Beer is good by the way. I'm no BJCP judge and haven't tried too many RIS's but it's smoother than it was a week ago after thawing out. At 12.3% it's not too bad.
Imperial Stout Russian Imperial Stout (2011 HBT Competition Category Winner)
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Beer is good by the way. I'm no BJCP judge and haven't tried too many RIS's but it's smoother than it was a week ago after thawing out. At 12.3% it's not too bad.
abbysdad2006
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So, measured the gravity again on 11/22/15 and its at about 1.026, which brings the ABV to roughly 10%. My question is, should I a little more amylase or just wait and take another reading this coming weekend and see what its at then?
In my opinion, 1.026 is perfect for this style of beer. That's where my RIS stopped, and I love it. I may even attempt to get the one I brew next year to finish higher.
abbysdad2006
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So, should I bottle?
abbysdad2006
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OK, thanks. I've heard this can be a little tricky to carb up, any ideas on how to do it? Should I add more yeast when I add the priming sugar, or just add the sugar?
I add 1/2 a pack of Cbc-1, it's a cask conditioning yeast, on any beer I make 9% or higher, learned my lesson when a dipa I made took a month to carb and just destroyed the hops. I've brewed my ris 3 times now varying between 9.5-11% and used the same formula of 1/2 packet rehydrated and added to the bottling bucket. Usually takes about a month but it gets the job done no problem and gets better the longer you let it sit.
abbysdad2006
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So add the cbc-1 and priming sugar to bottle bucket?
Yup. It's that easy and you only have to rehydrate the CBc-1 in about 4oz of water, boiled and cooled of course to sanitize the water, then cool to about 90-ish let the yeast rehydrate for about 15 min and then add cooled water I boil a little extra and stick it in the freezer to chill it down then add it in increments so it'll bring the yeast temp down to about 65 then pitch it in the bucket. I also don't cold crash my ris's like I do my ipas so I try to get the yeast to the temp of the beer which is usually 65-68deg.
Ditto on the CBC-1. That yeast is awesome. The mfr. recommends 10g per hectoliter, so that works out to about 2g in a 5 gal batch. You could pitch 1/2 pack just to be sure. I pitched about 1/3 of the 11g packet in my RIS and had full carbonation in 3 weeks.
mgr_stl
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A couple questions as I just today came across this recipe thread and will be brewing it on Saturday.
#1 - The obligatory "is the recipe on the first post still the most widely used and acclaimed"?
#2 - Is there a good reason to use all those low-alpha bittering hops (4 ounces) as opposed to an ounce of a high-alpha hop?
#3 - The LHBS does not carry White Labs, and instead recommended I use Wyeast 1318 (English Ale III). After looking at it's description, I'm not convinced it's the best option. Think it'll work well for this beer?
#1 - The obligatory "is the recipe on the first post still the most widely used and acclaimed"?
#2 - Is there a good reason to use all those low-alpha bittering hops (4 ounces) as opposed to an ounce of a high-alpha hop?
#3 - The LHBS does not carry White Labs, and instead recommended I use Wyeast 1318 (English Ale III). After looking at it's description, I'm not convinced it's the best option. Think it'll work well for this beer?
btbnl
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Partial answers:
#1: the first recipe is the one I brewed and it's excellent.
#2: I think it's more about he character of English hops - and an extra 2oz of hops is the least of your costs with this grain bill!
#3: if you can only get Wyeast, for a RIS their website recommends
1028 - London Ale
1056 - American Ale
1762 - Belgian Abbey II
1728 - Scottish Ale
1450 - Denny's Favorite 50
1) From all I've read, the original recipe makes an excellent RIS. I was torn between this recipe and the Kate the Great recipe, so I did a bunch of research and came up with my own. Its close to this, but I added a few additional malts.
2) I thought the same thing as you. I ended up using 1 ounce of Magnum at 60, 2 oz Challenger at 45 and 2 oz of EKG at 30. So almost the original, but one oz less total.
3) I used two hydrated packs of S-04, which I think is the same yeast as WLP002. Fermentation blew the lid off the fermenting bucket. I love S-04! My version turned out amazing.
I brewed this back in July and after bottling the end of August, it is amazing. I had a local RIS last night and then 1 of these, and I preferred mine to the craft beer. I will be doing this again in Feb-March.
One of the better beers I have done. Thank you OP (I don't even think he is active anymore)
One of the better beers I have done. Thank you OP (I don't even think he is active anymore)
HappyFermentations
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Has anyone tried barrel aging this? I've got a 5g whiskey barrel arriving this week and am looking for something to put in it. Any advice would be great - thanks!
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This is the recipe i used in my rye whiskey barrel. Havent bottled yet but like i mentioned in your thread the samples have been fantastic.
Alidocious
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My first post on HBT is to let you guys know I brewed this last weekend. I made some very moderate changes to the recipe due to availability, but otherwise followed to a tee. OG was 1097 and went off like a cannon. I use an ambient, but controlled, temperature in a small room so I've kept it at 60 degrees. I'm thinking of picking up a new Hungarian oak barrel to throw this into, we'll see what the post Christmas sales look like.
