OFFICIAL Kate the Great Russian Imperial Stout Clone

[NoIguanaForZ]

When we brew a batch of Kate we use 77% Pale malt, 2% Crystal 45, 1% Caramel 120, 1% Chocolate malt,1% Black malt, 3% Carafa DH# 3 (Weyerman),3.5% Wheat malt 3.5% Flaked Barley, 2% Roasted malt,3.5% Special B, 2.5% Aromatic.

Wow.

I assume someone's contacted them to remind them that you don't need a complex grain bill to have a complex beer?

 

[mblanks2]

Wow.

I assume someone's contacted them to remind them that you don't need a complex grain bill to have a complex beer?

YEEAHH! Don't knock it. This beer is awesome. Besides, it hasn't been professionally brewed in years.(2012)

 

[sikkingj]

I have this aging in a corny keg, but I brewed up about 8 gallons of second runnings porter of the grain bill (added honey and some ferment-ables) and after a month it has been tasting great. I can't wait to taste the first runnings in a few months.

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

YEEAHH! Don't knock it. This beer is awesome. Besides, it hasn't been professionally brewed in years.(2012)

I wouldn't knock it; sounds amazing. I just chuckled reading the recipe in light of its reputation, since I see that (true in and of itself) advice thrown around as though it translated to "therefore you should never use a complex malt bill."

 

[gotbags-10]

Anyone use hop extract for the bittering additions?

 

[Btaz]

Anyone use hop extract for the bittering additions?

I have on a pliney clone which has a ton of IBUs, but doesn't seem to be necessary here

 

[gotbags-10]

I'm talking about using it in place of the 3 bittering hops but only to 63 ibu's like what is called for.

 

[mblanks2]

I'm talking about using it in place of the 3 bittering hops but only to 63 ibu's like what is called for.

I haven't used them before but don't see where it would be problem.

 

[gotbags-10]

Thanks mblanks. Has anyone used Denny's yeast for this? It provides such a nice mouthfeel for stouts. Also what's a ph I should be shooting for? Can't wait to brew this thing!

 

[Btaz]

I'm finally through reading all the posts and will be brewing this in 3 weeks. I can't wait. I'm targeting an 11G batch with a 1.110 OG at 60% eff. 2nd use of med oak soaking in tawny port. I plan to keg the first 5G for thanksgiving.

 

[mblanks2]

I'm finally through reading all the posts and will be brewing this in 3 weeks. I can't wait. I'm targeting an 11G batch with a 1.110 OG at 60% eff. 2nd use of med oak soaking in tawny port. I plan to keg the first 5G for thanksgiving.

Wow, 11 gallons. How big is your mash tun?

 

[Jwin]

I'm finally through reading all the posts and will be brewing this in 3 weeks. I can't wait. I'm targeting an 11G batch with a 1.110 OG at 60% eff. 2nd use of med oak soaking in tawny port. I plan to keg the first 5G for thanksgiving.

I did the same a couple weeks ago.
45# 2 row
I steeped the roasted grains in a bag in a hdpe bucket with 2.5-3g wort pulled from the mash after 45 minutes
After another 45 I dunk sparged them with more wort a couple times.
I set 2g of first runnings to the side and gyled another 10.5g of Belgian IPA off the main mash.
Hit 1.1 post boil and tossed it on a pacman yeast cake.
It's ready to cold crash in the speidel now.

I have one of those giant Coleman extremes, about 4 ft long, and it was FULL.

 

[Btaz]

I did the same a couple weeks ago.
45# 2 row
I steeped the roasted grains in a bag in a hdpe bucket with 2.5-3g wort pulled from the mash after 45 minutes
After another 45 I dunk sparged them with more wort a couple times.
I set 2g of first runnings to the side and gyled another 10.5g of Belgian IPA off the main mash.
Hit 1.1 post boil and tossed it on a pacman yeast cake.
It's ready to cold crash in the speidel now.

I have one of those giant Coleman extremes, about 4 ft long, and it was FULL.

Interesting idea to steep the dark grajns.why? You got 10.5g on the party? Did you and sugar/dme? What was tour effeciency for both?

 

[Jwin]

Interesting idea to steep the dark grajns.why? You got 10.5g on the party? Did you and sugar/dme? What was tour effeciency for both?

I steeped the grains so I would get an unroasted gyle. My last brew before this was 11g imperial porter, so I wanted something lighter.
I did add one can lme to the gyle, but it wasn't totally necessary. Put it at a 1.066og iirc.
I didn't calculate effeciency on this, I'm lazy. I made beer. I don't expect great effeciency on big beers.
Note, I kept a couple gallons of the first runnings for the second beer, then sparged another 10. Getting the extra couple gallons set aside keeps the second beer from being to thin/low gravity and also helped keep the mash from being to thick by allotting the extra strike water.
To make sure I got proper gravity on the KTG brew, I just set it up for 12.5 gallons into the fermenter, no sparge in beersmith. Brew house effeciency set to 60%. The mash thickness was a bit on the thick side for sure.

