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

Williams 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
finsfan said:
Haha i would be a regular. Your beer is the reason i brewed this.
Click to expand...


PM'd you

Brews said:
I thought that after fermentation, about a month, you secondary on the oak and give that time to age.
Click to expand...


That's what I did. One month in primary, then racked to secondary on oak/whiskey/vanilla beans. After two weeks in secondary I tasted it occasionally until I was happy with it, then bottled.
 
wobrien said:
PM'd you




That's what I did. One month in primary, then racked to secondary on oak/whiskey/vanilla beans. After two weeks in secondary I tasted it occasionally until I was happy with it, then bottled.
Click to expand...

I believe you can do oak cubes and spirals for longer but the chips, from what i have read on these forums, suggest less contact time since there is less surface area and impart the oak aged flavor faster. Thoughts?
 
plankbr said:
I believe you can do oak cubes and spirals for longer but the chips, from what i have read on these forums, suggest less contact time since there is less surface area and impart the oak aged flavor faster. Thoughts?
Click to expand...


I agree with that (except it is bc the chips have more surface area, not less). I checked my notes and it was between 2-3 weeks in secondary when I bottled it. It has some oak flavor, but a little more time wouldn't have hurt it either.
 
Brews said:
When you add the spirals, do you just add the oak or the entire contents (bourbon and oak)?
Click to expand...


I've read (and it makes sense to me) that a lot of the oak flavor is pulled out into the bourbon. So I put the oak in a mason jar with only enough liquid to cover/soak the oak. When I added to secondary I put everything in, then at bottling I added more whiskey to taste.
 
Thanks wobrien. It's been soaking for over two months and I can tell a lot of the oak has been pulled out. I think I'll add a little and save the rest. If I feel after a couple of months on the oak it needs more, I can just add the liquid.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app
 
Brews said:
Thanks wobrien. It's been soaking for over two months and I can tell a lot of the oak has been pulled out. I think I'll add a little and save the rest. If I feel after a couple of months on the oak it needs more, I can just add the liquid.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good plan :ban:
 
1fast636 said:
I wish I would of keep a gallon to put on oak and bourbon but didn't oh well, oh and on carbing I'll let them go another two weeks and see what happens hope they carb up.
Click to expand...

Hey, I'm curious about how your beer turned out. It looks like you did around 2 weeks in primary and 4 weeks in secondary, right? I want to brew this soon but don't know if I have the patience (or pipeline) to bulk age it for several months, haha
 
HopLife said:
Yeah, I think this would work out fine. Some might say to skip the car pils if using DME because it is designed to add head on its own. I would also recommend doing a full volume boil so that you can get decent hop utilization, and allow the dme to incorporate a little easier.
Click to expand...

marubozo said:
If all you're replacing is the 2-row, you could substitute that with 12.75 pounds of light liquid extract, or 10.2 pounds of dry extract.
Click to expand...

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:
 
So I have been looking at this thread for the last 6 months or more and also asked some questions about the yeast. I've been brewing AIPAs recently and now it time to brew something British. If all goes to plan my next brew will be an ESB using S-04 as a yeast. The plan is to use the Slurry from the ESB on this big brute. I also have a vial of WLP002 in the fridge so my question is has anyone compared the results with S-04 and WLP002?
Is the difference so great that I should consider making a starter and using the liquid yeast even though the S-04 will be readymade for it?

I'm also going to bitter with Target; has anyone tried this?

Thanks!
 
Another yeast question...I will have a Wyeast 3711 (French saison) cake soon. Would it be to pitch onto that? From all accounts, it attenuates extremely well while maintaining good mouthfeel.
 
jsun said:
Another yeast question...I will have a Wyeast 3711 (French saison) cake soon. Would it be to pitch onto that? From all accounts, it attenuates extremely well while maintaining good mouthfeel.
Click to expand...

You dont want it to attenuate well on this beer, it will become too dry. I would not suggest using that yeast at all.
 
finsfan said:
You dont want it to attenuate well on this beer, it will become too dry. I would not suggest using that yeast at all.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks. I have never brewed this style before so I appreciate the feedback.

I know that using 3711 would result in in a different flavor/style from the OP's recipe, but do you think it would necessarily be a bad beer? Others have used saison yeast before to clone Great Divide's Belgian Yeti.

I'm not trying to be stubborn, just trying to learn...
 
jsun said:
Ok thanks. I have never brewed this style before so I appreciate the feedback.

I know that using 3711 would result in in a different flavor/style from the OP's recipe, but do you think it would necessarily be a bad beer? Others have used saison yeast before to clone Great Divide's Belgian Yeti.

I'm not trying to be stubborn, just trying to learn...
Click to expand...

Maybe mash higher and add some unfermentables like maltodextrin? Not sure I haven't brewed this recipe yet. There are a lot of other recipes you could use that cake for. Personally I wouldn't do it... but it could turn out well. This to me sounds like a recipe that I'll do exactly as is, and maybe age some variations
 
steinsato said:
Winter is coming.
Click to expand...

If you like to drink your stout while it's winter, you better start brewing NOW or you will be too late.

PS! Never understood why stout is for winter. Probably because I like smooth Irish stouts with low ABV.
 
