08-08-08 Russian Imperial Stout Exchange

paulthenurse said:

...How about you just PM the three who haven't stepped up yet to save yourself from waiting?...

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Good idea...

Of course if I recall, we're mailing sometime in May(ish)?

I know my batch is happily resting away in the keg in my 45 degree garage.

chriso said:

Down to 3 more people. Brewpastor, McKBrew, and LouT. Sending reminder PMs now. As soon as these 3 come in, we are ready to distribute lists! Exciting!

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Did already. Received email from McKbrew, thanks very much. 2 to go.

BM, Shipping during month of April. By the end, not in May (Except possibly if drawing Poindexter, who will be in the middle of a move at that time. Details to follow, for whoever draws his name. )

chriso said:

...BM, Shipping during month of April....

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Cool. Better get to "cleaning" a corny out to make room in the fridge to get that batch carb'd up.

Kinda put the swap in the back of my mind, but here's my place holder for safe keeping. BTW, I love this beer

TerapinChef said:

Kinda put the swap in the back of my mind, but here's my place holder for safe keeping. BTW, I love this beer

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You drank it already? I keep resisting the urge to try it, but the original plan was to drink on 8-8-8, so I'm trying to hold out.

McKBrew said:

You drank it already? I keep resisting the urge to try it, but the original plan was to drink on 8-8-8, so I'm trying to hold out.

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I have no patience for sampling beers as they condition. I have already had a couple. They are even better than my first RIS which "was" my favorite beer. This beer has almost no alcohol taste but a great chocolate flavor. Its wonderful. :rockin:

Good thing we are shipping in April or I may not have enough bottles to meet my requirements.

Craig

CBBaron said:

I have no patience for sampling beers as they condition. I have already had a couple. ...

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You dirty dog...

I have mine in the keg, in the garage (45 degrees), under a shelf. I figure it's safe from me there.

My problem will be when I drop it into the keezer to force carb and actually have it on tap.

I'm sure I'll have to "taste" to make sure I'm not shipping crap. Maybe I'll take some tasting notes (BJCP judging style) and pull those notes out on 08-08 when the "official" tasting is underway and compare taste differences.

McKBrew said:

You drank it already? I keep resisting the urge to try it, but the original plan was to drink on 8-8-8, so I'm trying to hold out.

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I had a bottle at my club brew last weekend. People loved the stuff.

I sent a few bottles to a local competition. Got points off for low bitterness and being immature but still got a respectable score. (39) This stuff will only get better.

Wish I could have let the judges know the whole 888 thing. Not that the 88 IBU thing would have changed their opinion any, it is still a bit light on the IBU's for the style but...

Same thing on the immaturity.
(Imaginary conversation with the judges...)

'Ya, but it was brewed on Jan 29th to be opened on 8/8/08..."
"Then why did you submit if for judging 5 months early?"
"Uhhh, cause I was curious what you would think?"
"We think it should have waited till August."

PTN

paulthenurse said:

I sent a few bottles to a local competition. Got points off for low bitterness and being immature but still got a respectable score. (39) This stuff will only get better.

Wish I could have let the judges know the whole 888 thing. Not that the 88 IBU thing would have changed their opinion any, it is still a bit light on the IBU's for the style but...

Same thing on the immaturity.
(Imaginary conversation with the judges...)

'Ya, but it was brewed on Jan 29th to be opened on 8/8/08..."
"Then why did you submit if for judging 5 months early?"
"Uhhh, cause I was curious what you would think?"
"We think it should have waited till August."

PTN

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Yeah, i got the same comment on the IBU's fro some BJCP guys at the club.

The 88 IBUs is well within the parameters for the style and will mellow with age. Ray Daniels (I think) has this beer at the 1/1 range between OG and IBUs (1.088/88 IBUs). It will mellow well. It is like a Barleywine, if it tastes balanced when it is young it will not be balanced when it is of age.

paulthenurse said:

I sent a few bottles to a local competition. Got points off for low bitterness and being immature but still got a respectable score. (39) This stuff will only get better.

Wish I could have let the judges know the whole 888 thing. Not that the 88 IBU thing would have changed their opinion any, it is still a bit light on the IBU's for the style but...

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I'm not sure I understand the low bitterness thing. This beer is 88 IBUs and a 1/1 OG/IBU ratio. Thats high for everything except an IIPA. According to the guidelines:
Vital Statistics: OG: 1.075 – 1.115
IBUs: 50 – 90 FG: 1.018 – 1.030
SRM: 30 – 40 ABV: 8 – 12%
This beer is medium low on OG and ABV but high side of IBU.

