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

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SO, just transferred into secondary the batch I brewed about a month ago. In spite of my concerns about water chemistry and the fact that I had to repitch after 72 hours when my initial yeast pitch just sunk to the bottom, the tasting sample was VERY pleasing.

NOW... to wait. The sample was so good, I'm already wanting to carb it up and drink it; this does not bode well for the next four months of waiting.........
 
I just got this carbed up after letting it sit on oak, bourbon, and 2 oz of Sidamo coffee beans for six months. It is unbelievably good and has a beautiful light brown head with just a hint of red color shining around the edges when held up to the light. My wife, a non-beer drinker, loves it.
 
I have been wanting to try this as an Extract since I do not have an All-Grain setup.

What do you guys think of this?

Does anyone have an Extract version of this on Beer Smith they can send me if mine does not look right?
I was looking at doing a possible 90 min boil. If I do 90 mins then the IBU will hit around 73 according to beer smith.

I am now thinking about maybe a 120 min work time. I was thinking of getting a large BIAB - bag and putting all 6lbs of grain into it and letting all the grain steep for 60 mins (151deg F).
Pull the grains after 60 mins - Then bring to a boil and put in the liquid extract along with the first hop addition and then cook for 60 more mins doing the final addition of hops when there were 30 mins left.

Thoughts on that?

Capture.PNG
 
I happen to have a sack of Maris Otter with just over 17 pounds left in it. Would it be okay to substitute the 2-row with that?
 
Entered a version of this that's been cellared for a year into the county fair. Not only was it blue ribbon and best stout but also best in show..... amazing beer
 
Basically same grain bill as original post but subbed northern brewer hops and essex ale yeast
 
My batch is currently aging in a keg in the hallway closet. When (if... hang in there buddy!) I wait until Christmas to carb and tap, is it OK to tap right from this keg? Or is there value to the time/effort/risk of transferring to another keg first?

Thanks!
 
I'm transferring mine to a keg next week to age for 3 months. After that I'll put that same keg on tap. Any sediment will get pulled out in the first pint. You have nothing to gain by transferring a second time to another serving vessel and you could possibly expose it to too much oxygen.
 
Any follow up on water chem or separate mash technique?

There are a lot of people reporting great results with this beer...what are you doing for water? Is anyone steeping/mashing the dark grains separately?
 
Hwk-I-St8 said:
Any follow up on water chem or separate mash technique?

There are a lot of people reporting great results with this beer...what are you doing for water? Is anyone steeping/mashing the dark grains separately?
Click to expand...

If that question was pointed in my direction: There is a BUNCH of info on HBT about this stuff, enough that I fell down a pretty deep click-hole before finally giving up in frustration. I ended up deciding that pH was more important that water profile for final taste, left out the bicarb completely, just tuned the water up with gypsum, epsom, and CaCl and 2% of acidulated malt. With it set like that I just mashed everything together, no separate additions/mashes. Brewer's friend estimated a mash pH of 5.22. I had a bit of a slow start related to what I'm guessing was dead smack packs, but got 'er going with some Notty after that. The tasting at kegging was VERY good. I have high hopes that this may be the first Christmas brew I've planned that will actually work out!
 
Hwk-I-St8 said:
Any follow up on water chem or separate mash technique?

There are a lot of people reporting great results with this beer...what are you doing for water? Is anyone steeping/mashing the dark grains separately?
Click to expand...

I brewed this a little over a week ago, all grain with the whole grain bill going into the mash including specialty grains. I plugged everything into the Bru'n Water and adjusted my mash and sparge water according to the results of the spreadsheet. Seems to have worked really well. I ended with an OG of 1.095 which I was really pleased with given how big this beer is and my own history of pretty sucky efficiency. I pitched two WLP002 Pitch Perfect pouches that were just warmed to room temp (no starter). Since day 1, the fermentation bucket has been sitting in swamp cooler (water + two large ice packs) with wort/beer temp maintaining nicely between 66* and 68*. As of yesterday, it had fermented down 1.039 and air lock is still letting off bursts about once every minute or two. So I'm hoping that I can get down to my 1.026 target before the yeast are completely spent. Tasted the sample that I took to test the SG and it was fantastic. Can't wait for this one to be done.
 
