlersmith
Member
Would it be fair to switch the 17 pounds pale malt for about 10 pounds of light DME, and then steep the grains and carry on with the recipe in order to make this easier for someone who can't do all grain brews yet? Or am I totally off here?
Yeah, I think this would work out fine. Some might say to skip the car pils if using DME because it is designed to add head on its own. I would also recommend doing a full volume boil so that you can get decent hop utilization, and allow the dme to incorporate a little easier.
