Imperial Stout Rapture Russian Imperial Stout

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dcHokie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Messages
1,554
Reaction score
270
Location
Washington, DC
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Wyeast 1764 PacMan
Yeast Starter
1.5 quart slurry
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
1.5 quart slurry Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.120
Final Gravity
1.030 est
Boiling Time (Minutes)
105
IBU
76
Color
SRM 53
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
3 weeks @ 68
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
months
Tasting Notes
I\'ll let you know in 1-2 years, but gravity sample was amazing.
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 1764 Rogue Pacman (used only Pacman, ignore the 1275 referenced above)
Yeast Starter: Big slurry starters
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.120
Final Gravity: 1.030
IBU: 76
Boiling Time (Minutes): 105
Color: 53
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 21 days@ 68F


Rapture Russian Imperial Stout

Grain
Amount Item Type % or IBU
14.00 lb Maris Otter UK (4.0 SRM) Grain 63.00 %
2.00 lb 2-Row (1.0 SRM) Grain 9.00 %
1.00 lb Special B (180.0 SRM) Grain 4.00 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 4.00 %
1.00 lb Flaked Barley (2.0 SRM) Grain 4.00%
1.00 lb Crystal 150L (150.0 SRM) Grain 4.00%
0.875 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.00%
0.50 lb Malto-Dextrin (6.0 SRM) Grain 2.00%
0.375 lb Black Patent (550.0 SRM) Grain 2.00%
0.375 lb Quaker Oats (2.0 SRM) 2.00%
0.125 lb Carapils (2.0 SRM) Grain 1.00 %
----------
22.25 lbs

Hops
2.25 oz Nugget [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 76.0 IBU

Yeast
Wyeast 1764 Rogue Pacman

Mash Schedule
Mash at 149F for 75 min.
Yeast nutrient (1 tsp) for last 15 min of boil
Whirlfloc for last 10 min of boil

Notes:
Brewed the day after the "Rapture" May 21st. A big, cellar-able beer seemed appropriate for such a near miss with the end of days.

In anticipation of massive blowoff, I split the batch into two primary fermenters for extra head space. Each 2.5-2.75 gal half got its own 6 gal carboy, and within 36 hours each vessel had 6"-10" high krausen. After about a month, each half was holding at 1.030 so I racked them together into a secondary vessel for bulk aging and added ~2 ounces of medium toast oak cubes that I'd soaked in bourbon for 2 months. I wanted less bourbon than say KBS, but enough that its noticeable.

I was really happy with the gravity sample: very complex roasty, chocolate, coffee, viscous like oil, roughly 12% ABV. Bottling this one in the fall, then I may take it to my folks' place to hide it from myself until next fall.

RIS-fermenter_1_2.jpg

(split fermenters about 12 hours after pitching)
 
A couple more pics of this oily beast in secondary. I noticed a little bit of action on the surface in the past couple weeks, a bit surprising after it was essential still for a month:

RIS-secondary.jpg


RIS-secondary_2.jpg
 
Brewing this tomorrow. Using an English yeast though. I'm going to take the tip on splitting the fermenters to minimize blow off.
 
Brewing this tomorrow. Using an English yeast though. I'm going to take the tip on splitting the fermenters to minimize blow off.

Nice, I hope the brewday goes well today!

I had originally planned on using an English ale yeast also, but I was a little worried about attenuation with the very high gravity. I used Pacman because I had a big slurry of it on hand, and it had been a champ on the 1.085 beer I'd previously brewed. Splitting fermenters adds a sanitation step, but so far I'm happy with the results.
 
How long are you going to leave it on the oak in the secondary? Also when you bottle are you going to throw a pack of S-05 or some other yeast in?
 
How long are you going to leave it on the oak in the secondary? Also when you bottle are you going to throw a pack of S-05 or some other yeast in?

