goin for it - RIS

so i'm brewing up an APA today with 1056 and i'd like to reuse the cake for a russian imperial stout here in a few weeks.

i doubt any hop residue will affect the RIS as i don't normally strain out the wort... however, i do plan to dry hop and normally i just toss them in, should i consider putting them in a bag this time?

i usually follow pitching rates, but this RIS will be around 1.090, so does anyone think that pitching on the whole cake will have any ill effect?

You could use a secondary fermenter to dry hop, then proceed as usual. Pitching right on the cake would likely work quite well since it'll just be like you used a big starter.

good point about the secondary, hadn't thought of doing that...

will i be able to sparge a RIS like usual or will i need a bunch of extra runnings to extract enough fermentables?

Most people assume lower efficiency on their big beers to account for the lower ratio of sparge water to malt. Another option would be to extend your boil, but you will probably spend more on the fuel than you would have on a pound or two of extra malt. You may want to have some extract on hand to give it a boost.

thanks for the tips... i normally get around 75%, what kind of loss should i expect? 5-10%?

So, if i brew an oatmeal stout (5gal) I can just put it on the Nottingham yeast cake from a porter with no ill effects?

HopheadNJ said:

So, if i brew an oatmeal stout (5gal) I can just put it on the Nottingham yeast cake from a porter with no ill effects?

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it kinda depends on the OG of your oatmeal stout... theoretically, you can overpitch with that big yeast cake and cause some off flavors, but i think there are plenty of people that have done what you've proposed with good results.

brewed this monkey up today... accidentally calculated it for a 5 gallon batch, not 6 like normal, so my OG ended up at 1.083. If I can get it down to about 1.019, it should be about 8.4% ABV, which'll be fine. my manifold came off the bulkhead at some point before sparging, so SWMBO helped me dump all the contents out, rehook the manifold and all was good after that... racked my APA off the 1056 cake, swirled it up with the 1/2 gal or so of beer left and pitched all that right into the RIS... i've prepared for an explosion and rigged up a blowoff... looking forward to this in about 6 mos!

The one and only tip i have for a RIS is to boil for at least 2 hours. Get that bastard good and thick. Creat those melonoidans, get that OG up there.

UMMMMM, did i mention i just came from a verticle tasting of bourbon county stout?

you know, i even thought about extending the boil, but elected not to. i guess i'll have to try that next time.

pitched it about 3 hours ago, already bubbling like crazy from the blowoff tube and a 3/4" krausen has already developed...

now at 7 hours, the krausen has almost reached the blow off tube... repitching rules!

android said:

it kinda depends on the OG of your oatmeal stout... theoretically, you can overpitch with that big yeast cake and cause some off flavors, but i think there are plenty of people that have done what you've proposed with good results.

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While I understand how over pitching can cause off flavors I've never experienced anything other ultra clean tasting beer (at least as far as the yeast goes) when I rack my beer right on top of an old cake. I do it all of the time and I think it makes better beer. This is especially true if your not looking for a strong yeast character in your beer (like in a wit for example). To me at least over pitching is so much better then under pitching. BTW I ushally end up with a fair amount of hop trub in my cake and I've never tasted it in the next beer and I usually brew lighter colored/hopped beers.

good to hear... i've read many experiences like yours and have yet to hear anything other than a 'theoretical' potential of off flavors from overpitching... i was pretty darn sure that over pitching wasn't going to be an issue on a beer starting at 1.082... thanks for the input.

The "ultra clean tasting" is one of the biggest problems with overpitching. Beer without any yeast character at all can get boring pretty quickly.

Scimmia said:

The "ultra clean tasting" is one of the biggest problems with overpitching. Beer without any yeast character at all can get boring pretty quickly.

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Well I totally agree. But he did say he was using 1056 which isn't one for much yeast character, I like 1056 when its over pitched (though I like it pitched at normal amounts too). Personally I don't want to taste the yeast in an APA, but to each his own. That's why we brew our own, to have it our way right?

well, there's plenty of other stuff going on in this beer to contribute flavor... and the fermentation got itself up to almost 72 with how vigorous it was, so hopefully there'll be a few esters in there to spice it up.

pulled a hydro sample today, 4 days in. already reached expected FG @ 1.020 (8.25% ABV), of course i'll let it sit on the yeast for another 10 days or so, but the taste was out of this world... i couldn't taste the alcohol hardly at all, i will need to exhibit some major patience to let this thing age for the proper amount of time.