Also parti-gyled the second runnings onto the yeast cake from a smoked squash ale I made. Very curious to see if the yeast kept any of the smoky flavour from that beer. OG was 1041 for the parti-gyle.
Also parti-gyled the second runnings onto the yeast cake from a smoked squash ale I made. Very curious to see if the yeast kept any of the smoky flavour from that beer. OG was 1041 for the parti-gyle.
abbysdad2006
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Ok so my LHBS was out of cbc-1, got US-05 instead. That's the yeast I used originally in the beer. Question is should I still only use 1/2 the package?
That will be plenty. You only need it to chew through a few oz. of priming sugar.
abbysdad2006
Well-Known Member
Been brewing a lot of 1.5 gallon batches, thinking of doing the same here.
Figured I could primary for a month and then bottle? They won't be opened for another year after that. What's the benefit of secondary over bottling?
Figured I could primary for a month and then bottle? They won't be opened for another year after that. What's the benefit of secondary over bottling?
They say it ages better in bulk rather than bottles. I only left mine ijn secondary for a month after 3 weeks in fermewntation. After 3 months in bottles they are really great.
If you are not using any oak or vanilla, you could leave it in primary and transfer directly to bottles
The only issue I'm encountering is really no way to ensure 60F for 6-8 months with only a swamp cooler and many other brews in the pipeline. But, I could easily allow for it to sit at room temp (60-68F) for 8 months no problem. Will that cause any issue?
No issues at all. Mostly just preference. Some will say otherwise though.
I agree with bowserm. Main reason to secondary is to age on wood or add other flavors, while also some claim bulk aging is preferable to bottle aging. But you gotta do what your system resources allow. Aging for 6 months or more in the bottle at room temperature should still produce a vey nice beer. Good luck!
As far as I know, 60-68 is an excellent temp range for aging, either in bulk or bottle. Once primary fermentation is complete, I don't see much reason to keep the beer at fermentation temps.
Where do you live? My room temp rarely if ever drops below 72. I'm jealous!
I bottle condition all my beer at 68 for 2 and a half weeks, then take them down to my basement where it normally 58-64 degrees
This is super dark!!! - got a batch going now and never reached max capacity on my mash tun till this batch!
with this being a 'big' beer would second runnings be good for a lighter beer? or would that not turn out good?
with this being a 'big' beer would second runnings be good for a lighter beer? or would that not turn out good?
mgr_stl
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I took a gravity reading tonight to see how things were going three weeks into my variation of this recipe. I'm at 1.034 from an OG of 1.102. That puts me at about 8.9% ABV. I was expecting it to finish a little lower. Is this a pretty normal FG, or is it high like I'm suspecting?
I mashed (BIAB) at 153-154 despite my target of 151, which I'm thinking might have something to do with it.
I used Wyeast 1318 and fermented at 64.5F for the first five days and then bumped up to 68F for the rest of the time.
The sample tasted great, but definitely on the sweeter end of things.
Would you guys do anything to try to get it a bit lower, or just call it a day? Was planning on bottling next Saturday (4 weeks after brewing) to bottle age for a few months.
I mashed (BIAB) at 153-154 despite my target of 151, which I'm thinking might have something to do with it.
I used Wyeast 1318 and fermented at 64.5F for the first five days and then bumped up to 68F for the rest of the time.
The sample tasted great, but definitely on the sweeter end of things.
Would you guys do anything to try to get it a bit lower, or just call it a day? Was planning on bottling next Saturday (4 weeks after brewing) to bottle age for a few months.
abbysdad2006
Well-Known Member
Bottled this last week and added 1/2 pack of safale-05 along with priming sugar, after a week it's ready!! It's amazing!! Thank you for all the help.
When I did mine, the first month was quite sweet. Originally mine stopped at 1.024 and it was really sweet. It's been 5 months now and it tastes really good. The sweetness kind of goes away.
I have a feeling because yours had a higher OG and FG than mine, yours should do the same. If you're concerned about the FG let it sit a bit if you have the space and an available carboy/fermenter
mgr_stl
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Thanks for the advice, bowserm.
I'm considering pitching some US-05 I have around to get that 1.034 gravity a bit lower. Would anyone advise for or against doing this? If I do, should I just maintain the current 70 degree temperature? Would I want to pitch all of it or just half?
I'm considering pitching some US-05 I have around to get that 1.034 gravity a bit lower. Would anyone advise for or against doing this? If I do, should I just maintain the current 70 degree temperature? Would I want to pitch all of it or just half?
ja09
Well-Known Member
You can, but personally I'd let it ride. How does it taste? 1.030 is a good finishing gravity for this recipe, and your og was higher. It has enough roast and bitterness to balance it out and there's a good chance 05 won't do anything.
Remember Imperial stouts should be thick and sweet, but a good recipe is balanced. Most of the highest rated ones finish above 1.040.