I'll probably leave it on the oak for another 4-6 weeks for a total of about 3.5 months. I'm probably not going to add any extra yeast at bottling. It may take a bit longer to carb up but I plan on cellaring this for awhile before drinking, so time isn't really a concern.
 
update:

I ended up bottled this on 9/18/11. I still have every intention of cellaring the majority of this, but I cracked the first bottle of it tonight.

Really pleased with this batch. It is everything i love in a RIS: roasty and rich, nice smooth viscous body, coffee, dark chocolate and the bourbon & oak are present but not overpowering. An excellent sipper that gets better as it warms and hides its ABV surprisingly well even at room temp.


Rapture_RIS.jpg
 
Sounds amazing!!! Looks great. I'm in the middle of fermentation on my first RIS. Can't wait to taste it.
 
Hey I brewed this in early august, I'm going to burbon and oak this november first. I've been soaking the young oak since august and I figure two months on the oak and bottle end of december.

Im going to bottle, cork, wax, and age for a year.

Mine is slightly biter, high abv for sure. I added coffee and a little more roast. Burbon, oak, and time will smoth it out. I'll post an update when I bottle with an update.

Ps. Nice library. Hunter and Chuck side by side, nice.
 
I considered doing some wax on a few bottles also, but laziness won out.

I'd love to hear how yours turns out, keep us posted.
 
Just brewed this up; looking forward to seeing how it comes out. Used S-05; tired of making starters. Wound up with close to 6 gallons post-boil; fermenting in single vessel (7 gal bucket) without trouble. I did rig up a pre-emptive blowout, but it's redundant so far.
 
Just brewed this up; looking forward to seeing how it comes out. Used S-05; tired of making starters. Wound up with close to 6 gallons post-boil; fermenting in single vessel (7 gal bucket) without trouble. I did rig up a pre-emptive blowout, but it's redundant so far.

Awesome! Hope you like it
 
Well, I have decided not to add bourbon or oak to this beer. I tasted a sample this weekend and wow. No booze flavor. Not killer on the roast, I added a half cup of coffee grounds to the mash and it really adds some depth of flavor. Looking to bottle in a week or two. I'm going to do a few 22oz bottles and compete this beer to see how it scores.
 
I'm picking up ingredients tonight for this, will be brewing Thanksgiving morning.

Thanks for the recipe.
 
Definitely keeping my eyes on this one. My Old Rasputing RIS clone is just carbing up, hopefully. My first bottle was quite flat (tasty, but quite flat) so I moved it into the house because even in S. CA it is pretty cold for fermentation out in the garage. Hoping to be drinking on Thanksgiving. This one looks even richer and denser.
 
Definitely keeping my eyes on this one. My Old Rasputing RIS clone is just carbing up, hopefully. My first bottle was quite flat (tasty, but quite flat) so I moved it into the house because even in S. CA it is pretty cold for fermentation out in the garage. Hoping to be drinking on Thanksgiving. This one looks even richer and denser.

My better-half's favorite beer is Old Rasputin (on nitro when she can get it!) and she loved this RIS when we tried a bottle at 5 weeks old. I have really high hopes for this as it gets some age on it!
 
Brewed today, ended up at 6 gallons and 1.095 OG. Also used S-05 and saw signs of activity within 4 hours. Plan is to primary for 4 weeks, secondary with bourbon and oak for 8-12 weeks, then toss in a keg to age for as long as I can hold out. Excited to see how it comes out.
 
After a 5 week primary I racked to a keg last night with 12 ounces of bourbon and 2 ounces of oak cubes in a bag. It was sitting at 1.019 and tasted excellent. Trying to hide this keg for a few months!
 
After a 5 week primary I racked to a keg last night with 12 ounces of bourbon and 2 ounces of oak cubes in a bag. It was sitting at 1.019 and tasted excellent. Trying to hide this keg for a few months!

Excellent, glad to hear the sample was tasty. And 12 ounces of Bourbon is no joke....that ones gonna be a sipper!
 
