OFFICIAL Kate the Great Russian Imperial Stout Clone

[brewski09]

Just wanted to chime in here. I brewed a version of this recipe (I say a "version" in the sense that I adjusted the figures for my system) without the oak back in September, bulk aged it for about two and a half months, and just put it in the keg last night. As I tasted it along the way, I really was enjoying the complex dark fruit flavors of this stout. However when I tasted it last night going into the keg, I definitely got some unpleasant astringency. I'm hoping it fades some as it carbs up and ages some more. I am planning to start sampling again in the new year and I will update further.

One thing I have learned over the past decade+ of homebrewing: it is very difficult to make a great imperial stout. I have high hopes for this one as it matures, though! Thanks for the recipe.

Whether it's astringency from the highly kilned Malta our actual tannins from the same malts, it wool age out given enough time. I almost never drink RIS fresh because of the astringency of highly kilned malts.

 

[gbarron]

Well that is why I was a bit surprised about getting some astringency given the relatively low amounts of dark grains used in this stout (carafa is de-husked, only a half pound of roast, etc.) compared to others I have made.

However, I tasted it out of the keg again last night and it was much more pleasant. I think one reason the astringency/dark grain bitterness stood out so much at kegging was because I cold crashed it prior to kegging. I think the very cold temperature of the sample masked some of the sweeter flavors and let the dark roast flavors stand out. The keg temp is higher.

Anyway, I will let it mature and update as I go along.

 

[Marmike600]

Brewed on Saturday 2/1/14. Parti gyled to get a black IPA that I am calling Bastard Ivan BIPA.

This was my first all grain brew EVAR. I hit all my numbers almost spot on 1.080 preboil on Kate w/ 1.109 OG. 1.040 preboil for Ivan but I added some LME and ended up with 1.075 OG for him.

Used the remainents of the hops from the Kate recipe for Ivan but added an ounce of cascade at 60 to up the IBUs.

I had been stepping up WLP001 for Kate and WLP007 for Ivan for 2.5 weeks so in less than three hours, I had full krausen. Fortunately, I put blow offs on EVERYTHING now so no volcanoes.

 

[1Mainebrew]

Be patient with Kate, and you will be VERY well rewarded. This beer is worth waiting for. Don't rush any part of the process.

 

[max129]

I brewed this back on New Years Eve of 2011. Over 2 years later, it just won 1st place for Wood Aged Beers in a local competition.

Great recipe. It really has gotten better and better over time.

 

[AceVeres]

Brewing a 10 gallon partial mash this weekend. Got a 3L starter going on Monday.

It should be ready for consumption early October, when my next kid pops out. Decided to name it "Birthright" and hand out bombers to people.

Anyone have a recommendation for qty of spirals and port for a 10 gallon batch?


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[gbarron]

Wanted to provide an update from my last one about three months ago.

Brewed a non-wood aged variation on this beer last September using the Fuller's yeast. I bulk aged in secondary for about two and a half months and it has now been in the keg for about three months.

This is a fantastic beer. I have been sampling pretty regularly the past few months and it has improved with each pint (yes, I am "sampling" by the pint...). The pint I had a few days ago was really incredible though and I think this beer is starting to take off. Lots of deep, dark fruit flavors mixed with toffee, caramel, roast, and toast. Very complex. It is going to be hard to stay away from this keg.

I plan to brew it again soon and try the California ale yeast and may add some wood to this one as well as use some dark Belgian candi syrup in lieu of the turbinado. I will then probably brew it yet again because it is evident that this beer only gets better with age and I am going to be really sad when I am out of this beer and have to wait on another batch....

Thanks to the OP and others who have contributed to this thread!

 

[h0psnobery]

I'm planning on brewing this soon. Has anyone brewed with ruby and tawny port to compare the flavors they impart? Also, is anyone adding the soaking liquid or just dumping that?

I think this will be my first partigyle, I'm going to try a chipotle/chocolate porter.

 

[1Mainebrew]

I would dump the port after soaking the oak. Just use the oak cubes in the beer.

 

[Broham1]

I added the port and it is a delicious beer.


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[AceVeres]

Just racked to secondary after 1 month in primary tonight. Tried the port-- holy cow is that good. Don't dump it, stash it for personal use!

On the beer:
Tasted at 3 weeks when measuring FG (hit on the nose). Tasted again tonight, big difference in just 1 week. Alcohol bite came down a bit, chocolate coming through with a bit of coffee?


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[jawilson20]

I kegged mine on Sunday and got a first taste last night - WOW!