I made a honey brown ale from this recipe. I capped it with a few pounds of 2 row and I believe that was it. Came out above 1.040 but it was a long time ago. Totally worth it to do it if you can.
dergolem
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Hello,
I would like to use this for my first post and say hello to everyone. We are two brewers from Germany, brewed around 30 batches until now and decided to go for this nice receipe two weeks ago.
We directly did a 50l batch (must be something like 10gal)
and just substituted 1kg of pale ale palt for 1kg of oats and carafa 2 instead of special b. Regarding hops we used Perle and Hellertauer Blanc as substitute, with exactly the same final IBU.
The mash was ... hard. Hard to stir and hard to lauter, but worked out quite well. We finished with a little bit low on 1.088 (post boil gravity), but just because we first reached 1.110 and diluted with a bit too much water.
While lautering the "foam" on top was absolutely delicious (see pictures). Tasted like sweet, roasty chocolate. We couldn't stop dipping our fingers into it to taste it
.
Finally we decided to use a yeast we had on hand, so we went with Safale 05 (with many doubts). But after 4 days of medium activity and 4 more days, we reached a FG of 1.032 today ... should be ok.
Bottling is next week and then aging for 1 or 2 month. So looking forward to post a tasting note in quite a while.
I would like to use this for my first post and say hello to everyone. We are two brewers from Germany, brewed around 30 batches until now and decided to go for this nice receipe two weeks ago.
We directly did a 50l batch (must be something like 10gal)
and just substituted 1kg of pale ale palt for 1kg of oats and carafa 2 instead of special b. Regarding hops we used Perle and Hellertauer Blanc as substitute, with exactly the same final IBU.The mash was ... hard. Hard to stir and hard to lauter, but worked out quite well. We finished with a little bit low on 1.088 (post boil gravity), but just because we first reached 1.110 and diluted with a bit too much water.
While lautering the "foam" on top was absolutely delicious (see pictures). Tasted like sweet, roasty chocolate. We couldn't stop dipping our fingers into it to taste it
.Finally we decided to use a yeast we had on hand, so we went with Safale 05 (with many doubts). But after 4 days of medium activity and 4 more days, we reached a FG of 1.032 today ... should be ok.
Bottling is next week and then aging for 1 or 2 month. So looking forward to post a tasting note in quite a while.
Brewing this today. Heating strike water now. Hooray beer!
Edit - Yeast pitched and in the ferm chamber. A bit too much on the sparge volume, and a long boil lead to an OG of 1.116. this is going to be a huge beer, so looking forward to it.
Edit - Yeast pitched and in the ferm chamber. A bit too much on the sparge volume, and a long boil lead to an OG of 1.116. this is going to be a huge beer, so looking forward to it.
Brewski_59
https://www.facebook.com/narcosisbrew/
Made this today. Missed my og. At 1.088. I anticipated more boil off, so we ended up with close to 8 gallons instead of 6 at the end. More beer, how could that be bad?
RepealProhibition
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I'm only able to do extract brews with specialty grains for now but I'm going to give this recipe a try this weekend.
I plan on using 10 pounds of light DME and 1 pound of D180. Any tips on the following?
1. Steep specialty grains in two gallons of water at 158F in two separate muslin bags at the same time for 30 minutes. Use two separate bags to increase surface area. At the end of the 30 minutes dip and redip the bags a few times to extract everything possible.
2. Bring water to a boil and add 5 pounds of DME. No additional water added since this is a partial boil.
3. Boil for 60 minutes following hop schedule.
4. Add remaining DME and yeast nutrient for last 10 minutes of boil.
5. Cool to 70F and move to primary fermenter.
6. Top off to a little over 5 gallons and add two packages of rehydrated US-05 yeast.
7. Oxygenate using pure oxygen and my oxygen wand.
8. After 5-7 days add 1 pound of candi syrup to fermenter.
9. Wait 3-4 weeks and move to secondary for 3-4 months of bulk aging.
Any thoughts or comments on changing anything listed above? Would the D-180 be useful? I generally like a fuller body on my stouts but it seems tough with extract.
I plan on using 10 pounds of light DME and 1 pound of D180. Any tips on the following?
1. Steep specialty grains in two gallons of water at 158F in two separate muslin bags at the same time for 30 minutes. Use two separate bags to increase surface area. At the end of the 30 minutes dip and redip the bags a few times to extract everything possible.
2. Bring water to a boil and add 5 pounds of DME. No additional water added since this is a partial boil.
3. Boil for 60 minutes following hop schedule.
4. Add remaining DME and yeast nutrient for last 10 minutes of boil.
5. Cool to 70F and move to primary fermenter.
6. Top off to a little over 5 gallons and add two packages of rehydrated US-05 yeast.
7. Oxygenate using pure oxygen and my oxygen wand.
8. After 5-7 days add 1 pound of candi syrup to fermenter.
9. Wait 3-4 weeks and move to secondary for 3-4 months of bulk aging.
Any thoughts or comments on changing anything listed above? Would the D-180 be useful? I generally like a fuller body on my stouts but it seems tough with extract.
