Beginner Russian Imp Stout

[bmoritzasu]

I'll be attempting my first RIS and wanted some feedback from the community. I've researched various recipes and developed my version listed below. Any comments from the veteran brewers would be much appreciated. Looking to have this matured by July and on tap for my fathers bday. Thanks to all...

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 4.59 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.65 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 3.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 2.78 gal
Estimated OG: 1.115 SG
Estimated Color: 52.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 56.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.9 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs 6.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 77.0 %
8.0 oz Rye, Flaked (Briess) (4.6 SRM) Grain 3 3.7 %
7.0 oz Chocolate (Dingemans) (340.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.2 %
7.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 5 3.2 %
6.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.8 %
6.0 oz Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 7 2.8 %
4.5 oz Carafa II (412.0 SRM) Grain 8 2.1 %
3.4 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 9 1.6 %
3.4 oz De-Bittered Black Malt (Dingemans) (550. Grain 10 1.6 %
2.8 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 11 1.3 %
1.6 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 12 0.7 %

0.75 oz Magnum [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 13 34.5 IBUs
0.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 60. Hop 14 13.4 IBUs
0.25 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 15 8.1 IBUs
0.25 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 18 0.0 IBUs

0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 16 -
0.25 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins) Other 17 -

1.0 pkg American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) [2.5 L starter] 19 -

 

[progmac]

the grain bill seems a little over-the-top for me. i can't imagine that i would be able to taste 0.7% chocolate malt or 3% munich.

but the most important thing to think about with this beer is how are you going to keep your yeast chugging along with a 1.115 OG? think about how you can keep the temperature from dropping when the krausen starts to fall...

 

[motorneuron]

I agree with progmac. You have two general issues to solve when making a beer like this: one is the recipe, and the other is process.

RECIPE:

I know where you are coming from--one of my first recipes was an RIS--but this is a bit of a kitchen sink at the moment. Think about the reason you want each ingredient. There's no simple way to decide whether to use each of these things, but I'd recommend cutting your list of ingredients in half.

Also give careful consideration to the malts making up the dark end. Do you want a harsher roastiness or a smoother kind? Both are valid and will yield different profiles as the beer ages.

As for hops, you may want to hop this more than the 50-60 IBU range you have now. This beer is going to be very sweet, no matter what you do. That needs to be balanced by bitterness. For the same reasons, late additions are basically a waste of time, as are different hop types. Just use something clean in a single bittering addition.

Fermentability: from a recipe point of view, consider using some sugar (up to 10%). Molasses would be acceptable in a beer this dark. Make sure to mash low (149F).

PROCESS:

I would consider bottling this rather than kegging (assuming that's what you mean by "on tap" for July). If you keg, you have to drink it more quickly. This is a style that should be aged--imagine splitting one of these with your dad each year for the next ten years.

1.115 is an extremely high gravity target. It's going to be really difficult to hit anything like normal efficiency. You have the advantage of a 3-gallon recipe, but you should seriously consider boiling this down from, like, 6 gallons of wort using a 3-hour boil (~20% loss per hour). You should also consider having some extract available to get back to your gravity target if you fall short. Then again, you could also recalibrate this down to more like 1.100 (or even 1.080, which is still high) and still have a great beer.

Yeast will be key. I would recommend using dried yeast, since it will be very hard to build up an appropriate starter for 1.115 or even 1.100. The last thing you want is a fermentation stalled at 1.040--if I had a dollar for each of those threads on these forums, I'd finally be able to afford a massive brewing sculpture. Just use four packages of something American, rehydrated properly beforehand. Oxygenate well.

Whew. Good luck.

 

[bmoritzasu]

progmac, motorneuron - thank you for the feedback.

Yes the OG is very high because that's what Beersmith pushed out for me. This is only my second time using Beersmith so not yet familiar with all the options.

I plan on fermenting one month in primary, then 1 month in secondary with oak cubes, followed by bottle conditioning until July. I'm looking for a mildly smooth/sweet RIS with a pronounced bourbon character as the glass warms in your hand.

I've upped the IBU's using only Columbus hops and I've toned down the grain bill a bit. I was going to make a 2 liter starter for the ber, but now I see that dry yeast would be the way to go. MrMalty calculated a 2 liter starter for the 3 gallon batch, so that's what I was going to do. Would using two packs of Safale US-05 do the trick for this beer? I have an O2 tank for oxygenation.

