Imperial Stout Russian Imperial Stout (2011 HBT Competition Category Winner)

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fenners said:
Brewed this up yesterday, with less hops than the original recipe, but the rest the same. BIAB, 5 gallons, hit 1.090 & target (according to beersmith) was 1.094. I can live that :) Used two packets of rehydrated Nottingham yeast.

As soon as I approached my office this morning, I could hear a loud pop-pop-pop coming from my make-shift fermentation chamber. In all my time of brewing with it, I've /never/ heard that sound without taking off the lid + insulation... No gunk in my blow-off tube, but it's been putting out enough CO2 to cause sanitizer to spill out & soak through the cardboard box that the chamber's built from.

Still popping away, more violently than before. It sounds like it's raining outside. Apparently the dog growled at it earlier.
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Despite all that early action, it got thoroughly stuck at 1.040. Tried adding some more Notty & warming it up, no joy. Bought a fresh vial of WLP099, built a 1L starter, chilled/decanted & brought it back up on another fresh 1L of wort, and pitched it all in at high krausen. Solid bubbling for a week, slower bubbling for another three days, now stopped. Took a sample, a hair over 1.020. I can live with that - call it 9.3%? WLP099 is a monster given the circumstances.

Going to let it sit with the new yeast for another week/ten days, then move it to secondary & add some oak cubes I've had soaking in whisky since I originally brewed this back in July :) I need to bottle some for a meet-up in late November and the rest will age.

Question - should I cold crash it before putting it in secondary because of the sheer amount of yeast in it now? This strong of a brew (and amount of yeast in the samples I've taken!) is out of my normal parameters.
 
In my opinion, 1.040 will be far too sweet. Not sure why your original yeast crapped out. What was/is your fermentation temperature? Did you hit it with O2 before pitching?
 
Brewed this yesterday. OG of 1.108. Made a 5.5L starter of wlp002 and its going crazy right now theres krausen throughout the blowoff tube. It should tear through this in no time.
 
ultravista said:
In my opinion, 1.040 will be far too sweet. Not sure why your original yeast crapped out. What was/is your fermentation temperature? Did you hit it with O2 before pitching?
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Ferm temp/o2 was fine, I just underpitched given the strength of the beer. I got it down to 1.020 after repitching a ton of WLP099.
 
What batch size do you guys shoot for with this beer. I was able to get 5.5gal but the wlp002 is fermenting so vigorously that I've lost almost .5gal to blowoff. I made a huge starter and did thorough aerating of the wort since the OG is 1.108-1.110 and it's just going frantic.
 
I brewed a 2.5 gallon batch of this last night with a 2L starter of WLP007. This was my first time using a starter and I was surprised to see that the air lock was bubbling after an hour after pitching the yeast and there was a good 6" of krausen on it this morning. My plan is to make a braggot with this, another first. Gonna add 8lb of wildflower honey on Sunday with some D47 and begin feeding it nutrient like a mead. I hope this turns out. Thanks for the recipe.
 
Made this recipe a few times and love it. The last batch I made I noticed it was a bit too bitter. When I punched the ingredients into brew smith I'm getting 104 IBU's. Could you tell me the specs on your specialty grains that you are using? Not sure where all these IBU's are coming from in brewsmith? Just wondering as well if my LHBS gave me something wrong. Is the chocolate or roasted barley debittered? All the other specs seem to be very close (SRM 51, EOG 1.107).
 
bobski911 said:
Made this recipe a few times and love it. The last batch I made I noticed it was a bit too bitter. When I punched the ingredients into brew smith I'm getting 104 IBU's. Could you tell me the specs on your specialty grains that you are using? Not sure where all these IBU's are coming from in brewsmith? Just wondering as well if my LHBS gave me something wrong. Is the chocolate or roasted barley debittered? All the other specs seem to be very close (SRM 51, EOG 1.107).
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Bottling aging should reduce the IBU's over time. I think 104 is close to the upper limit for the RIS on style. Do you know if BeerSmith is using a "Concentration Factor" in the Tinseth algorithm?
 
