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

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te-wa said:
i need to brew this again. it won't be ready until march, but nights in phoenix will still be in the mid 40's... i would not change much, maybe go with 2 vanilla beans over one next time. got a lot of oozin' ahhs for it. this next batch will be all MINE! i'm not sharing, you can't make me! :)
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"Oozin' ahhs?" Sounds like you might want to have a doctor check that out...
 
MaxStout said:
No, but after 4 months in secondary, I didn't have any problem with trub--it was firm on the bottom.

I did re-pitch some yeast at bottling.
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I'm bottling after 6 weeks in secondary. Don't intend to add yeast and figured if I cold crash it would drop ant extra yeast I may need for bottle conditioning.
 
Made this again back in February and forgot about it in the secondary for months. Now 9 months later, it's kegged and delicious as hell. Well worth the wait!!!
 
I was going to brew this up today with my dad. I meant to make the starter a few days ago and just realized I didn't do that. I guess I'm not brewing anything today except a starter. Grrrr!

I guess there is a bright side to the delay. I've never heard of this partigying thing before. The delay will give me time to devise a plan for that. Seems like a perfect time to use up some open bags of leftover hops from previous batches.

Also, I've never made anything bigger than a 1L starter before. Going to have to get creative with a container, my flask is only 1L.
 
Brewed this today. It is the biggest beer I've brewed so far and it didn't come easy. I learned the hard way about the importance of glueing together a CPVC manifold. The manifold came apart while doughing in and I ended up clogging my pump that feeds RIMS tube. Luckily I noticed there was no flow and didn't scorch anything.

I ended up dumping the entire mash into my brew kettle, replaced the manifold with my old trusty braided hose and got everything back on track.

Somehow I ended up with around 6 gallons and an OG of 1.080.

A little lower that expected of course but considering the problem I had with the mash I'll take it.

Going to let it ferment in primary for a month then keg it. I'm planning on letting it sit in the keg until next Halloween if I can wait that long. The wort was delicious! I can't wait to taste it next fall!

Thanks for the recipe.
 
waverz said:
I was going to brew this up today with my dad. I meant to make the starter a few days ago and just realized I didn't do that. I guess I'm not brewing anything today except a starter. Grrrr!

I guess there is a bright side to the delay. I've never heard of this partigying thing before. The delay will give me time to devise a plan for that. Seems like a perfect time to use up some open bags of leftover hops from previous batches.

Also, I've never made anything bigger than a 1L starter before. Going to have to get creative with a container, my flask is only 1L.
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Do a stepped starter. You can build up a nice population of yeast in 2 or 3 steps with just a 1L flask. Do you have a stir plate?
 
robertus said:
Brewed up a 2.5-gallon batch right around mid-July. Let it sit in the primary for a month(ish). Been sitting in bottles since. Cracked one open the other day and it was fantastic. Easily in the top 3 beers I've ever brewed (which maybe isn't saying much, but still). Little bit of alcohol bite, but not too bad. Lots of flavors going on.

Should make for a great Christmas present.
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Okay, so, this has been sitting in 16-oz EZ Cap bottles in the crawlspace since about mid-August. The Christmas party, where I'll be doling these out, is next weekend. Should I throw them bottles in the fridge for a bit to help them settle out, or should they be more or less settled at this point?

I suspect probably the latter, but figured I'd ask before I repurposed the minifridge.
 
So I plan on bottling mine next weekend. Brewed this on 9/9 and it's been in secondary for two months on bourbon oak cubes by the time I plan to bottle. Do I need to add yeast when bottling?? I bought a packet of cdc yeast just in case. Has anyone used this and if so how much do I use?? I'll prob bottle 4 gal and then bottle condition for 6 months. I made a huge starter for this beer so there was a ton of yeast but I just don't want it to b flat but not do I want any bottle bombs. Thanks for advice.
 
olotti said:
So I plan on bottling mine next weekend. Brewed this on 9/9 and it's been in secondary for two months on bourbon oak cubes by the time I plan to bottle. Do I need to add yeast when bottling?? I bought a packet of cdc yeast just in case. Has anyone used this and if so how much do I use?? I'll prob bottle 4 gal and then bottle condition for 6 months. I made a huge starter for this beer so there was a ton of yeast but I just don't want it to b flat but not do I want any bottle bombs. Thanks for advice.
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With 2 months in secondary, it's probably on the border of needing vs. not needing re-pitching. But since you have the yeast, maybe go ahead and pitch some at bottling time anyway. I used CBC-1 with mine after 4 months in secondary with bourbon-soaked oak cubes. That strain doesn't add any flavor. I pitched about 1/3 of the packet--be sure to rehydrate. My RIS was carbed up nicely after a month and will only get better with aging.
 
