OFFICIAL Kate the Great Russian Imperial Stout Clone

So when I make Kate, I use 25.15 lb of grain, and mash 1:1 ratio thus 25.15 (approximately) quarts of water. I dough in and stir like crazy. Half way through the mash I stir again, only going to the point of half crazy. I lauter/vorleuf, then batch sparge with 15 quarts of 180 degree water and stir like crazy again. I wait 10 minutes and then lauter/vorleuf again. This has landed me about a gallon extra first runnings that I put into a spare growler and set it aside. I boil, chill and transfer the first beer. Meantime, I had been heating my second sparge of 4 gallons. I rinse the BK, add the gallon of first runnings then lsparge, lauter/vorleuf again. This has led to 4.5 gallons of 1.100 Kate, and 4.5 gallons 1.055 belgian stout. Then the next time I brewed it I got 4.5 gallons of 1.104 Kate and 4.5 gallons of 1.042 Schwarzbier. I hope that helps.

1Mainebrew said:

So when I make Kate, I use 25.15 lb of grain, and mash 1:1 ratio thus 25.15 (approximately) quarts of water. I dough in and stir like crazy. Half way through the mash I stir again, only going to the point of half crazy. I lauter/vorleuf, then batch sparge with 15 quarts of 180 degree water and stir like crazy again. I wait 10 minutes and then lauter/vorleuf again. This has landed me about a gallon extra first runnings that I put into a spare growler and set it aside. I boil, chill and transfer the first beer. Meantime, I had been heating my second sparge of 4 gallons. I rinse the BK, add the gallon of first runnings then lsparge, lauter/vorleuf again. This has led to 4.5 gallons of 1.100 Kate, and 4.5 gallons 1.055 belgian stout. Then the next time I brewed it I got 4.5 gallons of 1.104 Kate and 4.5 gallons of 1.042 Schwarzbier. I hope that helps.

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That's a really good idea, because when I've Parti'ed in the past the second beer has always tasted extremely boring. The gravity is there, but all the tasty flavors have washed away with the first runnings. I like it.

Thanks BB

1Mainebrew said:

Thanks BB

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Looks amazing - need to brew!!!

hbr2547 said:

Looks amazing - need to brew!!!

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You won't regret brewing it at all!

1Mainebrew said:

You won't regret brewing it at all!

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Brewed today - boy - what a day. Issue with extremely slow sparge . Never had stuck but would assume close. Ran out of propane with primary and backup. Almost five gallons OG 1.104 exactly...lets hope the rest is smother!!!

hbr2547 said:

Brewed today - boy - what a day. Issue with extremely slow sparge . Never had stuck but would assume close. Ran out of propane with primary and backup. Almost five gallons OG 1.104 exactly...lets hope the rest is smother!!!

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Bummer! I brewed a Barleywine yesterday and had similar times, my mash got stuck pretty bad. I heated my sparge water hotter than the blazes of hell and soared heavy and luckily the sparge didn't stick. I think my SS braid is shot. 6 hour brew day, and not a fun one. The wife was ticked, I got nothing else done

bottlebomber said:

Bummer! I brewed a Barleywine yesterday and had similar times, my mash got stuck pretty bad. I heated my sparge water hotter than the blazes of hell and soared heavy and luckily the sparge didn't stick. I think my SS braid is shot. 6 hour brew day, and not a fun one. The wife was ticked, I got nothing else done

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My wife was mad too. I'm really curious as to what caused the issue with sparging - never happened before

hbr2547 said:

Brewed today - boy - what a day. Issue with extremely slow sparge . Never had stuck but would assume close. Ran out of propane with primary and backup. Almost five gallons OG 1.104 exactly...lets hope the rest is smother!!!

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Uh oh, at least for the short term it sounds like you might have regretted it, sorry. Hopefully she loves the beer and forgets about the nightmare brew day!

1Mainebrew said:

Uh oh, at least for the short term it sounds like you might have regretted it, sorry. Hopefully she loves the beer and forgets about the nightmare brew day!

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No regrets!!! Just hope it turns out good. I had to dump igloo and pour grains through strainer to collect last 1.5 gallons or so. Hopefully didn't ruin

Ouch

1Mainebrew said:

Ouch

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Just took a reading at a week and four days and at 1.03. Hopefully this drops a bit more before racking to secondary and conditioning.