This is an amazing recipe. I am very glad I decide to give it a whirl.

 

[Lakeman]

I used the grain bill and hops schedule from this recipe and added coffee and chocolate/cacao as per the Kentucky Breakfast Stout clone that is floating around on HBT. Also subbed bourbon for the port. I pitched it onto a full yeast cake of WLP001 and let it sit for 4 weeks, then transferred to secondary on the oak cubes/cacao for 2 months. I also added about 1/2 of a vanilla bean, not enough to dominate the flavor, just enough to put it into the background.

It is now sitting in my crawlspace and will stay there until Christmas, but I did have a taste while kegging, and man o man, it was already extremely good. Maybe I should name it Kate the Breakfast Stout? Kentucky Breakfast the Great? Not sure yet, but I can confidently say at this early date that it will definitely be a Merry Christmas this year!

 

[Feurhund]

Kate the Greatfast.

Katetucky Greatfast Stout (KGS)

Kate the Great Barista -my favorite


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[AceVeres]

Kate and Eggs

Bol'shoy Zavtrak (great breakfast in russian)


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[hbrookie]

I'm going to punish myself this weekend by doing two batches. One 6 gallon straight off the OP. The second one I'm going to go chocolate with. Never used chocolate before, but from what I've read, cocoa powder in the boil for flavor and nibs for aroma.

Would 1 Tbls/gal be appropriate for the powder?

1 ounce of nibs/gallon in secondary for same time as oak?

 

[Conman13]

I brewed this up yesterday with my new burner and kettle. My 10 gallon mash tun was about to tip over with that amount of grain. I did not hit the OG numbers, I got to about 1.095. I except my efficiency was just lower with this amount of grain. I added some DME to bring it up to 1.104 exactly. Pitched a huge stir plate starter and oxygenated using a diffusion stone. Ferm chamber set to 63F ambient temperature. The next morning I woke up and it had blown out like crazy! Thank goodness I used a blow off tube. It overflowed the blow off cup and sent dark looking krausen all over my ferm chamber. This at pitch time +14 hours.

I'm pretty excited for this one. The plan is to drop in a port soaked medium toast oak spiral in secondary for a few weeks. I was considering a dried ancho chili or two also. I'll report back in a few weeks once I've tasted and let everyone know how it is.

 

[Conman13]

Well, transferred this to secondary after 20 days in primary. It ended up blowing out twice in primary. Proper yeast starter and oxygenation FTW! One thing I don't understand is how I attenuated down to 1.016. I did end up mashing 1 degree lower, 149F, but I don't think that could account for a 12 point change in FG from the recipe's guidelines. Right now I'm sitting at ~12% ABV.

I soaked 1 oak spiral in port wine and threw that in secondary, along with half of another non-soaked oak spiral. Both were medium toast french oak.

Taste was quite good - chocolately with hints of coffee and roast. The bitterness was not very high - it balances out quite well. It will be very interesting to see how this one develops over the next couple months. Since my garage is usually in the low 80's, I only plan to keep it in secondary for 6-8 weeks, then bottle and let sit inside my house at ~74F for at least a month before opening one.

 

[Keithww]

I only plan to keep it in secondary for 6-8 weeks, then bottle and let sit inside my house at ~74F for at least a month before opening one.

One real issue with this beer is the high alcohol content will slow the bottle conditioning the yeast can only do so much, I let mine age for 6 months and at a year it is even better.

 

[jszostak2]

When he says 'condition for about 5-6 months' does that mean at 70 degrees the entire time? Or just in the bottle? i.e. prime and bottle, store at 70 degrees for 6 months? Or does he really mean prime and bottle, store at 70 degrees for 3 weeks for carbonation, then store at colder temperature for the remaining 5 months?

 

[Keithww]

When he says 'condition for about 5-6 months' does that mean at 70 degrees the entire time? Or just in the bottle? i.e. prime and bottle, store at 70 degrees for 6 months? Or does he really mean prime and bottle, store at 70 degrees for 3 weeks for carbonation, then store at colder temperature for the remaining 5 months?

For me it was both, I did bulk for about 6 months and bottle for 6 months, now just over a year and it is great.

 

[mtnagel]

One thing I don't understand is how I attenuated down to 1.016. I did end up mashing 1 degree lower, 149F, but I don't think that could account for a 12 point change in FG from the recipe's guidelines. Right now I'm sitting at ~12% ABV.