I just threw 2oz magnum in at 60 and 15/5/0 additions of 7cs. 120* steep then split and pitched danstar abbayale and fermintis abbay.

 

[Jwin]

So the gyle went well. Double batch sparged. 90m boil.
I split the wort and pitched danstar abbaye ale and safbrew be256 abbaye yeast.

both fermented in the low 60s for a week then free rise. Only tapped the danstar so far(1.007FG). Came out a nice darker copper color. The spicy notes play in the background to the stone fruit and floral notes of the hops. Very crisp and enjoyable beer.

Now, I haven't even packaged the RIS yet. Life in the way. It's been chilling the the fermentation fridge, cold crashing.

View attachment 1464843757207.jpg

 

[Jwin]

Kegging this today
1.027 on a Pacman yeast cake
Sample tasted great!

 

[Whalewang]

what post # is the recipe on?

thanks in advance.

 

[Jwin]

I used the one on post 9, but upped to 14g in BS.
Then adjusted gravity to correct amount without sparging, set aside 2.5ish gallons for a gyle and steeped my roasted grains
Only netted about 9.5 into the kegs though

 

[Whalewang]

Thanks for the quick reply. Btw, I made this last year and it was amazing! (just lost what the recipe was).

 

[Jwin]

Really stoked here
Gonna give it a couple more months in the keg, then bottle a few and maybe pour a few
My FG actually ended at 1.022-23
It absorbed a bit more co2 than I thought(I pressurize my fermenter when cold crashing).
The sample seemed pretty spot on. I was worried about sweetness from the gravity, but the taste was good. Makes sense now.

 

[sikkingj]

Brewed this in March of last year (2015), just tapped this month (June 2016), it is a very good stout. I BIAB, so my numbers are a bit lower (SG 1.072, FG 1.028, ABV 6.2%), but it is a solid beer.

I used an oak spiral (American medium toast) and 1/2 cup of port, can't taste the oak, but the port really shines through.

Made a great partigyle off this recipe which I might try to recreate in its own right. I have to say this stout was worth the wait.

 

[Jwin]

Interesting idea to steep the dark grajns.why? You got 10.5g on the party? Did you and sugar/dme? What was tour effeciency for both?

Just tapped this. No pic. It's black. So black that the flashlight on my phone only showed a small red circle through the pint.
Smell is very yeasty(second pint, dumped #1)
I used pacman.
Very balanced. A *tad* sweeter than I would like in a RIS but not bad. It's not sweet, by any means. Still crisp and dries out after swallow.
Plum fig and chocolate on the tongue. Dark Coffee after. Solid beer. I'll call it a win!

 

[laredo7mm]

I brewed this on Sunday and all went well. I used the percentages in the OP and shot for an OG of 1.110. I hit 1.108 with about 6 gallons going into the fermenter.

I pitched a decanted starter (crashed cool at high krausen) of 732 billion cells at about 4PM on Sunday, put it in the ferm chamber and set it for 68°. From looking at the BrewPi graphs I could see I had active fermentation within 4 hours and peak fermentation looks like it ended last night as the fridge temperature setting is starting to go back up.

Is this normal? I guess I was expecting a longer time to peak fermentation, or longer duration since it is such a big beer. I guess it does makes sense since I pitched a pretty big starter. I made a barleywine a while back and I will have to look at my notes to see how fermentation went, but I thought I would post here for any feedback before then.

 

[kirkenka]

Plus sporting goods stores probably carry more than target

 

[RevKev]

I brewed this on Sunday and all went well. I used the percentages in the OP and shot for an OG of 1.110. I hit 1.108 with about 6 gallons going into the fermenter.

I pitched a decanted starter (crashed cool at high krausen) of 732 billion cells at about 4PM on Sunday, put it in the ferm chamber and set it for 68°. From looking at the BrewPi graphs I could see I had active fermentation within 4 hours and peak fermentation looks like it ended last night as the fridge temperature setting is starting to go back up.

Is this normal? I guess I was expecting a longer time to peak fermentation, or longer duration since it is such a big beer. I guess it does makes sense since I pitched a pretty big starter. I made a barleywine a while back and I will have to look at my notes to see how fermentation went, but I thought I would post here for any feedback before then.