I just purchased my first 8-gallon bourbon barrel, and this recipe seems like the perfect one to brew and age in the barrel!
 
I really like the sound of this recipe. I would love to add some toasted coconut and hoping you could offer some suggestions. Add to boil? Primary? Secondary? Would appreciate some suggestions.
Thanks.
 
Have any of you guys had trouble getting this beer to carbonate? I made a 5 gal batch early last summer and bottled it at about Christmas time. Tasted wonderful but would not carbonate. Figured the yeast had died so a few weeks ago I had an empty keg and transferred every last bottle to the keg. It's now been under 10 psi for a couple weeks at 40F and still nothing. Any ideas?
 
Gauges are wrong or broke. Take it up higher (20 psi) for another week.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Purdue22 said:
Gauges are wrong or broke. Take it up higher (20 psi) for another week.
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Gauges are new and working fine. Its been another week and finally getting a little bit of head on the beer when I draw it. Must be because it is so heavy it just doesn't want to absorb the co2 as readily as other beers.
 
Interesting. This is the first time I've had a beer this slow to carb up so just wondered if it was a common issue. Probably just a fluke. Thanks!



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
So if any of you following this thread are trying to decide if this recipe is worth the expense and the time required:

I brewed this beer May 2013 exactly to the recipe given at the outset of the thread. After 4 weeks primary the beer sat in secondary until December when I bottled it. First tasting was in January but flat. (Add some dry yeast to your bottling bucket to avoid this problem.) Moved it to a keg early Sep. 2014. Just drew a frosty mug a half hour ago and found deep, rich and wonderfully smooth beverage. (It could handle a scoop of vanilla ice cream!) Brew it, wait and then enjoy! Every bit as good or better than the best RIS I've had in a bottle or been served in a brew-pub.

Cheers! :mug:
 
Mine's been sitting in secondary since June, with 2 oz. of Maker's Mark-soaked oak cubes. I plan to bottle in mid-Oct to have it ready to serve guests over Thanksgiving. I will be adding some CBC-1 with the priming sugar so I don't end up with flat beer. I've put too much effort into this beer to leave the carbonation to chance.

I can't wait. :)
 
MaxStout said:
Mine's been sitting in secondary since June, with 2 oz. of Maker's Mark-soaked oak cubes. I plan to bottle in mid-Oct to have it ready to serve guests over Thanksgiving. I will be adding some CBC-1 with the priming sugar so I don't end up with flat beer. I've put too much effort into this beer to leave the carbonation to chance.

I can't wait. :)
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I would bottle sooner rather than later if you want it for thanksgiving. Even with adding fresh yeast at bottling mine took about 3 months to carbonate.
 
i brewed this beer on sept. 2nd.
it is exactly one month old. i tasted it today, after sitting at 60 degrees in a slightly carbed keg (adding 12lbs pressure every few days to keep a good seal) and it is WonDerFuL!
it actually has a nice, smallish head and some bubbles. taste is obviously chocolate, dark deep malts and some dark fruits. im going to add bourbon oak chips for about 5 days in say.. 2 weeks. then carb it up for serving by the end of october. there is little detectable heat, and it got a 8.9% abv from wlp007

gotta remember to brew this again, possibly w/ a vanilla bean or two, and some pepper varietals to make a good, warm, winter sipper. think hunahpu's younger cousin?
 
Drinking my first gravity sample after brewing 3 weeks ago, this is going to b an awesome beer. Boozy mines at 10.4% but its going on knob creek soaked oak cubes for atleast 4 months.
 
robertus said:
Thanks for these. I'm hoping to brew a 2.5-gal batch of this to give out as Christmas presents, but I'm only set up to do extract/steeping.