Sounds like we're going to try this recipe for a barrel project. Using some kind of bourbon barrel. Going to use 04 yeast...because who wants to make a starter?

Possibly throw some vanilla beans in the mix as well. Some were talking about adding a tincture of peppers at kegging/bottling as well.
 
So a little more than 3 weeks since this went to primary, fermentation has all but stopped. Water is in now in both sides of my S-bubble air lock where up until this weekend, the CO2 was still forcing the water to one side. It got down to 1.032, not quite the 1.026 I was hoping for.

I will let it ride out the remainder of the week before moving to secondary to sit for another month. Assuming no further fermentation at all from this point, I think I should be safe to bottle with 4 oz of corn sugar and a packet of S04 after another month's time has passed. Or should I pitch some S04 right now while still in primary to get the gravity down a bit more just to play it safe (i.e. no bottle bombs)? And if I do, can I then skip the S04 addition at bottling (assuming there will still be some viable yeast remaining by then)?

I really want to avoid any changes to flavor as this tastes just so damn good.
 
jwolf99 said:
So a little more than 3 weeks since this went to primary, fermentation has all but stopped. Water is in now in both sides of my S-bubble air lock where up until this weekend, the CO2 was still forcing the water to one side. It got down to 1.032, not quite the 1.026 I was hoping for.

I will let it ride out the remainder of the week before moving to secondary to sit for another month. Assuming no further fermentation at all from this point, I think I should be safe to bottle with 4 oz of corn sugar and a packet of S04 after another month's time has passed. Or should I pitch some S04 right now while still in primary to get the gravity down a bit more just to play it safe (i.e. no bottle bombs)? And if I do, can I then skip the S04 addition at bottling (assuming there will still be some viable yeast remaining by then)?

I really want to avoid any changes to flavor as this tastes just so damn good.
Click to expand...
More yeast likely won't ferment anything out more. Might try rousing the yeast off the bottom to try to get anything more out of it. I recommend cask yeast to bottle. This will be better at surviving the high gravity and will only chew on the priming sugar and not any residual sugars (in car it really was the initial year that tuckered out) to avoid bottle bombs
 
Btaz said:
More yeast likely won't ferment anything out more. Might try rousing the yeast off the bottom to try to get anything more out of it. I recommend cask yeast to bottle. This will be better at surviving the high gravity and will only chew on the priming sugar and not any residual sugars (in car it really was the initial year that tuckered out) to avoid bottle bombs
Click to expand...

I gave the yeast a good stir yesterday and it hasn't had much effect. So for bottling, a cask yeast like Lallemand CBC-1 would be recommended?
 
I did a partial mash version of this, bottled after 3 1/2 weeks, and after 3 weeks of bottle carbing its already great. Maybe not fully carbed but still delicious. When bottling, I added a vanilla bean tincture for the second half of the beer in the bottling bucket, then after bottling some of those, for the last 1/4 of the beers I added a hot pepper tincture. I can't wait to make another batch of this!
 
Btaz said:
Yes, cbc-1 works great
Click to expand...

Thanks Btaz

JJ900 said:
I did a partial mash version of this, bottled after 3 1/2 weeks, and after 3 weeks of bottle carbing its already great. Maybe not fully carbed but still delicious. When bottling, I added a vanilla bean tincture for the second half of the beer in the bottling bucket, then after bottling some of those, for the last 1/4 of the beers I added a hot pepper tincture. I can't wait to make another batch of this!
Click to expand...

I plan on bottling 3 gallons as is, then 1 gallon with some cold brew coffee, and the last gallon with a tea of vanilla bean, orange peel, cinnamon and ginger root (basically a holiday stout).
 
jwolf99 said:
I plan on bottling 3 gallons as is, then 1 gallon with some cold brew coffee, and the last gallon with a tea of vanilla bean, orange peel, cinnamon and ginger root (basically a holiday stout).
Click to expand...

That sounds fantastic, please let us know how that turns out.
 