I've read from scholarly articles that peak fermentation happens within 24-48 hour after pitch when using a starter. I have yet to confirm myself as I never did a study, yet sounds right even though I have not brewed this stout.. it is planned

Edit: 24-48 hours not days lol.. I'm smackedddd

 

[laredo7mm]

I've read from scholarly articles that peak fermentation happens within 24-48 hour after pitch when using a starter. I have yet to confirm myself as I never did a study, yet sounds right even though I have not brewed this stout.. it is planned

Edit: 24-48 hours not days lol.. I'm smackedddd

Right on. I looked back at my notes and I pitched a decanted 4 liter starter of WLP002 for my barleywine and it took off quickly too. It started at 1.100 and finished at 1.024. I didn't have the fermentation chamber built at the time so it was funny to read my notes since I was constantly moving the carboy to cooler or warmer rooms in the house and turning the heat up and down.

Here is my BrewPi graph for Kate showing the ferm chamber temp and beer temp. It looks like I was at peak fermentation for about 18 to 20 hours and now she is tapering off.

 

[cegan09]

Made this today. Had some hiccups. Missed my OG numbers by a mile (i'm having some big efficiency issues with my BIAB setup that i've yet to track down). I added 1lb of DME (all I had) and landed at 1.092 (with the DME) when my projected was 1.104. I may add some sugar mid fermentation to bump that up a little.

I made 3.7gallons knowing that I loose about half a gallon to trub, so i'm putting 3 gallons in a secondary to sit and age. I'm planning to mimic the latest version of Mott The Lesser that mixes Brandy, Port, Rum, Bourbon barrel aging. Going to skip the brandy and do a mix of Port, Rum, and Bourbon. I'd like feedback on the oaking however.

Sounds like most people use around 3oz Oak for a 5gallon batch? So scaling that gives me 1.8oz for 3 gallons. I'll divide that between the 3 alcohols, soak, and add. Is 30 days on Oak about right?

 

[stillshinen]

These are the numbers I got out of BeerSmith for a 5.5 gal batch......if someone wouldn't mind double checking that would be awesome.

OG:1.104 @ 70% efficiency
Amount Item Type %
17.75 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 77.0 %
0.80 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 3.5 %
0.80 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 3.5 %
0.80 lb Wheat Malt, Dark (9.0 SRM) Grain 3.5 %
0.70 lb Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Grain 3.0 %
0.60 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 2.5 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 2.0 %
0.50 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 2.0 %
0.25 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 1.0 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 1.0 %
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 1.0 %

1.2 oz Magnum [14.00%] (75 min) Hops 38.1 IBU
0.80 oz Pearle [8.00%] (75 min) Hops 15.0 IBU
0.80 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40%] (75 min) Hops 10.0 IBU
0.18 oz Centennial [10.00%] (15 min) Hops 2.0 IBU
0.30 oz Palisade [7.50%] (0 min) Hops - 1.0 IBU
0.43 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40%] (0 min) Hops - 1.0 IBU
0.43 oz Williamette [5.50%] (0 min) Hops - 1.0 IBU

Over the past month I have read over most of the pages in this post and can't wait until my grains come in from NorCalbrewing (Flat rate shipping to an FPO Box (Singapore)). A big thanks to guys there as it's not easy or cheap to get brewing items in the Far East. I am looking for people that have brewed this beer and have brewed this recipe and then have changed it for the better. I have read about the port soak oak chips and am interested in specific directions on that. I don't have an O2 set up so i am concerned about a stuck fermentation. I am currently making hard root beer and Hop Hammer IPA and feel that they should be fermenting faster than 2 +weeks. So if anyone has their best practice, please pass it on. I use a yeast starter via stir plate and plan on doing a gallon and cold crashing it to pour off 4/5th of it to get at the yeast cake. Any other tips are more than welcome.

 

[stillshinen]

Brewed this in March of last year (2015), just tapped this month (June 2016), it is a very good stout. I BIAB, so my numbers are a bit lower (SG 1.072, FG 1.028, ABV 6.2%), but it is a solid beer.

I used an oak spiral (American medium toast) and 1/2 cup of port, can't taste the oak, but the port really shines through.

Made a great partigyle off this recipe which I might try to recreate in its own right. I have to say this stout was worth the wait.

Can you PM me your partigyle recipe? I plan on doing partigyle as a Black IPA uniess I got something better. Thanks in advance.

 

[Jwin]

Can you PM me your partigyle recipe? I plan on doing partigyle as a Black IPA uniess I got something better. Thanks in advance.

I gyled off this recipe as well
I just adjusted base malt up to get the proper gravity, with a modified equipment setup as no sparge.
IIRC, I used 40# 2 row. Hope this helps