I was surprised how mine seemed to lack alcohol flavor but I consider that a plus not a negative. I think this one could really sneak up on you.

Craig

Maybe we are experiencing the "Imperial" effect. So many beers are being pushed to the extreme on hopping that maybe that is becoming what is expected. Stone Imperial Stout is an example of this. I love the beer but it is definately hoppy.

I have often had judges who judge with an expectation that only represents on aspect of the style guidelines. Last year my RIS at the nationals was dinged for not being roasty enough, but it definately had roast character and I would say feel easily within the style guidelines.

Comps are a game anyway. I like to play the game, but I still believe it is a game.

Biermuncher....if I was aging in a keg I would never drink green beer....as it is it is just too easy to say "It's only been three weeks, but it's only one bottle, just to see how it tastes now...."

As it was I intentionally put 6 of these into Gulden Drak bottles so I could tell myself I was just having "a little one" as a sampler. The plan was for one a month, but I've already had three...I'll just have to space them out nice.

Agreed about the comps. A beer can be 'dead on' in a style and get hammered by the judges. The 888 didn't get hammered at all, in fact for a 3 month old RIS I think it did quite well. I submitted a beer that I knew wasn't really ready. I did it just to satisfy my curiosity. In the end the judges confirmed what I thought about the beer. They see a snapshot of the beer in time and can only assume that it is at it's peak and is where the brewer wants it to be. Those of us who brewed this beer on the 888 schedule know it's not there yet, but the judges comment certainly indicate that it's getting there, and that it will be quite ncie when it does.

TerapinChef said:

Biermuncher....if I was aging in a keg I would never drink green beer....

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Trust me...if there were a cobra tap anywhere in sight...this keg would have been sampled by now.

AS it is, parking it in a dark corner of the garage was an intentional move.

THough these sampling posts are making me thirsty.

I would like to enter this into a comp at my club, but need to re bottle into 12 oz. bottles. i am carbed pretty low per guidelines as is. What would you suggest as my best and easiest strategy for re bottling?

KD

i kinda want to sample one of these...ooooohhh....no, i can wait at least until month 4.

WOW this got active all of a sudden! Glad everyone's taste samples are going well!!!!!

I haven't cracked a single bottle of mine yet. The downside to splitting my batch 1/2 raspberry is that I only have 24 bottles of RIS. Subtract 6 for the swap, and I'm already at danger levels!!! I need to take an FG on the Brettanomyces Raspberry RIS and see how it's doing. I want my fscking bukket back, I want the bugger into bottles ASAP.

Does Campden kill Brett too? Because in order to prevent bottle bombs from ongoing Brett fermentation, but to still enable me to bottle it now, I was thinking hit it with Campden, keg, force carb, wait a week to stabilize, then BMBF it. Crazy idea?

Anyways. Regarding the list, I have everyone's address except LouT. His profile sez " Last Activity: 01-26-2008 07:08 PM " so he may be M.I.A. but I will try sending him one more PM. With that exception, the list will be ready to mail out very, very soon. Stay tuned for more info!!!

CBBaron said:

I was surprised how mine seemed to lack alcohol flavor but I consider that a plus not a negative. I think this one could really sneak up on you.

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That's exactly what I love about Old Rasputin, and I hope one of the things I'm going to love about this RIS too.

chriso said:

That's exactly what I love about Old Rasputin, and I hope one of the things I'm going to love about this RIS too.

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Old Rasputin was good but I think this one is better even young. It may even be better than my favorite beer BORIS the Crusher from Hoppin Frog. Come August I may have to do a side by side. Ofcourse that will require friends because BORIS only comes in 22oz and I will have 4 versions of 08-08-08 to compare.

Craig

chriso said:

... I was thinking hit it with Campden, keg, force carb, wait a week to stabilize, then BMBF it. Crazy idea?
...

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I'm BMBF'ing mine. I'm not dealing with the brett though. YOur plan sounds plausible.

Well, I floated a keg last night in the ole keezer...so I reckon it's time to gas up the RIS.

My goal is to gas it. Sample it. Then get it off the liquid line until I'm ready to bottle it up. If I have a 9% stout on tap, my productivity levels will plummet. :cross:

Chriso,
you got the list yet?

Mine is getting bottles today. It's been sitting inthe secondary now for about 2 months.

Moved my keg to the chiller last Thursday and put on the gas. Walked down to the brewshop this AM and found my 2 # tank is empty...DOH ! ! ! .

Oh well. Been going strong since July. I prolly got 60+ kegs out of that tank.

It's off to Airgas on Monday at lunch time.

ALL PM'S ARE SENT.

IT'S GO TIME. WOOOO HOOOO!