For those of you who have brewed this, have you also tried the HBT Kate the Great clone or any other Imperial Stout recipes on HBT? Just wondering if I should make this one again, because I think it is excellent, or branch out... Kate the Great has several more ingredients and I'd rather not bother with that complexity unless its noticeably different or better. Thanks!
 
JJ900 said:
That sounds fantastic, please let us know how that turns out.
Click to expand...

So after a month in primary and two weeks in secondary, I decided to go ahead and bottle this past weekend. I had a red wine sitting in carboy as well that needed to get bottled, so just did them both. I will say that the coffee version was really good but holiday tea version came out awesome as I sneaked a small taste of each. It was really like Christmas in a bottle. Can't wait to see what this tastes like by Christmas and with some carbonation.

Speaking of carbonation, I knew this batch was just going too smoothly and tasted too good. After I had bottled and cleaned up everything, I went to update my notes in BeerSmith. Looking thru all of the steps, it was like getting a sledgehammer to the head when I got to the step about adding the CBC-1 conditioning yeast. CRAP!!! Even though I had added the flavors and priming sugar mix, I completely forgot about the CBC-1 since this is the first beer that I actually needed to use additional yeast for conditioning. So, 50+ freshly capped bottles got re-opened, a smidgen of yeast added to each, and 50+ recapped. Not likely going to make that mistake again. I know, I know. This is a prime case for kegging. I'll get there some day.
 
I've had this in a keg aging since July 10th. I missed my OG by a decent bit (my first big big beer) so added in pound of local maple syrup. OG ended up being 1.102, FG 1.024 for a nice 10.25% abv beer. Went with the base recipe then added the following while aging:

1 month in: 4 oz Kenyan AA whole beans (light-medium roast) and 2 vanilla beans soaked in Blanton's bourbon.
2 months in: 1 med + toast french oak spiral also soaked in Blanton's

Been stealing drinks from it off an on and it's coming along excellently. Plan to bottle shortly after Thanksgiving to give out as Christmas gifts. Assuming it's as good carbonated I'll make another batch sometime in January to age all year.
 
I've made this twice now, and it has been widely enjoyed both times. My personal preference would be for a little less liquorice and a little more more chocolate and stone fruit in the flavor profile. Any suggestions on adjusting the grain bill accordingly?
 
1 year since bottling and is just awesome the more i wait to test it the more i got amazed with this one, very pronounced sherry notes and a delicious chocolate and coffe flavors , no head, and low carbonation, i have 24 more bottles to test, half will no survive this winter, rest i'll llet them mature more time. :rock:
 
Hi Guys,

Just brewed my 3rd batch of the Yeit (grain) and seem to have some serious astringency issues right out of the gates. I don't believe it's an infection since it was bitter as hell as soon as it was done boiling. Also, although S05 seemed to kick off well, it seemed to stall out after 10 days. I waited until day 14, still at 1.030, I stirred, I raised temps and waited a few more days and nothing. So I ended up transferring to secondary, adding some nibs, vanilla beans and coffee beans and let it sit for a couple of weeks. Still at 1.030 and bitter. It looks and smells great. And tasting the sample, aside from being super bitter, there's definitely the normal beer taste in the background, it's just being overpowered by the bitterness.

So a few days ago, in a last attempt to kick up the fermentation again without repitching, I added 1/4 cup of Simplicity Candi and it kicked up almost right away. I'll let you know if the fermentation helps with the astringency.

My question is, what could have caused the astringency in the brewing process? Here are the details:

Starting Water 3.52 gal Water
Batch Size 2.6 gal
OG: 1.093
FG: 1.030
Atten: 66%
Yeast: US05, full packet

American Two-Row Pale 6 lbs 4 oz
Belgian CaraMunich 4 oz
Chocolate 12 oz
Belgian Special B 12 oz
Roasted Barley 1 lbs
Light Dry Malt Extract 1 lbs
 
Hey guys,
I am planning on brweing this in April-ish, to have it ready around Christmas. Plan is to do a 2.5 gal BIAB batch, bulk age in secondary for 6-7 mos, then bottle. Mix of bombers and 12 bottles (the bombers as gifts to friends, the reg bottles for me self). I've read through the first 20 or so pages, but I haven't gotten all the way through.

