Hop Bursting Stouts???

Planning on doing a RIS this weekend and was wondering if anyone has ever tried hop bursting any other beers than IPAs / PAs and had much success. I am going to use Columbus, Cluster, and Northern Brewer on the RIS and am curious to see if bursting would give me some good back side hop flavor like it has in my IPAs.

I was making an IPA once and, on a whim, decided to make it black. Added about .5 lbs each black malt, roasted barley, and chocolate malt. Ended up being a stout IPA. The hop burst of Amarillo and Centennial at the end would have been great in a conventional IPA. But this version was a perfect mix of what I love about both beers. All the chocolate/roast of a good dry Irish stout, with all the hop aroma of a burst IPA. Not alot of hop flavor, as it was pretty well overpowered by the dark malts. But I still think it is one of the best beers I've brewed. And I will definitely brew it again.

Thanks, I think I might try it out then, see what happens. I will probably not get much of it as it will sit secondary for quite a while but it may be really interesting at first.

Sure, it's just becoming more of a Cascadian Dark Ale/American Dark Ale/Black IPA than it is a RIS.

jhall4 said:

Sure, it's just becoming more of a Cascadian Dark Ale/American Dark Ale/Black IPA than it is a RIS.

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How would hop bursting my RIS change it to dark ale / black IPA? I am still sitting right in the IBU and not touching grain bill or yeast, just changing the hop delivery method.

Because that changes the characteristics of the beer vs. a more traditional bittering and late addition.

I suppose the BJCP guideline is broad enough that having a lot of hop character would still be acceptable for a RIS, but personally I wouldn't expect that character from one so I wouldn't label it as one. To each their own, though.

Anyway, about your question, yes hop bursting will give you the flavors it sounds like you're after.

My concern here is that a RIS is not normally drunk young - normally you'd want to give it some time to age. However, if you age a hopbursted beer, you're going to lose a lot of the hop aroma and flavors. To me, hopbursting a RIS is counterproductive - and probably a waste of hops.

I could see hopbursting a smaller stout, just not a RIS

JLem said:

My concern here is that a RIS is not normally drunk young - normally you'd want to give it some time to age. However, if you age a hopbursted beer, you're going to lose a lot of the hop aroma and flavors. To me, hopbursting a RIS is counterproductive - and probably a waste of hops.

I could see hopbursting a smaller stout, just not a RIS

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^this^ aging and hop bursting don't work together.

I would tend to agree with JLem on this one. Maybe if you hop the f*#k out of it, by the time it is ready to drink it will still be nice and hoppy for an ris.

I'd rather brew a stout and an IPA. That way I could have the beers separately or make an India Black and Tan when the mood strikes.

JLem said:

My concern here is that a RIS is not normally drunk young - normally you'd want to give it some time to age. However, if you age a hopbursted beer, you're going to lose a lot of the hop aroma and flavors. To me, hopbursting a RIS is counterproductive - and probably a waste of hops.

I could see hopbursting a smaller stout, just not a RIS

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Or, could you just bulk age the RIS, and dry hop before bottling/kegging?

ph0ngwh0ng said:

Or, could you just bulk age the RIS, and dry hop before bottling/kegging?

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Sure, but dryhopping and hop bursting give different flavor/aroma results.

JLem said:

Sure, but dryhopping and hop bursting give different flavor/aroma results.

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Yes you're right.

Indeed, anyone who's curious about the general consensus over the matter should google "aging hoppy beers". Seems to be a waste of money.

IMO, that's why BIPAs are usually dry hopped, since the style(or whatever you call it) calls for and benefits from a somewhat decent aging, since abv's are usually in the midrange and you'll want some malt profiles to shine through alongside the roast and tangy hops. I like BIPAs. BIPAs are to beer what all dressed chips are to chips. You just wanna jam all the flavors in.