Czar's Revenge

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BarronVonCharron

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This is no clone just my take on a style of beer I have been wanting to make- the Russian Imperial Stout.
Extract - Czar's Revenge

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Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: White Labs WLP550 Belgian Ale
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.115
Final Gravity: 1.030
IBU: 54
Boiling Time (Minutes): 105
Color: 35.55
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 30
Tasting Notes: This shoudl come out sweet and strong, will update when I taste it.



Ingredients are:
.5 lbs. American Caramel 60°L
.75 lbs. American Black Patent
.25 lbs. Roasted Barley
12.5 lbs. Dark Liquid
1 lbs. Honey
2 lbs. Dark Brown Sugar
1 oz. Galena (Pellets, 13.00 %AA) boiled 60 min.
16 oz. Chocolate (unsweetened) (not included in calculations)

After the 60 minute boil, I pulled the hops and boiled the beer for another 45 minutes to caramelize the sugar a bit more. I have been told that unsweetened chocolate would kill head retention but that is absolutely NOT the case. The only issues I have had with the chocolate this far is that it wouldn't all completely dissolve during the boil and it clogged my tube when I was siphoning to the secondary. Please evaluate this recipe and comment on it. I know it will be early still, but I plan on sampling a bottle of this one after a month of bottle conditioning.
 
I'm no expert, but some unsweetened chocolate has wax or other binders/emulsifiers that never cooperate when heated/melted. I've seen some experiments go bad while in culinary arts back in college. Try Hershey's Cocoa Powder when going for the chocolate angle for less surprises.

It looks like a tastey brew. It's a bold move to caramelize the sugar with extra boiling. Have you used that method before? Do you like the taste or is it just for coloring?

It also looks like the flavors could be very complex if aged for a long while. This is an interesting (and alluring) recipe. Let us know how it turns out!
 
I'm no expert on chocolate either, and I read a lot of posts that agree with you that the wax and fat in the chocolate bars vice the powder would kill head retention, but I'll tell you what, the chocolate stout I made that had quite a bit of chocolate has only been in the bottles for a month, and when I tried one yesterday as a test the head was crazy! Not only was there a good amount, it kept it for a while. It was a dark brown, and very dark and tasty. Don't shy away from the unsweetened cooking chocolate, it has worked out great for me on more than one occasion. On the flipside, I have heard that cocoa powder will "fall out" of the beer during fermentation leaving very little chocolate flavor behind, but that's is only what I have heard and to be honest with you I didn't know about the wax in chocolate adversely affecting it until someone mentioned it to me after I brewed with it for the first time...

I like to boil for extra time for both reasons you listed. I like the "darker" flavor and the darker color that it adds.

I plan on aging a good amount of this one for 7 or 8 months- I'm in the Navy and I have a deployment coming up :rolleyes: so it will be easy to leave it alone. The other I made is a Kasteel Rouge clone that should be around 11.5 to 12% ABV so the 8 months should really make it great.
 
Has anyone ever taken a gallon or two of a beer and gone the Eisbock route? I was thinking about doing just that with this beer, but I figured asking about results from others experiments might be a good idea.
 
I've used unsweetened baker's cocoa in my RIS and the head was fine. I hear cocoa nibs are superior. I think the belgian yeast will give it some good funk.
 
I bottled this one on the 6th and it was STRONG. I think that when cooled and carbonated it will be great, but it was very smooth for it's thickness.
 
So about 4 or 5 months ago I got to give this beer a taste and this is what I found:

Before it hits your tongue, you can smell the chocolate, while it's on your tongue it's a wonderful choclatey barley roast that you just want to hold onto for a while. After it hits your tongue it's very sweet and smooth, with an amazing after taste that will stick with you... quite literally.

It's THICK. It kind of reminds me of an icebock because of it's thickness and sweetness, but to be honest I can't compare it's thickness to anything I've tried .
It's STRONG, it's got the alcohol tingle on your tongue but the thick and the sweet make it a warm welcome tingle. The thickness of the beer doesn't let the hygrometer float freely but since the yeast were killed and from the results of drinking this beer I would say that it is very strong
It's DARK. I mean really dark. It passes no light and when swirled around in a glass it clings to the sides.
It's sweet, I think that this is it part because of two things, the first being my lack of hops which was intentional and the early passing of the yeast so they couldn't eat enough of the sugar.

FWIW, I know that the chocolate didn't kill the head because I have made 4 other beers with the same chocolate that retain their head just fine.


It has no head or carbonation, but with all these things that make you say this looks like a failed beer, I can say that sitting around outside roasting marshmallows in December drinking this with the family it was an amazing holiday beer that got lots of great reviews.

The next time I make this I am going to use some turbo yeast to try and attack more of the sugars and may add cloves for more depth of flavor.

-Barron


BTW, I'm nicknaming it Motor Oil.
 
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