Don't rack it for like 4-6 weeks. These big beers need their time. You can always make another starter and pitch at high krausen. Nearly guaranteed to finish fermentation.

1Mainebrew said:

Don't rack it for like 4-6 weeks. These big beers need their time. You can always make another starter and pitch at high krausen. Nearly guaranteed to finish fermentation.

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Thanks mainebrew. When you say pitch at high krausen, looks like no krausen anymore. Should I rep itch anyways or just wait a few weeks?

Pitch the starter when the starter is at high krausen. Sorry for the confusion.

Going to brew another 5 gallons tomorrow - hydro sample amazing

I wish I were brewing this again soon. Its just soooooo good!

1Mainebrew said:

I wish I were brewing this again soon. Its just soooooo good!

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some have complained about the levels of flavor from roasted malts and suggested doubling these (i apologize if you were one but i haven't read this thread in a while). did you follow the percentages in the OP? are there any changes you made or special procedures that you thought were important to your results? thanks for any help!

I followed everything by percentage to calculate it then I just added a couple pounds of 2 row to make up for poor efficiency on big beers.

1Mainebrew said:

I wish I were brewing this again soon. Its just soooooo good!

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Yeah, This is definitely a pipeline beer. You gotta make a new batch for the pipeline looooong before the 1st is running low. Specialy if your making 1/2 batches due to such a large grain bill, like me.

gingerdawg said:

Yeah, This is definitely a pipeline beer. You gotta make a new batch for the pipeline looooong before the 1st is running low. Specialy if your making 1/2 batches due to such a large grain bill, like me.

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Well, started the boil and just realized I never added flaked barley. How bad is that and anything I can do?

hbr2547 said:

Well, started the boil and just realized I never added flaked barley. How bad is that and anything I can do?

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There's nothing you can do. You may lose a little mouthfeel but that will be all.

bottlebomber said:

There's nothing you can do. You may lose a little mouthfeel but that will be all.

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Thanks for the quick reply

gingerdawg said:

Yeah, This is definitely a pipeline beer. You gotta make a new batch for the pipeline looooong before the 1st is running low. Specialy if your making 1/2 batches due to such a large grain bill, like me.

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I just brewed this twice in september, I love brewing this beer though

Do you guys use medium or dark oak chips? And how many oz?

this is going to be my 12/12/12 brew

I use 3 oz of Hungarian medium toast oak cubes and its elegant!

1Mainebrew said:

I use 3 oz of Hungarian medium toast oak cubes and its elegant!

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What is the perfect carb level?

10 psi for me. It's a nice thick long lasting head!

So I've just read all this thread over - thinking of doing a run at it of my own... just a couple things.

First, when I put 26 plato into beersmith my OG turns out being 1.112 - a number I didn't see anyone start at in this thread. I really doubt it matters though, but I'm just curious why no one has tried to brew it to its actual OG.

Also, Isn't regular KtG (which I have never had) brewed without port? Rate Beer makes the distinction:
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/portsmouth-kate-the-great-russian-imperial-stout/51898/
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/portsmouth-port-oak-aged-kate-the-great-russian-imperial-stout/83320/

...though BA doesn't. Without knowing the actual question asked, the reference to the Todd Mot answer (from a BA review) can read that regular KtG is oaked, and they also do a special oak/port version.

Either way I'm probably going to oak/port half my 6 gallon batch...It just makes me curious though.

Also found this:

skibb said:

Also, Isn't regular KtG (which I have never had) brewed without port? Rate Beer makes the distinction:
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/portsmouth-kate-the-great-russian-imperial-stout/51898/
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/portsmouth-port-oak-aged-kate-the-great-russian-imperial-stout/83320/

...though BA doesn't. Without knowing the actual question asked, the reference to the Todd Mot answer (from a BA review) can read that regular KtG is oaked, and they also do a special oak/port version.

Either way I'm probably going to oak/port half my 6 gallon batch...It just makes me curious though.

