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

Well brewed it this past sunday. Still bubbling every 30 seconds or so. Checked gravity, 1.022!! Guess I had a good fermentation! Its at 10.24% and counting!

 

I brewed this on Saturday and got 16.25 gallons at 1.106 in my 22 gallon brewhemoth. I just got a call from home that the little lady heard some strange sounds coming from my brewery and when she opened the door the blow-off hose turned volcano! So I gave her instructions on how to replace the blow off with a clean hose and now I have to take the 40 mile round trip home at lunch to survey the mess and secure the fermenter. Once its fermented I am going to put 10 gallons in my whiskey barrel the rest will be aged on fresh cut vanilla beans. Now I need to think of what to call this monster.

 

Wow, nice! Never thought of the vanilla beans. How many beans? I just did a 5 gallon batch. You just rack on to secondary?

 

Yes I am racking onto the beans that I will give a short soak in some vodka or everclear first. I am going to go all out on the beans with these since I have 1/2 a pound of Madagascar beans so I want this to be like a Vanilla Dark Lord. And with the high % on this I thing I will need more than normal to get the Vanilla upfront so for the 10 Gallon barrel I will start with 5-6 beans sliced. For the remaining 6 gallon carboy I plan on making that one like Vanilla Candy if possible so I will also add 4-5 beans to that one. In the past I have always used 1-2 beans per 5 gallon batch and have had success but it was not an overpowering Vanilla flavor like the Dark Lord Vanilla and since I am using a Whiskey Barrel also these will need to sit once bottled for a while to mellow and I don’t want too much of the Vanilla to get lost.


Fermenter that threw up!

 

Vanilla sounds like a great addition to this. I've done two vanilla porters now, both at 1.075~ and two beans in the secondary for 1-2 weeks does a nice job. Not too over powering, but noticeable. I'd imagine that one the gravity goes up the vanilla should as well.

P.s. I always soak my vanilla in bourbon, after I cut and scrape the beans I put them back into the small spice jar they came in and fill it with bourbon. Let it sit for a couple days then dump the whole ounce or two in. Always good results.

 

Great info. Thanks guys. I may do this, just debating because this is my first imperial stout. May just enjoy the way it is for now. Then do this on my next batch

 

Will I go to hell if I ask for a Semi extract of this recipe.

I only need something to replace the 17lb of Pale Malt (2 Row) UK Grain.

The rest I can have. I just dont have a mill - too poor - but still want a nice imperial stout.

 

Has anybody added coffee to this recipe? If so how much (cold steeped) , and when was it added?

 

If all you're replacing is the 2-row, you could substitute that with 12.75 pounds of light liquid extract, or 10.2 pounds of dry extract.

 

Thank a lot

This will be my next HB

Just need to drink the other faster or I wont have anymore place to stock those bottles.

 

Brewed this on New Years Day, racking it to secondary tonight. I soaked about a cup of oak chips in Knob Creek and I am going to transfer it on top of those.

I will let you know how it tastes in another 2 months.

 

Got 10.5 gallons into my bourbon barrel Thursday along with 6 split vanilla beans that I soaked in some Jim Beam and Cabin Fever Maple Whiskey. The rest went into a carboy with more of the soaked beans. I also put 1.75 liters of Jim Beam along with a bottle of the Cabin Fever in the clean barrel and let it soak for 2 days turning the barrel when I could prior to adding the beer. The Cabin Fever made the barrel smell like Utopias when it was dumped. With the beer and the vanilla in it now my brewery smells like freshly baked Hawaiian bread!

 

Subscribed!

 

marubozo... brewed this recipe about a month ago and got it off the yeast just last weekend. Used your exact recipe, just a little more 2 row because I didn't think I could reach your numbers. I did. Calc'd out at 12.2%. There was a little left over, so I enjoyed a pint of this delicious brew. Like a chocolate milk shake. Don't know if I can wait 6 months for the rest. Starting another asap. Thanks!!

 

Hey, glad it turned out well. Yeah, I need to get on another batch myself so it will be ready come next fall/winter. The keg of it I have now is going quickly...