Reminder, ship by April 30, and if you use 12oz bottles, include at least 2 RISes and 2 whatever-you-wants. Complete details in the PM I sent out.

Time to drink, m'fers. Peace out.

I just bottled mine today. As soon as they're carb'd up they're going out. Everyone's getting 22's from me. I can say it tastes great and pairs well with chocolate.

chriso said:

ALL PM'S ARE SENT.

IT'S GO TIME. WOOOO HOOOO!

Reminder, ship by April 30, and if you use 12oz bottles, include at least 2 RISes and 2 whatever-you-wants. Complete details in the PM I sent out.

Time to drink, m'fers. Peace out.

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Thanks Chriso.

Did you use the excel random name generator thingy?

Yeah, and it helped a ton, but it kinda borked again. I didn't input data exactly as I should've, I was deleting cells and rows all over the place... user error, i figure... it only took a few seconds longer to copy/paste the rows manually, but it worked really well... about 50 minutes for 30 PMs. Not bad at all. Thx again for the hook up on that

I got my list. Should be mailing on Sat.

Evets said:

I got my list. Should be mailing on Sat.

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I PM'd everyone letting them know when to expect theirs.

I can't, in good conscience, send out a product I've yet to sample. So, I chilled an 888 tonight, despite my insistence that I'd wait till August, and poured it into one of my recently acquired Mikasa beer glasses (the fat tulip one). To my dismay, it was BARELY carbonated. There was a hiss when I opened the bottle, but the beer poured with no head, and it was nearly flat. Due to the long clearing period and high ABV, I knew this was a possibility. I also primed for slightly less than 2.0 volumes, but I did add some Nottingham when bottling. I estimate less than 1.0 volumes of carbonation - just enough to hint at CO2.

I'm not going to give any tasting notes because I want honest feedback, but the high ABV and some of the strong flavors I'm getting sort of lend themselves to a nearly still beer (dare I say, like Utopias?). I'm really enjoying it, even mostly flat, which leads me to my dilemma:

Do I attempt to fix it, or do I send it out as is? I have no equipment on hand, but EdWort is a short drive away, and he could help if I choose to uncap each bottle, sprinkle in a few grains of dry champagne yeast, and recap.

I think I run the risk of overcarbonation (probably not bottle bombs) should I attempt to fix the issue, and this beer definitely lends itself to undercarbonation vice too much. Also, the beer has only been bottled for a month (to the day), and it might continue to carbonate slowly over the course of the next few months.

So, if you were the recipient of my beer, would you rather have me try and fix it, or leave it as is? I'm leaning toward shipping it as is, but if the response is strongly toward attempting a fix, I can be persuaded. Either respond within this thread or PM me as you see fit. I'm open to suggestion, with my aforementioned bias.

EDIT:
I'm NOT asking HOW to fix the "problem"...simply if you'd like to see me try.

I'd say leave it as is. When I bottled mine yesterday I ended up with about 8 oz that I poured into a glass. It was great warm and flat. I would be happy getting some even if the carbonation was minimal.

Leave it as is. RIS is traditionally a bit under-carbed anyway.

I say leave it.

There's three pretty respected opinions that agree with my gut feeling. I don't wanna hijack the thread too much for one brewer's beer, so if you feel strongly enough to share your opinion (especially if it differs), just send a PM my way.

I say leave it.

I also say.... this should be an excuse for me to uncap one of mine. But I won't, because I was gonna take one (precious) bottle to the homebrew meeting on Thursday instead.

I should probably brew another batch of this ASAP, because my 23 bottles are going to go very, very quickly. But I know that the dregs, when I bottled, were delicious as hell.

I also also say.... damn you for living so close to EdWort, I'm jealous now!

Leave it.

When I receive mine, they're going to sit in a knook in the kitchen until 8-8. It's always 70 degrees there. I'd imagine any under carb'd beer would improve under those conditions.

Besides, when the time comes, I'm going to manipulate the pour so I get a nice 45 degree, relatively flattenned out stout to enjoy.

chriso said:

Does Campden kill Brett too? Because in order to prevent bottle bombs from ongoing Brett fermentation, but to still enable me to bottle it now, I was thinking hit it with Campden, keg, force carb, wait a week to stabilize, then BMBF it. Crazy idea?

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Too late? Sorry I missed this, a friend did this with his stout and a few months into it the beers are fine so far(no overcarbonation). He used a fining agent first though, before adding the campden tablets. He then 're-yeasted' and bottle carbed, but of course the BMBF should work fine.

edit>FYI, I tasted one of these a month back and it was very good. THICK though, felt like the carbonation was having a tough time making it up and out of the beer. Brown head, moderate/low carbonation.