I figure I can brew it up in the next couple of weeks, let it ride a while, then have it bottled and cellar-aging until the holidays. :rockin:
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Brewed up a 2.5-gallon batch right around mid-July. Let it sit in the primary for a month(ish). Been sitting in bottles since. Cracked one open the other day and it was fantastic. Easily in the top 3 beers I've ever brewed (which maybe isn't saying much, but still). Little bit of alcohol bite, but not too bad. Lots of flavors going on.

Should make for a great Christmas present.
 
Another 1st place winner just won class and best of show
ImageUploadedByHome Brew1412460716.875674.jpg
 
Has anyone here tried a blind taste test between this recipe and Old Rasputin, Samuel Smith's or another commercial RIS? If you have I think it would be interesting to hear the results or your take on ours.

We did a blind taste test of these three iterations of the style and found the results very interesting and instructive. And what was most interesting to me was that results were unanimous. To put this in perspective it should be noted that none of us claim to be anything like qualified to judge beer. We're just some guys who like to drink beer and have been enjoying this RIS for several weeks.

We found the Old Rasputin (North Coast Brewing) to be the universal favorite. Smooth and creamy with a very pleasant aftertaste.

This recipe took second place. It was edged out by a little more bitterness, hinting at acrid. Still very enjoyable but noticeably less smooth than the Old Rasputin.

The Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout came in last place. Very little aroma or aftertaste. Almost "thin tasting". What one might expect from a commercial beer.

Cheers! :mug:
 
Puddlethumper said:
Has anyone here tried a blind taste test between this recipe and Old Rasputin, Samuel Smith's or another commercial RIS? If you have I think it would be interesting to hear the results or your take on ours.

We did a blind taste test of these three iterations of the style and found the results very interesting and instructive. And what was most interesting to me was that results were unanimous. To put this in perspective it should be noted that none of us claim to be anything like qualified to judge beer. We're just some guys who like to drink beer and have been enjoying this RIS for several weeks.

We found the Old Rasputin (North Coast Brewing) to be the universal favorite. Smooth and creamy with a very pleasant aftertaste.

This recipe took second place. It was edged out by a little more bitterness, hinting at acrid. Still very enjoyable but noticeably less smooth than the Old Rasputin.

The Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout came in last place. Very little aroma or aftertaste. Almost "thin tasting". What one might expect from a commercial beer.

Cheers! :mug:
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If I could brew an imperial stout that tastes like Old Rasputin, that would be the holy grail. Yeti is another of my faves.

I guess I'll find out in a couple months. :)
 
old raspy is very good.. the samples i have taken (sneaked) of this recipe reminded me of Narwhal.. fwiw. i still have a month or more to age it and then the bourbon oak chips w/ vanilla bean, but it tastes really promising. i dare say this may be my best brew (no offense to the fresh squeezed clone i've done twice :) )
 
MaxStout said:
If I could brew an imperial stout that tastes like Old Rasputin, that would be the holy grail.
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Completely agree. This recipe has all the flavors and aromas to make that cut. It is so close! If I could figure out where that hint at acrid comes from and then learn how to eliminate it this beer would be there.
 
MaxStout said:
If I could brew an imperial stout that tastes like Old Rasputin, that would be the holy grail. Yeti is another of my faves.
Click to expand...

Just saw Yeti for the first time yesterday. It was in a huge beverage store in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. Was picking up for another purpose so left it on the shelf, but now I wish I'd gotten some.

The one thing I've learned from this taste testing experiment is that I probably won't bother making another batch of RIS. I love the beer style but not enough to justify tying up the time, supplies, fermenter, keg and tap for. Instead I'll choose to brew the beers we consume a lot of and when I want an RIS will just buy some of the excellent examples that are commercially available.
 
Puddlethumper said:
Just saw Yeti for the first time yesterday. It was in a huge beverage store in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. Was picking up for another purpose so left it on the shelf, but now I wish I'd gotten some.