MaxStout said:
With 2 months in secondary, it's probably on the border of needing vs. not needing re-pitching. But since you have the yeast, maybe go ahead and pitch some at bottling time anyway. I used CBC-1 with mine after 4 months in secondary with bourbon-soaked oak cubes. That strain doesn't add any flavor. I pitched about 1/3 of the packet--be sure to rehydrate. My RIS was carbed up nicely after a month and will only get better with aging.
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Thanks, yeah it's cbc-1 I bought. So u rehydrated the whole packet just like u would using any dry yeast? Now how much did u bottle I'm prob gonna have around 4 gal. I def don't want to pitch to much and have bottle bombs. This beer is going into 15 wax dipped 22oz'ers and 12 12oz'ers if that makes any difference which It prob doesn't lol.
 
I only rehydrated the 1/3 of the packet. The instructions say to sprinkle into warm water, wait 15 minutes, then stir before pitching. Pitching more yeast won't give you bottle-bombs. Whatever is left in the beer at FG is unfermentable (unless your fermentation stalled out and the FG is high). Those unfermentables won't be eaten, regardless of amount of yeast. It only chews up the priming sugar. But the mfr's pitch rate, scaled to your batch, is only a few grams, so you only need a fraction of the packet.

I bottled a little shy of 4.5 gallons, and got about 45 12oz. bottles. I primed to about 2.5 vols.
 
MaxStout said:
I only rehydrated the 1/3 of the packet. The instructions say to sprinkle into warm water, wait 15 minutes, then stir before pitching. Pitching more yeast won't give you bottle-bombs. Whatever is left in the beer at FG is unfermentable (unless your fermentation stalled out and the FG is high). Those unfermentables won't be eaten, regardless of amount of yeast. It only chews up the priming sugar. But the mfr's pitch rate, scaled to your batch, is only a few grams, so you only need a fraction of the packet.

I bottled a little shy of 4.5 gallons, and got about 45 12oz. bottles. I primed to about 2.5 vols.
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Did u boil the water then cool then pitch the appropriate amount of yeast or just draw straight warm water out of the tap then rehydrate. Since u had 4.5gal and primed to 2.5 do u think with me getting 4 gal priming to 2 would be good or should I go 2.25.
 
I boiled the water and cooled it to sanitize it.

Volumes of carbonation means the proportion of volume of CO2 to that of the beer. So if you want, for example, 2.5 volumes, you calculate the amount of sugar needed to achieve that proportion. This calculation is based on volume of beer, temp, and your desired volume of CO2. It's still 2.5 volumes, regardless of whether you have 4 gallons, 4.5, or whatever. It's the amount of priming sugar that will be determined. Also, different beer styles call for different volumes of CO2.

You can use this calculator to determine the amount of sugar needed.
 
I made this recipe about 14 months ago. Have some bottles still sitting around so I tried one. VERY strong flavors of port/sherry, the chocolate and dark fruit flavors are mostly gone. My first experience with large aged beer, so I'm curious if anyone has experience with these flavors further changing with further age.
 
frolfer said:
I made this recipe about 14 months ago. Have some bottles still sitting around so I tried one. VERY strong flavors of port/sherry, the chocolate and dark fruit flavors are mostly gone. My first experience with large aged beer, so I'm curious if anyone has experience with these flavors further changing with further age.
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Might be oxidation you're tasting.
 
I brewed this on 10/27, with the original recipe, except I reduced the 2 row from 17 lbs to 5 lbs, reduced the Challenger (60 min addition) to 2.0 oz due to the partial mash, and added 9 lbs, 14.4 oz (3 cans) of Muntons Dark LME at flameout. The 1 hour mash started at 158, and ended with 152. My SG was 1.109 with a FG OF 1.042 after 5 weeks in primary. 8.65% ABV. At bottling tonight, I have to say this is the thickest beer Ive made. The word "viscosity" comes to mind! Deep, rich, chocolaty,.... Wow!! Can't wait for it to carb up!