Good point about brewing this soon.
If I want this to be ready for Christmas what's the latest I should start brewing?
I'll be bottle conditioning it and will be sticking (mostly) to the original recipe - so no soaking on oak chips or other **** like that.

I might have to skip brewing an ESB and using the yeast cake and just go ahead and make this my next brew; make a starter out of my vial of WLP002.
 
Do not take my word for it but I think you can do the typical 20-21 C for 3 weeks and then < 18 C from there on.
It depends of ABV, etc. (from various sources)
  • < 5% ABV, 1-4 moths
  • 5-7 ABV up to 2 years
  • 7.5 - 10 not even drinkable before several months, but will be fine for 5 - 10 years.
    BTW, like wine, beer has &#8220;waves&#8221; of drinkability. It can taste good and then not so good an then come back again.
  • 10% > wait at least a year or two before you bother drinking it and then enjoy for the next 10 years.
Obviously you need a constant temperature.
 
I brewed this on April 5th and tasted a sample while bottling. Good but with a noticeable hot bite. Pretty mush what I was looking for. I will age it for a few montha before I sample a bottle, but I assume its going to take awile as the op suggests.
 
Brewed this up today and didn't get the boiloff i was expecting. Ended up with almost 6.5 gallons of 1.093 wort. It smelled like fresh brewed coffee with chocolate!! The bees were very persistent and almost ended up with Yellow Jacket Stout but kept them out with only one of them stinging me :)

Can't wait for 6-8 months down the road with this one!!

Has anyone added bourbon soaked oak chips to this one? I have 2 gallons sitting in a 3 gallon fermenter that I may want to experiment with. Any idea on the ratios? I have never used them before.
 
D_Nyholm said:
Has anyone added bourbon soaked oak chips to this one? I have 2 gallons sitting in a 3 gallon fermenter that I may want to experiment with. Any idea on the ratios? I have never used them before.
Click to expand...

I've read that 2 ounces of medium oak is standard for a 'normal' beer. A RIS or other high gravity beer may require more.

Check your local Walmart. Mine has the Jack Daniels bourbon oak 'smoking chips' for $5 a bag (about 2 #).
 
2 oz medium oak cubes is more than enough for only 2 gallons. You'll only need 1 oz or less. Make sure to taste it often after a week or two so you don't over oak. Or, boil the cubes then soak in Bourbon for a couple weeks and pitch everything and let it age a couple months. Boiling will drive off the harsh tannins and give it a nice mellow oak. Nothing worse than ruining a great beer by over oaking.
 
I over oaked this last time I brewed it. It was still delicious, but the oak overhsadowed the bourbon and the roasty flavor.

I'm brewing this again on Saturday and doing a parti-gyle smaller stout for the first time ever.
 
If anyone is concerned with over oaking, check out oak beans. I picked some StaVin oak beans up at a home brew shop because that was all the had, but am glad I did. Here is some info on them, and they look just like regular oak cubes.

"StaVin's oak beans are made with three year air dried American oak from Missouri, 2 year air dried French oak from the center of France (Cognac) and two year seasoned European oak from Hungary.

The oak they select matches the same quality requirements as staves which are used for premium wine barrels. The StaVin oak bean is a one-of-a-kind invention that is unparalleled in the industry today.

Staves are traditionally fire toasted using methods coopers have perfected over the centuries. Experienced production personnel pay careful attention to thermal parameters, ensuring full heat penetration for specific toast levels.

Once toasted, a percentage of staves go into full stave systems for barrels and tanks, while others are processed by a proprietary bean machine. This machine cuts the staves into beans and sends them through a stainless mesh to eliminate any excess particles.

The minimum recommended contact time for barrel quality extraction is eight weeks, using a ratio of 1 to 2 pounds per sixty gallons (2 - 2.6 oz per 5 gallons) of wine. The StaVin oak bean has a useful life of eight to ten months, at which time it is fully extracted.

The oak bean, which is more dense than oak chips or oak powder, produces less phenolics- giving your wine more rounded, complex flavors which will enhance your wines. We are proud to be a distributor of Stavin Oak Beans."

download.jpg
 
Those sound interesting. I doubt my homebrew shop will have anything like that. Maybe I'll have to try to source them online since i have about a month until I will use them.
 
D_Nyholm said:
Those sound interesting. I doubt my homebrew shop will have anything like that. Maybe I'll have to try to source them online since i have about a month until I will use them.
Click to expand...

My last taste test of this on the oak beans was great. It just hit 3 months on the oak beans yesterday and I will bottling it before the end of the week so I will get back to you on how much oak there really is.
 
Sounds good. Searched quickly and found a few places to get them. Did you soak yours on Bourbon or anything or just straight oak? I am thinking a few ounces of Bourbon might add just a bit extra.
 

Similar threads

Gadjobrinus
Russian Imperial Stout -
Replies
7
Views
762
duncan_disorderly
D
Mutt98
Introducing off flavors when bottling from keg?
Replies
5
Views
575
Mutt98
Mutt98
G
First Custom Grain Bill- Thoughts?
Replies
11
Views
1K
BrewnWKopperKat
BrewnWKopperKat
yard_bird
Simple: Imperial Stout
2
Replies
43
Views
2K
yard_bird
yard_bird
C
Wlp 005 + 080?
Replies
1
Views
650
Sammy86
Sammy86

Latest posts

Back
Top