 

marubozo,

Just had a Outer Darkness RIS from Squatters, and enjoyed the hell out of it. Have been eye-balling this recipe for quite some time prior, and figured that this would be a perfect brew to get going for this coming fall. What was your efficiency on this brew? I will probably hit around 82% I think, but I am not really sure (usually around 86-88 on beers I have done up to OG of 1.075). This would be the biggest beer I will have brewed if I go this route.

Also, I have entered in the hop schedule that you have listed into Brewpal, and it comes in way short on IBU's. Do you know whether you are tinseth or rager? I am just looking to get pretty close, but my IBU's listed are 65 tinseth/102 rager vs. your 87. Please let me know what you think. May have to adjust my quantities a little bit.

Thanks for your time! Greatly appreciated!
Ryan M.

 

mccumath, the recipe was built around 75% efficiency because I figured a big beer would tend to be a little less efficient, but I ended up coming in at about 80%. So, plan accordingly.

As for the hops, as someone pointed out earlier in the thread it looks like the AAs listed for challenger and EKG were reversed. Challenger hops should come in around 7% and EKG between 5-6%. Because of that the total IBUs for the recipe would edge up a little bit. As far as tinseth or rager, all I can say is it is whatever Beersmith calculates by default as I haven't made any custom adjustments to the software. I believe it's tinseth by default, but it may make a few other assumptions as well. I've never looked into the specifics of it. So the IBU came from that.

 

Just checked a sample after being 3 weeks in the secondary, delicious. And somehow got another 1/4% out of her. Sitting at 10.5% now!

 

Maru: When using 12.75lbs of LME, because it's not an even number, do you think it would be advantageous to use 6lbs light/gold, 6lbs amber, and the difference in sugar? My thought process is that LME doesn't usually ferment out as dry as AG does, so the sugar would help in that aspect and the amber would be there to add back a little more sweetness and body which would be lost by the sugar.
Thoughts?

 

Thanks for this one Maru!! Just wanted to say thanks for all the input and adjustment ideas. I brewed this on Sunday and what a day it was. I tried using fermcap for the first time last thursday with great results, so I thought I was in the clear on this big beer by adding 12 drops to my primary. Boy was I wrong!! I took all the necessary precautions, and I am glad I did. I am a big fan of dry yeast so I rehydrated two packs of s-04 before pitching and holy cow what a monster fermentation. I had a blowoff rig set up, and hid the primary in my 15 gallon kettle just to be on the safe side. That night my dog woke me up barking at the fermentation chamber (the closet under my stairs). I opened the door and found my tube was raging with foam and what sounded like a machine gun on rapid fire in the blowoff bottle that was sitting in another empty bucket. The next day I came home from work to find about 1/2 a gallon of loss, and a very silent fermentor..... My nightmare was that it had stuck, but quite the opposite. In two days the beer went from 1.094 to 1.023! I tryed a sample just because I couldnt stop myself and I am amazed. I am going to have a hard time waiting to enjoy this one!! Cheers!!!:rockin:

 

Just kegged this up last week, its been conditioning since August, and I have to say, I'm a beleiver.

First mug, poured beautifuly with cascading bubbles down the sides of the glass, rich black color with a reddish brown cast and a brown head. Flavor is extremely nice, big body with a smooth mouthfeel. It has a good roasted flavor with an unmistakable chocolate note. The hops stay in the background but aren't totally covered up, a very nice effect in my opinion. I can't wait till the carbonation balances out a bit more, this is one of my favorites to date without a doubt. About half way through the mug, I definately see where the milkshake comments are comming from,YUM. At 10.7% alcohol I'm shocked I can't taste it, outside a nice warming feeling in my stomach, its basically undetectable to me. This beer surely packs a punch, but I love it!

On a side note, my wife who is normally hesitant when it comes to stouts, loves this beer too, I can hardley keep her out of it so I know its not going to last long at my house. I hope i can keep it around long enough to show it off to friends. I can tell i should have allready brewed a second batch.

Thanks once again for sharing this awesome recipe, I wouldnt change a thing

 

Well, to be honest I haven't experimented with extract in a while so I'm not exactly sure how the fermentation stacks up against grain, but if your experience has been that it doesn't ferment out as dry and then want to add a little sugar to make up the difference, it probably isn't that bad of an idea. And there's so much flavor here that having a little sugar probably isn't going to be all that noticeable, so might as well give it a shot. I'm 100% certain you'll make beer.

