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

CornyKegs 728
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Almost forgot about this one. It's been hiding in the corner of my basement since 11/18/14. Gonna be tasty I'm sure.
 
Is it really necessary to rack this to the secondary? I never really use a secondary anymore, but being this one is aging a little longer than my typical brews I thought I'd ask. I plan on kegging it at the 3 month mark.
 
Not nessesary if you have an extra keg for aging. Kegs are ideal for keeping out light and oxygen. Just let it age in the keg a few months before serving or bottling.
 
ja09 said:
Not nessesary if you have an extra keg for aging. Kegs are ideal for keeping out light and oxygen. Just let it age in the keg a few months before serving or bottling.
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I was contemplating that as well. Should I add priming sugar and bulk age, or skip the priming sugar?
 
Brett3rThanU said:
I was contemplating that as well. Should I add priming sugar and bulk age, or skip the priming sugar?
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Whether you prime in the keg or even rack to the keg instead of a carboy is your call. I think whatever you decide to do, you need to rack off the primary yeast if you're letting it sit for 3 months. May not have any negative effect but why risk it when its easy to avoid.
 
I've personally been aging this in a keg without priming sugar for the last 8 or so months. Plan on doing a couple 1g experiments and bottling the rest with a beer gun. For priming I've had good luck with prime dose capsules, although a lot of people haven't. I think it depended on when/where they were made.
 
I'm looking to tranfer mine to a keg for aging as well.
Will a keg stay sealed without constant co2 pressure on it ?
I would think the beer would absorb some co2 therefore losing the seal?
I could be wrong though seeing as I've never aged in a keg, but have plenty of extras to do so.
 
Beer doesn't absorb co2 very well at room or cellar temps, so if your keg holds pressure it should be fine. Mine is still pressurized after 8 months sitting around 65-70*. Make sure to purge well and seal the lid with around 30 psi. I then drop it down to 10 or so, not sure what others do. Go Cuse.
 
ja09 said:
Beer doesn't absorb co2 very well at room or cellar temps, so if your keg holds pressure it should be fine. Mine is still pressurized after 8 months sitting around 65-70*. Make sure to purge well and seal the lid with around 30 psi. I then drop it down to 10 or so, not sure what others do. Go Cuse.
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Thanks good to know.
 
I bottled this beer in april after 2 months of fermentation. So its now about 7 months since i brewed it. It was excellent right from the start and its been getting even better every month. Its now becoming very complex and everyone loves it, it tastes licourice, coffe, chocolate and is very creamy with a big grey head! Im definititely brewing this again soon!
 
I just brewed this on Monday. This will be the 3rd time I've made it. Everyone loves it. I plan to primary it for 3 weeks to a month, then secondary for like 4 months before even considering serving it. Definitely well worth the wait in my opinion. From brew to glass last time was 6 months and was awesome. I agree this one gets better with age, because I would taste a bottle as much as a year later and it's amazing. Only difference I made this time was using S-04 yeast instead of WLP-002 as I usually do. Looking forward to seeing any differences in the final product. Cheers!

:mug:
 
Wreck99 said:
I just brewed this on Monday. This will be the 3rd time I've made it. Everyone loves it. I plan to primary it for 3 weeks to a month, then secondary for like 4 months before even considering serving it. Definitely well worth the wait in my opinion. From brew to glass last time was 6 months and was awesome. I agree this one gets better with age, because I would taste a bottle as much as a year later and it's amazing. Only difference I made this time was using S-04 yeast instead of WLP-002 as I usually do. Looking forward to seeing any differences in the final product. Cheers!

:mug:
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I tried making this but with cascade and us-04 but that one didnt attenuate enough so i ended up with some really heavy stout. Im really interrested in hearing about how it works out for you. its easier and cheaper to use the us-04 instead of ordering that liquie fullers yeast...
 
Does anyone know what temp the OP fermented at? Did he go through a temp profile? In other words, stepped up the temp gradually while in primary?
 
Any chance I can add some oats to make this an oatmeal russian imperial stout?
 
schach23 said:
Any chance I can add some oats to make this an oatmeal russian imperial stout?
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Please don't take offense. I'm really not calling you out individually, but I see this question posted on HBT all the time, and it kind of irks me. The obvious answer is "it's your beer. You can add or subtract any ingredient you like. It will be a different recipe, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, or a good thing."

When I set out to make my own RIS, I took this recipe, a recipe for Kate the Great in another thread, and an article from BYO on brewing an RIS. I compared what was similar, and what was different in each recipe, then I researched the differences, and decided which ingredients I wanted in MY beer, and in what ratios. I would suggest if you don't want to make this exact beer, that you do the same. Look at other recipes for oatmeal stouts and compare them to this, then look into what impact the different ingredients have on a beer. Only include those ingredients in YOUR beer that give you the qualities you want.