Here's what I have now...

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 4.59 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.65 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 3.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 2.78 gal
Estimated OG: 1.102 SG
Estimated Color: 47.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 76.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 76.0 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU

10 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 78.0 %
8.0 oz Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.9 %
8.0 oz Chocolate (Dingemans) (340.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.9 %
8.0 oz Rye, Flaked (Briess) (4.6 SRM) Grain 5 3.9 %
6.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.9 %
6.0 oz Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Grain 7 2.9 %
5.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 8 2.5 %
4.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 9 2.0 %

1.30 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] - Boil 60. Hop 10 76.5 IBUs

0.50 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 11 -
0.25 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins) Other 12 -

1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Or Safale US-05 13 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 13.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperatu Step Time
Mash In Add 14.10 qt of water at 164.3 F 150.0 F 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 3 steps (Drain mash tun , 1.30gal, 1.30gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------
Primary for at least 1 month. Secondary for 1 month ontop of vanilla beans, bourbon, hungarian oak cubes (1.25 oz.), and 1.5 oz chocolate paste. Last day of ferment in secondary add 1.5 oz coarse coffee beans (maybe??)

 

[progmac]

i think the new recipe makes more sense.

i think you'll see similar results with two packs of dry or a two liter starter. whichever is more convenient is what i'd do. make sure to rehydrate the dry if you go that route. if you go with dry , that is one less place for something to go wrong.

taste the beer after that first month before you decide to add additional flavors. you might find it is perfect without anything.

make sure to leave at least 30% headspace so you don't have a blowoff. RIS is a force to be reckoned with in the fermenter.

good luck!

 

[motorneuron]

I think that recipe looks a lot better. I like the simplicity. I'm not certain that it contains enough dark malt to get into stout territory, though; it looks more like a sort of imperial porter. That may be what you want, of course. But just as a guide, when I made my last RIS, I had these dark grains in a five-gallon batch: 1.5 lbs of roasted barley; 1 lb special B; .75 lbs chocolate. I did cold-steep to get a smoother profile, but even that beer is not even close to the dark, really roast flavors of some RISes. So, in sum, you might want to up the dark grains a bit.

 

[bmoritzasu]

Well I brewed this beast this weekend. Unfortunately Murphy showed up and ripped a hole in my grain bag as I was pouring the grains into the mash tun. Consequently I lost approx. two pounds of grain to the dirt floor outside. None the less I continued with the brew and was able to achieve an OG = 1.088. Since I was a little low I added a pound of DME to compensate and will await the results.

Motorneuron - I upped my roasted grains a little and you'll be happy to know the color was pitch black. I will keep the thread updated as time passes by.

 

[motorneuron]

Haha, glad to hear it was pitch black! If you don't drink it all in July, some of the roast flavor will surely age out as you go. Did you taste the wort?

Yeah, it's tough to keep efficiency high with a very high gravity beer. But 1.088 (without the additional extract) is a respectable showing.

Best of luck! Now it's up to the yeast.

 

[bmoritzasu]

Yeah this baby will be bottled and placed away. Half going to my dad, the other half to me. I did taste the wort and after getting past the hops, the flavor of a stout was there. Had a non-brewer buddy come over and watch, and he tasted the wort and agreed that it's gonna turn out to be a decent beer. Now its up to those little bastards to do their job Looked this afternoon, and bubbling has already started. Fingers crossed.

 

[bmoritzasu]

DUDE! This beer is going to age beautifully. So I ended up with the following numbers...

OG = 1.099
FG = 1.015

Secondary (9 March 2014) with 1.25 oz oak soaked on bourbon for two months, 3 Tahitian vanilla beans, 2 Tbsp oh Hershey's dark chocolate powder dissolved in 200 mL of boiled water. With two days left in secondary I added 2 oz. of dark roasted coffe beans (crushed).

Bottled on 12 April 2014.

First tasting 31 May 2014 - At lower temps you can really smell the chocolate and coffee, and tastes absolutely delicious. As the glass warms a hint of vanilla comes through and the oak begins to show up. I think it's a little oaky still, but this will fade with time. All I can say is I'm going to milk the hell out of this one. I love these high gravity beers. Just delicious.