Thoughts on water profile? I am using 100% RO water.
Any definitive thoughts in bottling? Re-pitch yeast? Just sugar? I am assuming a Sept bottling with a Dec distribution/ crackin some open to drink those!
Thoughts on Bourbon Oak? I am torn between wanting to just use the OP's recipe vs adding some bourbon barrel oak and maybe some vanilla...
 
AZBeer said:
Hey guys,
I am planning on brweing this in April-ish, to have it ready around Christmas. Plan is to do a 2.5 gal BIAB batch, bulk age in secondary for 6-7 mos, then bottle. Mix of bombers and 12 bottles (the bombers as gifts to friends, the reg bottles for me self). I've read through the first 20 or so pages, but I haven't gotten all the way through.

Thoughts on water profile? I am using 100% RO water.
Any definitive thoughts in bottling? Re-pitch yeast? Just sugar? I am assuming a Sept bottling with a Dec distribution/ crackin some open to drink those!
Thoughts on Bourbon Oak? I am torn between wanting to just use the OP's recipe vs adding some bourbon barrel oak and maybe some vanilla...
Click to expand...

For bourbon and oak I would brew sooner than April if possible. I did a month in primary and then ~12 months in secondary with 0.4 oz/gal medium toast american oak, boiling the cubes for 3 min first, but you totally get some nice oak character by September. I like to add bourbon to taste at packaging, I don't see the benefit of soaking oak in bourbon.

I just kegged mine and took a taste before adding any adjuncts to see what it might benefit from. I'm getting a lot of vanilla from the beer itself so I'm considering cocoa nibs and brandy.
 
AZBeer said:
Hey guys,
I am planning on brweing this in April-ish, to have it ready around Christmas. Plan is to do a 2.5 gal BIAB batch, bulk age in secondary for 6-7 mos, then bottle. Mix of bombers and 12 bottles (the bombers as gifts to friends, the reg bottles for me self). I've read through the first 20 or so pages, but I haven't gotten all the way through.

Thoughts on water profile? I am using 100% RO water.
Any definitive thoughts in bottling? Re-pitch yeast? Just sugar? I am assuming a Sept bottling with a Dec distribution/ crackin some open to drink those!
Thoughts on Bourbon Oak? I am torn between wanting to just use the OP's recipe vs adding some bourbon barrel oak and maybe some vanilla...
Click to expand...

I struggled with the water profile too. I haven't brewed this yet, but I did brew a BCBS clone that's similar color and size, but a bit higher gravity (I just transfered it to a keg to age and it's at 12.8% abv with a FG of 1.030).

For water, here's my brun'n water notes. I focused on reaching a pH in the 5.4 - 5.5 range and used baking soda and pickling lime to get there. With this grain bill, the numbers won't be exactly right, but I'd suggest getting bru'n water if you don't already have it. Also, I used quite a bit of water for a 5.5 gallon batch and did a 3 hour boil. I was trying to help hit my gravity and also get a thicker mouthfeel.

upload_2018-2-15_12-26-47.png
 
anteater8 said:
For bourbon and oak I would brew sooner than April if possible. I did a month in primary and then ~12 months in secondary with 0.4 oz/gal medium toast american oak, boiling the cubes for 3 min first, but you totally get some nice oak character by September. I like to add bourbon to taste at packaging, I don't see the benefit of soaking oak in bourbon.

I just kegged mine and took a taste before adding any adjuncts to see what it might benefit from. I'm getting a lot of vanilla from the beer itself so I'm considering cocoa nibs and brandy.
Click to expand...

Don't see sooner than April happening...hmm, I am thinking I am going to stick with the base recipe, especially since this is my first RIS, and really the first time I've done a beer with this kind of bulk aging.

Speaking of, how much head space is too much in secondary? Would prefer to bulk age, but will probably need to pick up something new to do so. 3g BB carboy work for a 2.5g batch?

Hwk-I-St8 said:
I struggled with the water profile too. I haven't brewed this yet, but I did brew a BCBS clone that's similar color and size, but a bit higher gravity (I just transfered it to a keg to age and it's at 12.8% abv with a FG of 1.030).