This is sitting in carboy, sans oak and bourbon. Looking forward to seeing how the final product turns out. Tasting at transfer was smooooooth.
 
I would love to try an extract version since im not setup for all grain yet
 
I would love to try an extract version since im not setup for all grain yet

Hey joeyrod, I'd like to help you out but I don't have much experience converting an AG recipe with this many components to extract...I'd just be guessing. For partial-mash, you could convert the 16 lbs of combined Maris Otter & 2-row to extract fairly easily and steep the remaining specialty grains and adjuncts. I'm not sure if this is much help though, anybody else wanna take a stab at it?

Also, a lot of folks here have referenced the attached whitepaper as a good resource for converting recipes:
http://home.roadrunner.com/~brewbeer/extract/pres.pdf

Hope it helps, cheers!
 
Thanks chris for the help it sounds like this beer was a big success and I would love to try it...although I don't like to clone beers I would make an exception for this one... all grain coming soon I just need a couple more things
 
Sorry to be a n00b, but plugging this into BrewSmith 2 and trying to sort out the mash out, etc. Can you give more detail on your mash process? BS 2 yields negative sparge volumes...
 
freeride said:
Sorry to be a n00b, but plugging this into BrewSmith 2 and trying to sort out the mash out, etc. Can you give more detail on your mash process? BS 2 yields negative sparge volumes...

Sure, no worries. I used a standard single infusion mash at 1.25 qts water / per LB grain. I believe it was right around 7 gallons of strike water and I mashed at 149 F. I double batch sparged and used some of the last runnings for a separate, small hoppy brown beer.
 
Sure, no worries. I used a standard single infusion mash at 1.25 qts water / per LB grain. I believe it was right around 7 gallons of strike water and I mashed at 149 F. I double batch sparged and used some of the last runnings for a separate, small hoppy brown beer.

Thanks! I have the water warming up to brew this now!!!
 
Really glad I found this thread! Just increases my hopes that the RIS I am going to brew next weekend will turn out well. Also going to use Pacman yeast, and using 2 oz. Columbus, 1.5 oz. Amarillo, and 1 oz Simcoe. Will post the recipe here in a few when the crib midget finishes up her Baby Einstein video on the computer... Hoping I can get some feedback from you guys.

Also, why the longer boil and why the low mash temp? I am just curious... Trying to get different ideas/opinions to hone my recipe for next weekend.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Ryan M.
 
Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast 1764 PacMan
Yeast Starter: 2 L starter (stepped up to ~450 billion cells)
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.107
Final Gravity: ~1.024
IBU: 90
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: SRM >60
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 1 month
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): As long as possible

15.5 lbs Maris Otter
1.5 lbs Barley (Roasted)
1 lb Special B
0.75 lbs Chocolate
0.5 lbs CaraPils
0.5 lbs Wheat (Flaked)

2 oz. Columbus (13.9%) for 60 minutes
1.5 oz. Amarillo (9.3%) for 30 minutes
1 oz. Simcoe (12.2%) for 30 minutes

Strike with 6.2 gallons RO water (treated with 1 tsp calcium chloride per 5 gallons) at 166 degrees (152 mash temperature). Mash for 90 minutes.

Double batch sparge with 1.9 gallons each of treated RO water at 186 degrees (grain bed temp 170 degrees). Collect ~7.15 gallons water. Boil, add hops at specified intervals, add 1 tsp yeast nutrient at 15 minutes til end of boil. Cool and pitch yeast. Wait.

Let me know what you think, and if I should make any changes that you feel would be more appropriate for the style.

Thanks,
Ryan M.
 
Also, why the longer boil and why the low mash temp? I am just curious...

I used a longer boil because a) I collected a lot of wort and wanted to boil down the volume a bit and b) to encourage some additional kettle caramelization.