It's great to hear some feedback on the final results coming in from others. It is a long wait, but as you have discovered, it's totally worth it. Glad it turned out and good luck on the next batch.

 

Brewed 2 gallons of this to christen my new rig. Couldn't find challenger do I substituted magnum.

 

been looking for something to do to have this winter...I think I found my recipe

 

i have a couple packages of S-04 and S-05.

instead of a WL002 yeast starter, how do you think two packs of S-04 would do in this guy?

 

That should get the job done. I wouldn't be too concerned going that route.

 

This is what 2 packs of s-04 does!

We brewed 12 gallons if this yesterday and I almost wish we had done two 6 gallon batches. This is ALOT of grain. We managed 76% eff, but it was really taxing to get there. Bump your grain bill up some and take some of the stress out. Fun brew though. Very exciting to see this taking off so well.

 

So I have finally been able to try the Marabuzo RIS. Mine has a darker head than in the original picture. The beer is very good. Reminds me of a the warming flavor I get from a good liquer. The flavor is quite complex with everything from raisin to burnt coffee.

I wanted to improve the cost effectiveness of the brew so I did a a Parti-gyle and yielded another 5 gallons of runnings off of the original grain bed. The final gravity was headed for 1.035 so I added a pound of Dried malt extract to bring it up to 1.044. For the second brew I aimed for 36 IBU and the color calculated at about 60.

To make these approximations I put the entire grain bill into beersmith for both beers on seperate files. For the Big beer I figured about a 60% efficiency. On the little beer I figured about 25 % efficiency. I assume that there will still be about 15 % of the potential extractable sugar when I am through. You may adjust based on you own efficiency.

In terms of Quality: The Little beer is one of the best porters/stouts I have ever had. Really roasty, a slightly light body, Great head retention. Quick to mature. Can probably be made well with a ton of different american or english yeasts. The balance was not bad either. To say the least. They are all gone.:rockin:

I promised photos here they are.

The one with the white head is the Little beer.

PS. Marabuzo's RIS is effectively ink colored and it is thick. Do Not Spill!.

 

Nice, been looking to do a nice RIS. I think we have a winner.

 

Looking good! And I can vouch for not spilling it. One of my kids dumped a full pint over in our living room with white carpet. Needless to say, our carpet will never be the same.

Also, another quick update, but I submitted this to NHC again this year, although slightly modified because I couldn't find the right hops. It scored a pair of 36s in the first round with the only negative comments both being some oxidation. That was probably my fault due to the trouble I had bottling from keg, but it was another strong performer this year.

 

I just wanted to know where most of you guys are finishing? OG 1.092. A week in and I'm at 1.030. I used wyeast London ale and made a large starter. This one took off in 2 hours.

 

This beer usually finishes between 1.026-1.030 for me.

 

Thanks for the recipe! I am super excited about this one!

 

Just wanted to say thank you for this recipe. Brewed this about 6 weeks ago and it is already absolutely delicious. This is everything I love about an imperial stout. Thick, chocolatey, roasty, some raisin, perfect balance of hops. This is seriously one of the best RIS's I have ever had. I can't wait for 6 months to be up when it's already this incredible.

Seriously, a big thanks for sharing.

Tony

 

Well, thank you for the high praise. I'm just glad I could share and that others can enjoy it.

 

I brewed this last night. Hit 1.089 so a bit low, but should be fine. I then did a Parti gyle brew and got about 4 gallons at 1.053 which i used some leftover fuggles and ekg in.

So everything went pretty well. Can't wait to try this one.

 

This thread is making my mouth water....I know what I am making in a month of so. Should be ready for winter!!

 

Just put a few of these in the fridge. Brewed on 2/3/12

 

Looks good

 

Wow.. brewed this today.. as a BIAB.. just dont.. I'm sure the beer is wonderful.. but the ammounts of trub you get with this as BIAB.. took us 6 hours to brew since we had a hard time getting the temps up cause of the mash being so thick (should have gone for a smaller batch) but alot of trub.. filters kept plugging while transfering it to the primary so that took 1,5 hours to get it clear enough.. heh


Hopefully we dont have any contaminants and it'll turn out good