The one thing I've learned from this taste testing experiment is that I probably won't bother making another batch of RIS. I love the beer style but not enough to justify tying up the time, supplies, fermenter, keg and tap for. Instead I'll choose to brew the beers we consume a lot of and when I want an RIS will just buy some of the excellent examples that are commercially available.
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Sounds like a good plan.
Before I brew this I would like to try a commercial one to see if I like the style.
I'm Irish but living in the countryside in Germany, so not so easy to find :)
I'll have a look in the English beer store next time I'm drinking altbier in Düsseldorf :mug:
 
Shenanigans said:
Sounds like a good plan.
Before I brew this I would like to try a commercial one to see if I like the style.
I'm Irish but living in the countryside in Germany, so not so easy to find :)
I'll have a look in the English beer store next time I'm drinking altbier in Düsseldorf :mug:
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Since these beers have their roots in England I would think you could find examples to try there. It is an excellent drinking beer, albeit, not a beer I would drink a couple pints of at a sitting. More like a Madeira or good port is to wine.

:mug:
 
Just bottled my RIS. I had it in primary 1 month, then 4.5 months secondary with 2oz toasted oak cubes I had soaked in bourbon. FG didn't go much lower, bottomed out at 1.029, but the hydro sample tasted very good and it wasn't cloying. Good roasty flavor and a hint of the oak. I primed and repitched 3g of CBC-1, as the fermentation yeast was probably toast.

Now to remain patient while it bottle conditions. :)
 
Racked mine into secondary two weeks ago on boubon oak cubes and now the plan is to let it secondary for 4-6 months but I may pull it sooner if it tastes right at any point. I used a monster 5.5L starter and lost .5 Gal to blowoff so there was a ton of yeast, FG stopped at 1.028 before transfer after 4 weeks in primary, should I add yeast when bottling or should there be enough in poss 4-6 months when bottling.
 
Puddlethumper said:
From my experience I would definitely plan to add a neutral yeast to the bottling bucket. This beer will completely use up the yeast pitched for fermentation
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So if I end up with 4-4.5 gal to bottle whats a neutral yeast to use and I'm assuming it'll b a dry yeast so is it also necessary to rehydrate it or can I just sprinkle it right into the bottling bucket.
 
fenners said:
This is not as common a style in the UK as you'd expect. That "over the top" element of RIS is just not a UK thing in my experience, commercially.
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How about Courage or Samuel Smith's? They should be two solid examples that are easy to get. Not sure how close they are to this recipe because I haven't brewed it yet, but they should be in the ballpark.
 
Some are complaining about a slight acridness to this. Has anyone tried replacing half a pound of the roasted barley with de-bittered black malt? I'm curious what effect that would have.
 
olotti said:
So if I end up with 4-4.5 gal to bottle whats a neutral yeast to use and I'm assuming it'll b a dry yeast so is it also necessary to rehydrate it or can I just sprinkle it right into the bottling bucket.
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There were a few posts addressing this a few months back. Don't have the time to look for them right now, but I seem to recall one recommendation for a dry wine yeast or perhaps Nottingham. And I would think sprinkling it dry would work just fine. Perhaps someone else with more experience will chime in with a better suggestion.

Cheers!
 
ja09 said:
How about Courage or Samuel Smith's? They should be two solid examples that are easy to get. Not sure how close they are to this recipe because I haven't brewed it yet, but they should be in the ballpark.
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Samuel Smith's is distributed almost world-wide so it should be available with some searching. However, I don't find it to be a premium example of the style. It does have a lot of the flavor components but lacks the body and robustness (is that a word?) of the better examples.
 
olotti said:
So if I end up with 4-4.5 gal to bottle whats a neutral yeast to use and I'm assuming it'll b a dry yeast so is it also necessary to rehydrate it or can I just sprinkle it right into the bottling bucket.
Click to expand...

I just repitched mine with CBC-1, a dry yeast for cask and bottle conditioning. Jury's out on my beer, but I have heard the yeast doesn't alter the flavor. Repitch with 0.1g/litre, so about 2g for a 5-gallon batch. It works best if you rehydrate the yeast.

Edit: info on the yeast.
 

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