Recipe Help Brewing a RIS for my Groomsmen

[blackdragon82]

I'm getting married next May and I ask all my groomsmen to help me brew a beer for the wedding, but its really going to be part of their groomsmen gifts. They all have said they want to learn how I brew and never seem to have a problem coming over when I have kick the keg party before a new beer is finished. I know they are all fans of Stouts so I want to give them a good one that will age well. I like to try and keep my recipes simple. This is written as a 5 gallon recipe but I will be making 10 gallons with them. Let me know what you guys think.


Type: All Grain
Date: 11/2/2011
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Brewer: Bill
Boil Size: 6.27 gal Asst Brewer: My Groomsmen
Boil Time: 60 min
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0
Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
17.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 85.0 %
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 %
1.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 %
1.00 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 %
3.00 oz Chinook [13.00%] (90 min) Hops 105.6 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (20 min) Hops 7.7 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (10 min) Hops 4.6 IBU
1 Pkgs Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.106 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.024 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 10.7 %
Bitterness: 117.9 IBU
Calories: 466 cal/pint
Est Color: 43.6 SRM

I will probably soak some oak chips in bourbon and put them in the beer for a week before bottling.

 

[blackdragon82]

Wow I guess its that good of a recipe that no one will change a thing

 

[bwomp313]

Awesome, I wish I would've had that idea before I got married!

I've never brewed an RIS before so if you don't like my advice I won't be offended. I feel like with high gravity beers you want to mash low (I didn't see mash temp listed). Also, I feel like the cara pils doesn't need to be there as it will just add body to a beer which is going to have a big body regardless. Also, a lb each of chocolate malt and roasted barley seems like an awful lot of each. But as I said, I've never made an RIS. These were just my initial impressions.

 

[iijakii]

Looks good. 5% roasted barley is perfect for my tastes with that aging. Sendm e some too

 

[blackdragon82]

bwomp I had that same thought that 1lb of both chocolate and roasted is a little much but I didn't know how it would work with aging. I put about 7% choc and roasted in my normal stout and it always turns out good. I'm willing to change this though if others think it is too much.

 

[iijakii]

Nah 5% on both is fine. Might want to add some crystal though. All subjective, I like big sweet stouts.

 

[bwomp313]

Yeah I didn't think about it in terms of percentages. I just figured, wow 1 lb of each for 5 gallons is a lot. But I guess that makes sense with the aging and such. As I said, never made a big ass stout like that before so I really have no clue.

 

[iijakii]

Also, just my personal thoughts but I'll never make a stout without a few percentage of flaked oats. The mouthfeel can't be beat.

 

[blackdragon82]

Never used flaked oats. 1/2lb sound good?

Also maybe I'll swap the carapils for a lb or 2 of crystal.

 

[g-star]

For an RIS, at least some dark crystal is mandatory IMO, which provides the burnt sugar/dark fruit notes. I would back off a bit on the 2-row, and replace with at least 0.5# of C120 and 0.5# of C80. Aromatic malt works well too.

As your recipe is presently constructed, the malt flavor would seem to be too one-dimensional for me personally. YMMV.

 

[OldWorld]

It depends on preference. I would throw some Munich Malt into the mix...Maybe alter the base malt to 10LBS basic 2 row, 7LBS darker munich...

 

[el_kirk]

I'm not suggesting you use my recipe, but if you wanted to look at a recipe with a little more crystal malt in it (someone above suggested more crystal) then my recipe is here.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/ris-thoughts-248803/

I like the beer as it is and would brew it again without changing anything, but your recipe looks just as good. Sounds like a cool gift for your groomsmen.

Congratulations on getting married. Have you thought about brewing a batch of barleywine to open on your anniversaries?

 

[blackdragon82]

Thanks for all the info everyone! It all really helps!

Now I'm debating yeasts. I originally picked Wlp002 because it leaves a little sweetness behind but is comes out very clean. Now I'm starting to read that it is not uncommon to use belgian yeasts. However I do not want a lot of fruity flavor (some is ok) but a RIS with a good deep flavor and body. Thoughts?

El Kirk - I make special beers for her all the time. She loves the fact that we have a special beer for events. Every valentines day is a Double Chocolate Stout, Christmas is my Barleywine, and so on. Guess I do need to think of a wedding anniversary brew now :rockin:

 

[g-star]

Belgian yeast would make for an interesting beer, but not a true RIS. WLP002 would work well, but mash no higher than 152F, as it doesn't attenuate well. Actually, I'd use S-04 instead to save alot of time and money.

 

[blackdragon82]

Ok so here is the latest recipe build (10 gallon version):


Amount Item Type % or IBU
34.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 82.9 %
2.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.9 %
2.00 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 4.9 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 2.4 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2.4 %
1.00 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 2.4 %

6.00 oz Chinook [13.00%] (90 min) Hops 100.0 IBU
2.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (20 min) Hops 7.3 IBU
2.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (10 min) Hops 4.3 IBU

2 Pkgs Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) [Starter 3035 ml] Yeast-Ale


Est Original Gravity: 1.108 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.025 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 11.0 %
Bitterness: 111.6 IBU
Est Color: 47.8 SRM


I may bump the Crystals to 1.5# each still debating on that one.
I plan on the mash being around 151 and long! Make sure I can get everything out of that bad boy haha.
Does anyone think a protein rest is necessary for this?

 

[dirty_martini]

My one bit of advice would be to cut back on the roasted barley simply because too much can give you an acrid ashy flavor. You dont need to cut back on the amount of roasted malt overall, just on that specific malt. You could either cut back 1lb and add another 1lb of chocolate malt, or if you want to get that flavor without the ashiness and get that deep back color, sub in 1lb of carafa III dehusked (525L). 2lb chocolate, 1lb roasted barley, and 1lb of carafa III will give you great roast and chocolate notes and the deepest black color you can imagine.

my worry is with that much roasted barley and 100+IBUs of bitterness, it may come off a bit harsh.

 

[blackdragon82]

Works for me! Thanks I'll just add another chocolate and cut the barley. I've never made a RIS before let alone anything this big. So any info is greatly appreciated!

 

[blackdragon82]

That brings my roasted barley down to 2.4% though. I've read that under 3% roasted barley gives more of a nutty flavor than a roast. Is this true?

 

[iijakii]

It's all taste dependent. I make a RIS that's pretty sweet and it has about 2.5% roasted barley. It's also drank pretty young. If you like the roasted flavor, 5% for the amount you're aging is absolutely not too much. If you want a sweeter RIS like Old Rasputin, I'd go down to the mid-low 2%s, sure.

 

[blackdragon82]

I'm looking for something with a good roast but not over bearing. Yes I am aging this for about 5 months. But knowing my groomsmen who only drink specialty beers when they come over my house making it a little sweeter might be better.
So I think I will stick with the 1lb of roasted barley and 1lb of carafa III.

 

[blackdragon82]

So we brewed this bad boy yesterday. All my groomsmen were amazed at how simple it was to brew. They thought I was outside for 6 hours doing stuff haha. Think I made a couple new brewers too

So I pitched the yeast around 8pm last night and I check it at 6am this morning and all I can say was OMG!! That WLP 007 took off like a rocket!! My blowoff tubes are filled with krausen and pushing out large bubbles non-stop!! I took some video of this. My chamber smells delicious!!! Starting gravity came out to 1.095, so not the best efficiency but for my first 10 gallon and aiming for 1.110ish I'm not complaining

So next question is how does one put video on here? I usually just use the image tag above for pictures but how do videos work?