"Sometimes Im right half of the time..."
 
olotti said:
So I plan on bottling mine next weekend. Brewed this on 9/9 and it's been in secondary for two months on bourbon oak cubes by the time I plan to bottle. Do I need to add yeast when bottling?? I bought a packet of cdc yeast just in case. Has anyone used this and if so how much do I use?? I'll prob bottle 4 gal and then bottle condition for 6 months. I made a huge starter for this beer so there was a ton of yeast but I just don't want it to b flat but not do I want any bottle bombs. Thanks for advice.
Click to expand...

I brewed my version on 1/18/2014, and went to secondary at the end of February. It sat there until I bottled it on 7/16/2014. It carbed up with no problem, and I didn't add anything. It is excellent, and I am planning on getting a new batch started soon!!
 
Kbho68 said:
I brewed my version on 1/18/2014, and went to secondary at the end of February. It sat there until I bottled it on 7/16/2014. It carbed up with no problem, and I didn't add anything. It is excellent, and I am planning on getting a new batch started soon!!
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I can add to this; I left mine in secondary for about three months and only used priming sugar during bottling. I shot for a low carb level and it is perfect. Crap... I only have a few left. Well here we go again. :tank:
 
I'm an old guy so excuse me if I say something that has 2 meanings. If you do big beers a second running or a parti-gile(sp)is an option. when you are at the end of your sparge measure the last bit of the sparge. If over 1040, have at it. suggestions with this one through a lb of chocolate .25 lb of black in your second running sparge water and bring to heat and than sparge your second run. if it is too low(ie 1025 after boil
add a lb of honey or 2. makes a nice all-day porter.

I like the looks of this recipe will try next brew period.
 
I did a parti-gyle with mine as well. But since I do BIAB, the "second runnings" was just lifting out the bag and setting it in a smaller kettle of hot water. The "mini-me" beer turned out to be 2.5 gallons of a nice sessionable brown ale with an OG of 1.045. Not bad getting another case of beer out of the same grain.
 
I want to rebrew 10 gallons of this and then partgyle it to a 5 gallon batch. Though I may cap it with something to get it a bit higher in og.
 
When I do a parti-gyle, It is after I pull 30 qts and nets me 20qt parti-gyle boil.
Hence a 2.5 gal result. I'm now working on next years brew schedule. I plan on doing 2 with this recipe. In NW ohio and SEmich, we have a fourth generation Store That brews wort. So I usually buy their RIS and concentrate on Scotish Ales and IPA's as my big ones to brew. Although I been doing all day IPA's. More beer and not drunk. I degrees, on the second brew with this recipe I'm going to use WLP007 my
Experience is that it handles high gravity beers easily. I also will see which I like better. Will know answer in 2016.
 
Hey guys, I'm gonna brew it next week, but been wandering if I should put roasted malts at the beginning of the mash and add some gypsum (i have soft water) or at the mashout without the gypsum? Or maybe both - mashout + gypsum?

Cheers!
 
Bottling this now and should get about 4 gal. The sample I pulled is well I'm amazed I could make something this good and I'm shocked at how the bourbon and oak has blended so well with the beer after just 2 months in secondary. I'm gonna add a touch of yeast and a little of the left over bourbon I soaked the oak cubes in at bottling since I plan on bottle conditioning long term. Can't wait to try the first one, I'll prob give it at least 3 months or maybe my daughters 2nd bday in late feb to try the first one.
 
Here's mine. Brewed it a month ago. Had since issues during the mash. My CPVC manifold cam apart so grains clogged my pump that feeds my RIMS. I had to dump the mash, clean the pump, and reconnect the manifold. I mashed extra long but still only ended up with an OG of 1.080 and FG of 1.020. Not as high ABV as I had hoped but it will still be delicious.

The sample tasted pretty awesome. I can't wait to try it in 8 months with some CO2.

View attachment 1420076962576.jpg
 
Hmmm... Can't decide whether to make this or a Double IPA next...

Seems relatively straight forward for such a big beer. Next brew will just be my second all grain batch. Any good reasons not to tackle this? Thinking of also making an Irish Stout with the second runnings to have ready for St. Paddy's Day.
 
TxBigHops said:
Hmmm... Can't decide whether to make this or a Double IPA next...

Seems relatively straight forward for such a big beer. Next brew will just be my second all grain batch. Any good reasons not to tackle this? Thinking of also making an Irish Stout with the second runnings to have ready for St. Paddy's Day.
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I would go with this instead of a dipa. The additions are super easy instead of the typical multiple hop additions of an ipa.