15.5 lbs Maris Otter
1.5 lbs Barley (Roasted)
1 lb Special B
0.75 lbs Chocolate
0.5 lbs CaraPils
0.5 lbs Wheat (Flaked)

2 oz. Columbus (13.9%) for 60 minutes
1.5 oz. Amarillo (9.3%) for 30 minutes
1 oz. Simcoe (12.2%) for 30 minutes

Let me know what you think, and if I should make any changes that you feel would be more appropriate for the style.

Your grain bill looks solid, pretty close to the RIS recipe Jamil has in Brewing Classic Styles. I'm personally not a huge fan of citrusy American aroma hops as mid-boil/late-boil additions in big, cellarable beers like Russian Imperial Stout. But that is personal preference.

Good luck on your brew!
 
Just wanted to update here - I brewed this back on Thanksgiving and just tapped it over the weekend. I added bourbon and oak to the aging process and kind of wish I hadn't. The base stout is nice, definitely a bit lighter on the roast/chocolate than other RIS's I have brewed. Mine apparently fermented too hot as it's quite fruity/estery. I'm hoping in a year or so that will tone down some. Nice recipe though!
 
I brewed this beer back in April with the intent to make some christmas gifts out of it in the process. It was actually the second beer I've EVER brewed. All i have to say is thank god for beginner's luck because this beer is amazing!

Brewed: 4/20 (og: 1.132)
Re-Racked with Angel's Envy Bourbon Barrel Chips: 6/16 (1.023)
Bottled: 11/21 (1.024)

Made 18 bombers with ~3.75 gallons in the final product. I waxed the tops and added custom labels, and then added bottle x of y to the bottles to add the extra flair...

photo%252520%2525285%252529_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg


photo%252520%2525287%252529_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg


photo%252520%2525286%252529_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg


photo%252520%2525283%252529_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg


photo%252520%2525284%252529_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg
 
I brewed this beer back in April with the intent to make some christmas gifts out of it in the process. It was actually the second beer I've EVER brewed. All i have to say is thank god for beginner's luck because this beer is amazing!

Brewed: 4/20 (og: 1.132)
Re-Racked with Angel's Envy Bourbon Barrel Chips: 6/16 (1.023)
Bottled: 11/21 (1.024)

Made 18 bombers with ~3.75 gallons in the final product. I waxed the tops and added custom labels, and then added bottle x of y to the bottles to add the extra flair...

photo%252520%2525283%252529_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg

Really glad the stout turned out so well for you. I love the look of those hand-numbered labels and the waxed tops together, awesome finished product!
 
Noticed on the original recipe you had both Pacman and Thames Valley listed. Did you use both or default back to the Pacman based on the high ABV tolerance?

Looks great, going to be brewing something real close in the next few days.
 
Noticed on the original recipe you had both Pacman and Thames Valley listed. Did you use both or default back to the Pacman based on the high ABV tolerance?

Looks great, going to be brewing something real close in the next few days.

Oh, good catch, I did a smaller beer with 1275 as a starter, but didn't love it, so I opted for using Pacman.
 
I think I'm being dense here but could you elaborate on the yeast? I'm reading in your original post...

"Yeast: Wyeast 1764 PacMan
Yeast Starter: 1.5 quart slurry
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: 1.5 quart slurry Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley"

...and a bit further down "yeast: 1275".

Did you use only the 1764 for the recipe and then the 1275 for another beer?

Thanks! Looking forward to brewing this for next winter.
 
I think I'm being dense here but could you elaborate on the yeast? I'm reading in your original post...

"Yeast: Wyeast 1764 PacMan
Yeast Starter: 1.5 quart slurry
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: 1.5 quart slurry Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley"

...and a bit further down "yeast: 1275".

Did you use only the 1764 for the recipe and then the 1275 for another beer?

Thanks! Looking forward to brewing this for next winter.

Another good catch. I updated the text of the original post, but I don't think I can update the hard-coded recipe fields without a mods help.

I didn't end up using the 1275 Thames, just the 1764 Pacman. Sorry for the confusion and good luck on the brewday!
 
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