This is one thing I'd like to know as well. I haven't brewed this beer yet, but the last imperial stout I did, it dropped 11 points lower than the recipes stated final gravity. I always pitch a proper amount of yeast and I oxygenate by shaking/pouring, so I know I don't even get the proper amount of dissolved oxygen for these big beers. I'd love to have this one finish higher so it has a sweeter finish. Any things I can do to ensure that?

 

[bleme]

This is one thing I'd like to know as well. I haven't brewed this beer yet, but the last imperial stout I did, it dropped 11 points lower than the recipes stated final gravity. I always pitch a proper amount of yeast and I oxygenate by shaking/pouring, so I know I don't even get the proper amount of dissolved oxygen for these big beers. I'd love to have this one finish higher so it has a sweeter finish. Any things I can do to ensure that?

What do you use for temperature control?

 

[mtnagel]

Water bath in my basement. I've confirmed that the temps in the fermentor match closely with the water bath temp even at the height of fermentation.

 

[ultravista]

Does anyone have this in Beersmith? If yes, please post your BSMX file.

And for those with 10 gallon mash tuns, why not split the mash? I would think that two 12.x pound mashes would yield greater efficiency than one 24.x large batch.

 

[stompbox]

And for those with 10 gallon mash tuns, why not split the mash? I would think that two 12.x pound mashes would yield greater efficiency than one 24.x large batch.

Not neccessarily, It would be the same grist/water ratio. So unless you have a problem with the malts softballing, there should be no difference. I just makse sure I pour in slowly and stir well.

 

[ultravista]

I am going to get some oak soon. For soaking in port/whisky/wine, does it matter if the oak is chipped, spiral, cube, or strips?

For this recipe, what level of toasting works best?

 

[catdaddy66]

Subscribed! Looks like an awesome RIS and how could you go wrong with the 'dark' reputation of Kate the Great???!


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[Hawkfish]

Subscribed. Looking to making this soon.

 

[AceVeres]

I am going to get some oak soon. For soaking in port/whisky/wine, does it matter if the oak is chipped, spiral, cube, or strips?



For this recipe, what level of toasting works best?

I used 1 spiral of medium French oak per 5 gallons. Steam sterilized then put it in a mason jar full of port on brew day. On racking day I plopped it into th bottom of the bottle. The port tasted phenomenal with the oak. I added a drop or two to my tasting sample and was very pleased. I didn't want to over oak it with a heavier roast.

I'll be bottling in the next week or two and can give another flavor update then


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[brewski09]

What kind of port are people using?


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[1Mainebrew]

I like Fronseca, the more expensive one, I can't remember what its called...

 

[atimmerman88]

I've sat on this recipe for over a year and finally ordered the complex grain for this and the hops....Pretty excited to get this guy in the fermentor this week! 'Gyling off another 5 gallons off the grain for a session CDA hopefully.

Merry Xmas to me !

 

[atimmerman88]

What kind of port are people using?


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I'll be using this:

and medium toast french oak

 

[stompbox]

Bummer. I brewed this again today and made a major rookie mistake.

I threw the grains in at mash temp , not strike temp. Stupid.

I stirred it after 15 minutes and checked my temp and it was at 141.

Ended up taking some mash water out and added about 2 gallons of boiling water which put me right in range. I then at boil, added the mash water i took out.

Net result though is i got 6.5 gallons of 1.085 OG instead of my targeted 5 gallons at 1.097.

 

[catdaddy66]

Bummer. I brewed this again today and made a major rookie mistake.

I threw the grains in at mash temp , not strike temp. Stupid.

I stirred it after 15 minutes and checked my temp and it was at 141.

Ended up taking some mash water out and added about 2 gallons of boiling water which put me right in range. I then at boil, added the mash water i took out.

Net result though is i got 6.5 gallons of 1.085 OG instead of my targeted 5 gallons at 1.097.

A longer boil would raise the OG and lower the volume but it would change the hops utilization. Go with it!


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[stompbox]

A longer boil would raise the OG and lower the volume but it would change the hops utilization. Go with it!


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Yeah, that was my volume with an extra 15 minutes of boil. That is all thw time i had for b/c i had to get my kids. 8.5% wont be too bad, just disappointed i made the dumb error.

 

[atimmerman88]

Dam this is a big roasty grain big

Can't wait to brew this


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[ultravista]

I sure hope you're going old school and cranking that mill by hand.

 

[atimmerman88]

Only did that for 1 batch to say I did!!

The old corded drill is in the upper left. She busted through it in maybe 6 or 7 min...22#


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