Or you could just brew this recipe and throw in some oats to see what happens. Unless someone else has done that exact thing, any answer they give you is just a guess or their opinion. How do you know the person who says "yeah, do it, it will make an awesome Oatmeal RIS!" knows what they are talking about? Much better to try and understand for yourself what it is about each ingredient that impacts how your beer turns out.
 
Just for the record, threw about 3 oz of American oak chips that had soaked in Coconut Rum for about 6 months in a keg of a slight variation of this for ~72 hours. Phenomenal.
 
TxBigHops said:
Please don't take offense. I'm really not calling you out individually, but I see this question posted on HBT all the time, and it kind of irks me. The obvious answer is "it's your beer. You can add or subtract any ingredient you like. It will be a different recipe, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, or a good thing."



When I set out to make my own RIS, I took this recipe, a recipe for Kate the Great in another thread, and an article from BYO on brewing an RIS. I compared what was similar, and what was different in each recipe, then I researched the differences, and decided which ingredients I wanted in MY beer, and in what ratios. I would suggest if you don't want to make this exact beer, that you do the same. Look at other recipes for oatmeal stouts and compare them to this, then look into what impact the different ingredients have on a beer. Only include those ingredients in YOUR beer that give you the qualities you want.



Or you could just brew this recipe and throw in some oats to see what happens. Unless someone else has done that exact thing, any answer they give you is just a guess or their opinion. How do you know the person who says "yeah, do it, it will make an awesome Oatmeal RIS!" knows what they are talking about? Much better to try and understand for yourself what it is about each ingredient that impacts how your beer turns out.
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Sorry to have 'irked' you.
 
I actually got a lot out of what was posted and I agree with him. Was simply looking for something back like yeah you can do that to make that. Or if you do that keep an eye out for ...... I'm a new Brewer came here looking for recipes since I'm still finding my way. Lots of people make other people's recipes. I've looked for a while for some recipes for an oatmeal RIS wasn't sure how to go about it.

Gotta say that I'll now have to be more careful of my future posting even though it was prefaced to not take it personally. Hard not to.
 
schach23 said:
I actually got a lot out of what was posted and I agree with him. Was simply looking for something back like yeah you can do that to make that. Or if you do that keep an eye out for ...... I'm a new Brewer came here looking for recipes since I'm still finding my way. Lots of people make other people's recipes. I've looked for a while for some recipes for an oatmeal RIS wasn't sure how to go about it.

Gotta say that I'll now have to be more careful of my future posting even though it was prefaced to not take it personally. Hard not to.
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It is what it is. I've considered brewing an imperial oatmeal milk chocolate bourbon barrel stout before, but I'm lazy about recipe design and folks here have done all the work to make excellent beer.
 
schach23 said:
Any chance I can add some oats to make this an oatmeal russian imperial stout?
Click to expand...

There's already dextrine malt in the OP's recipe, which adds body and head-retention. But some oatmeal--maybe a half pound or so--will add a little silkiness to the beer. Or you could try some lactose for an "imperial milk stout." Here's a good article about milk stouts, from which you could glean some ideas.
 
Everyone loves this stout!

image.jpg
 
Wreck99 said:
Didn't see an answer on this, so figured I'd try to post again as it probably got lost.

I'll be brewing this beer as recipe again this week. I made this beer last year. It turned out great, but without any head. Any suggestions on how to correct that? FG was 1.030 when bottling. I did primary for a month and secondary/aging for another 3-4 months before bottling. Should I repitch some yeast at bottling? Add more priming sugar next time?
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Has anyone got back to you on this yet?
 
Made this recipe last year in November, bulk aged in the carboy for approximately 6 months after transferring to secondary. Great RIS, not disappointed one bit. Everyone loves it, will make again this coming November.
 
abbysdad2006 said:
Has anyone got back to you on this yet?
Click to expand...

abbysdad2006 said:
How would someone go about doing that?
Click to expand...

I've been doing a bunch of research on this topic. What I'm finding is that these big beers will sometimes take a long time to carb up properly. Mine was only in primary and secondary for 10 weeks before I bottled, AND I added more yeast at bottling time. Still not carbed up after two months in the bottle. I'm going to keep checking it a month at a time until it's ready. Just gotta have patience.

Here's a thread I started on this topic with some additional info:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=548555
 
TxBigHops said:
I've been doing a bunch of research on this topic. What I'm finding is that these big beers will sometimes take a long time to carb up properly. Mine was only in primary and secondary for 10 weeks before I bottled, AND I added more yeast at bottling time. Still not carbed up after two months in the bottle. I'm going to keep checking it a month at a time until it's ready. Just gotta have patience.

Here's a thread I started on this topic with some additional info:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=548555
Click to expand...



Thanks for the info
 

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