For water, here's my brun'n water notes. I focused on reaching a pH in the 5.4 - 5.5 range and used baking soda and pickling lime to get there. With this grain bill, the numbers won't be exactly right, but I'd suggest getting bru'n water if you don't already have it. Also, I used quite a bit of water for a 5.5 gallon batch and did a 3 hour boil. I was trying to help hit my gravity and also get a thicker mouthfeel.

View attachment 558190
Click to expand...

Thanks. I am using BNW, still getting my head around it tho.
 
AZBeer said:
Speaking of, how much head space is too much in secondary? Would prefer to bulk age, but will probably need to pick up something new to do so. 3g BB carboy work for a 2.5g batch?
Click to expand...

I brew a lot of strong ales, typically in 4.5 gal batches so that I can hit a higher OG. I usually lose 0.5 gal to sediment and transfer the rest to a 3 gal better bottle and a 0.75 or 1 gal jug. I find these jugs handy to have around so I can eliminate all headspace, even when I have an odd amount of beer. A bonus is I will often blend or add experimental ingredients to the smaller jugs.

A 3 gal better bottle for 2.5 gal should be pretty good too though!
 
This will be my first RIS so I have some questions about aging and such.

I only keg at this point so would any of these scenarios work?
1) 30 days primary follow by 6-8 months in a secondary and then keg
2) 30 days primary then keg an let it condition.
3) 30 days primary and then screw it...buy bottles as this is the best way to age an RIS.

Appreciate any input.
 
Fenduh said:
This will be my first RIS so I have some questions about aging and such.

I only keg at this point so would any of these scenarios work?
1) 30 days primary follow by 6-8 months in a secondary and then keg
2) 30 days primary then keg an let it condition.
3) 30 days primary and then screw it...buy bottles as this is the best way to age an RIS.

Appreciate any input.
Click to expand...

I would go with route #1 or #2, depends on whether you want to have a keg or carboy tied up for 6-8 months. I'd discourage bottling if you don't have to, since I've had a couple 13%+ beers never carb up in the bottle. Now I keg all my strong ales and use this method to fill a few bottles off the keg:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun.24678/
 
Fenduh said:
This will be my first RIS so I have some questions about aging and such.

I only keg at this point so would any of these scenarios work?
1) 30 days primary follow by 6-8 months in a secondary and then keg
2) 30 days primary then keg an let it condition.
3) 30 days primary and then screw it...buy bottles as this is the best way to age an RIS.

Appreciate any input.
Click to expand...

I do scenario 2 for several reasons. First, it's easy to purge O2. Just connect CO2 and do a few pressurizer/vent cycles. Second, it's easy to draw off samples. Just connect a picnic tap and pour a sample. Also, if you're using a corny and want to psedo barrel age, just vent any pressure, add your bourbon soaked oak cubes (and any other flavorings like vanilla beans), reseal and purge. Again...it's easy to take samples and follow the aging process.

I have a 12.5% RIS aging in a keg now. At 6 months I'll add some oak/bourbon and monitor from there. I did this with a high gravity bourbon barrel aged porter last summer/fall and the results were excellent. I just carbed and served/bottled from the keg I aged it in.
 
newbie question...how do you bulk condition this? just leave it in an airlocked carboy for 6 months? If so, is the yeast still going to carbonate. or do you need to do something else (like keg)?
 
Rod Hobbs said:
newbie question...how do you bulk condition this? just leave it in an airlocked carboy for 6 months? If so, is the yeast still going to carbonate. or do you need to do something else (like keg)?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can just leave it in the carboy. Just keep an eye on your airlock and make sure it doesn't dry out. You can top off with sanitizer solution if need be. It will not carbonate, so you will need to bottle with priming sugar or keg it.
 
Rod Hobbs said:
newbie question...how do you bulk condition this? just leave it in an airlocked carboy for 6 months? If so, is the yeast still going to carbonate. or do you need to do something else (like keg)?
Click to expand...

Purged kegs are great, but you can use a carboy if you take it off the yeast (six months is a long time) and be sure you almost no head space. I personally don't do it.

I like to age in bottles. Less worry about infections, oxidation, etc. And you have the option of opening one now and again to see how it's coming along.
 

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