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There is or was a "double oaked" version of KTG. I remember reading that they prepared the port and oak sprials for KTG, and then made an uber small batch that was aged on the remaining sprials.
So, AFAIK both are port/oak aged, but the double oaked KTG is different.
Portsmouth brewery has changed their website, and I can't find the actual info to quote, anymore.

Mine Too!

naiek said:

this is going to be my 12/12/12 brew

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Brewed this in January and bottled at the end of September.
Cracked a couple 22's over the weekend to check for carb and drinkability and this was awesome.
Very port forward, IMO but not in a bad way. Really masked the alcohol heat and made this an almost too drinkable RIS.
The rest will stay stashed till Christmas.

scaled this down to a .75 pilot batch since all my carboys are full and i was antsy to learn whether people's complaints about the roasted malt percentages applied to my tastes

I brewed this on Friday, but somehow I managed to forget to put flaked barley in and I instead put in a second dose of black patent. Boooooo.

That is what happens when i brew quickly with a 7 month old in the room interrupting you.

Have I mentioned that this is friggin awesome!?! Brewing again, and drinking some of the last batch. Have I mentioned that this is friggin awesome?!?

Brewed 5.5 gallons of this yesterday. Hit 1.122 for the OG, which made my brewing partner and I very happy. It's definitely a record for us. We decided to go big to mark our Second Brewniversary.

The taste of the sample was amazing! Fermentation took off in a few hours. I am so excited for this one!

Bonus: we were able to pull off 5.5 gallons of 1.036 stout from a second sparge. By dumping it on a yeast cake, we ended up with a bonus keg of beer for about $3!

Broham1 said:

Brewed 5.5 gallons of this yesterday. Hit 1.122 for the OG, which made my brewing partner and I very happy. It's definitely a record for us. We decided to go big to mark our Second Brewniversary.

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I would like to brew a 10-11 gal of this. Do you mind posting your recipe so I can double it? I havent figured out how to use brewing software to do this for me. Thanks!

Sure. I think I did this straight from the first posts in this thread:

Alexander II

Style: Imperial Stout
Type: All Grain Calories: 388
Rating: 0.0 Boil Size: 6.50 Gal
IBU's: 70.15 Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
Color: 58.7 SRM Boil Time: 80 minutes
Preboil OG: 1.100
Estimated Actual
Brew Date: - 01/19/2013
OG: 1.119 1.122
FG: 1.030 1.030
ABV: 11.66 % 12.05 %
Efficiency: 60 % 62 %
Serve Date: 12/30/2013 / /

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
19.00 lbs 69.09 % Pale Malt (2 Row) US 60 mins 1.036
0.50 lbs 1.82 % Crisp Crystal Light 45L 60 mins 1.035
0.25 lbs 0.91 % Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L 60 mins 1.033
0.25 lbs 0.91 % Chocolate Malt 60 mins 1.028
0.25 lbs 0.91 % Briess 2-Row Black Malt 60 mins 1.033
0.75 lbs 2.73 % Weyermann Carafa III 60 mins 1.036
0.75 lbs 2.73 % White Wheat Malt 60 mins 1.040
0.75 lbs 2.73 % Barley, Flaked 60 mins 1.032
0.75 lbs 2.73 % Special B Malt 60 mins 1.030
0.75 lbs 2.73 % Aromatic Malt 60 mins 1.036
3.00 lbs 10.91 % Dark Dry Extract 60 mins 1.044
0.50 lbs 1.82 % Roasted Barley 60 mins 1.025

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
2.00 ozs 64.27 Columbus (Tomahawk) 75 mins 14.00
1.00 ozs 5.89 Styrian Goldings 15 mins 5.40

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
3.00 pkg Safale US-05 Fermentis US-05

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
0.75 oz Oak Chips 24 weeks Secondary
1.00 each Whirlfloc Tablet 15 mins Boil

Mash Profile
Light Body Infusion 45 min @ 149.0°F
Add 24.50 qt ( 1.00 qt/lb ) water @ 169.3°F
Sparge
Sparge 16.24 qt of 180.0°F water over 60 mins

Notes
Secondary: rack onto 3/4 oz of medium toast American oak cubes that have soaked in Port for a month.

www.iBrewMaster.com Version: 2.833



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Fourth batch is now on tap... I can't wait until its carbonated next week!