The only negative of making a big beer this early into all grain is that you do not know your efficiency yet. Your efficiency may suffer when you make a big beer and you will not know how much to add to compensate (unless you use dme after the mash). Just be prepared to not hit your numbers :)
 
I am thinking about brewing this for a competition in mid march. Do you think it will be drinkable in this short time if i keep the OG around 1.085?
Once i brewed an 1.080 dipa which was good after 2 weeks primary and 3 weeks bottle that is why i think i can maybe get away with this.

Btw should i add any extra speciality malts like crystal etc. to compensate for the lower OG? Also should i lower IBUs?
 
The_Glue said:
I am thinking about brewing this for a competition in mid march. Do you think it will be drinkable in this short time if i keep the OG around 1.085?
Once i brewed an 1.080 dipa which was good after 2 weeks primary and 3 weeks bottle that is why i think i can maybe get away with this.

Btw should i add any extra speciality malts like crystal etc. to compensate for the lower OG? Also should i lower IBUs?
Click to expand...

I don't think his will be ready by Mid March, you would basically have less than two months for this to ferment out and condition before bottling. DIPA's are much easier to turn around since I feel the hops cover up the hotness of the abv better than a stout does. I made my version of this in August, with an OG of 1.109 and it is still not ready yet.

If I had to bet, I would say you need around 3 months for this and yes you would need to lower the IBUs since you have a lower OG
 
barhoc11 said:
I don't think his will be ready by Mid March, you would basically have less than two months for this to ferment out and condition before bottling. DIPA's are much easier to turn around since I feel the hops cover up the hotness of the abv better than a stout does. I made my version of this in August, with an OG of 1.109 and it is still not ready yet.

If I had to bet, I would say you need around 3 months for this and yes you would need to lower the IBUs since you have a lower OG
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So not even low OG can save me? I remember i have seen a quote here (in a thread about aging and long-term storage) which went something like this: "one day at XX F (where XX is hotter than 70F) is like a year at 60F" or something similar. Should i try that maybe or just skip the RIS category because my beer will be a mess around mid march?

Btw this years competiton styles were announced like 3 months ago so we have like 5-6 months to produce a drinkable RIS and belgian sour among others so maybe all the other beers in this category will be bad too lol.
 
The_Glue said:
Btw this years competiton styles were announced like 3 months ago so we have like 5-6 months to produce a drinkable RIS and belgian sour among others so maybe all the other beers in this category will be bad too lol.
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I guarantee whoever wins the categories of "Belgian Sour" and "RIS" will have brewed these beers at least a year (probably 2 years) before the categories were announced. These are not beers you can rush to the glass. Brew it now and enter it in next year's competition. If you want to enter something into this year's competition, re-brew the DIPA that you said had a really good turnaround time and tasted good. Or do something interesting with the 2nd runnings of the RIS. My 2nd runnings India Black Ale was one of my best beers so far, with a 5 week brew-to-bottle-to-glass time, but I won't be rushing with the RIS, that's for sure.
 
Mine (version of this beer) went about 4 months grain to competition and received a second place ribbon. I only hit 1.086 so maybe that helped a bit or a lot!
 
Brewing this now, and the calculations in Beersmith show the IBUs a bit higher than the OP, mine calculates to 109. I'm not too worried about that as I plan on aging this until next winter.

I bought (2) 3gal better bottles so i can split the batch after primary. I plan on adding bourbon and oak to one batch but undecided on the other. I'm considering leaving it as is, or maybe adding vanilla. Any thoughts?

After reading some other posts on here, I'm guessing I should only secondary for a couple months before I bottle, then let them age the rest of the way in the bottles. I planned on doing 22oz bottles and waxing the tops, hoping these could make some pretty gifts.
 
msa8967 said:
My wife wants me to brew this for next winter (or this coming fall depending on mother nature). Can I secondary this in a keg since she wants it on tap instead of bottled?
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Not only could you secondary it in a keg, but you have an opportunity to "bottle" condition the batch together in a keg by adding priming sugar to the jeg and racking straight from the primary. Options to oak or soak on bourbon soaked oak too
 
TrustyOlJohnson said:
Not only could you secondary it in a keg, but you have an opportunity to "bottle" condition the batch together in a keg by adding priming sugar to the jeg and racking straight from the primary. Options to oak or soak on bourbon soaked oak too
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. How much bourbon soaked french oak would you recommend using and for how long would you let it be in the stout?
 

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