RIS in less then two weeks?

[dougugly]

I am in the Army and deployed in Iraq. I have been here for nine months and I will be going home for two weeks soon. After my leave, I will be going back for another 3-4 months. I NEED brew up something cool while I am home on leave. I want to do a BIG Extract with specialty grains Imperial Stout around 10% abv. I see many recipe's on the net but not too many tasting notes on an extract beer that big. I want a beer I can put away for a year and enjoy with family and friends next holiday season.
I was thinking about getting Midwest Supplies Imperial Stout kit and adding 2# of Light DME to achieve 10%. Any recipe input or suggestions will be appreciated.
OK - My questions are;
Is 10 days enough time to primary ferment a 1.1 OG Wort before racking it to a secondary carboy?
Can two wyeast smack packs take the place for a starter?
Will I have to pitch new yeast when I bottle?
Thank you!

 

[schweaty]

Ten days probably won't be enough time for the ferment to complete and the yeast to clean up unwanted byproducts.

According to the Mr. Malty pitching rate calculator you'd need at least 3.5 smack packs to take the place of a starter.

You won't have to pitch new yeast when you bottle, you just add priming sugar. If you bottle the beer before it is done fermenting you will end up with bottle bombs and they will explode.

You could leave the beer in the fermenter for 3-4 months without any adverse side affects. RIS need to age at least 6 months before being consumed.

 

[dougugly]

Thank you for the smack pack input schweaty! I have a friend who will have to rack the beer into a secondary. I will brew at his house, and bottle there when I get back home again. Starters sure cost less! Maybe I can talk him into making one? He has never done that before.

 

[GrizlyGarou]

Thank you for the smack pack input schweaty! I have a friend who will have to rack the beer into a secondary. I will brew at his house, and bottle there when I get back home again. Starters sure cost less! Maybe I can talk him into making one? He has never done that before.

Starters aren't any more complicated than making beer. A stirplate is nice, but it just gets the cell counts up faster. I think you'd only have to step it up twice, maybe three times. I'm no expert, though. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me.

 

[schweaty]

Yeah, making a starter is definitely cheaper than buying four smack packs. It would take about 4-5 days to step up the starter to get 6.5 L needed for a 1.100 OG beer. If your friend is willing to make you a starter here is a good instructional website.
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html

Now you could cut the volume of starter to 2.6 L if you used two smack packs to make the starter. So less time invested for your friend but more money invested by you. 6.5 L starter is pretty darn big in my opinion and I would probably go with the two smack packs and 2.6L.

As far as racking to secondary you could probably just leave it on the yeast in primary until you get back.

 

[schweaty]

Starters aren't any more complicated than making beer.

I agree, starters aren't complicated at all. Mix water with dry malt extract, boil and add yeast. Stepping up requires just mixing water with dry malt extract, boiling and adding to the starter. Accurate measurements and sanitation are the most important things when making a starter.

While stir plates do make things easier the numbers I used for Mr. Malty Calculator was for a simple starter. Unfortunately with 1 smack pack and no stir plate a very large starter is required. That's why I recommended the use of 2 smack packs to cut down the starter size.

 

[conpewter]

for a big RIS why not use dry yeast? You arn't looking for yeast character in that style anyway. I'd go with 3-4 packs of S-05 dry yeast (rehydrated) if I wasn't pitching on a cake for something that big.

 

[dougugly]

Thanks for all the great advice everybody! I should be good on the yeast now. I plan on shaking the hell out of the carboy to aerate. Or should I invest in a oxygen injection system? http://new.midwestsupplies.com/oxygen-injection-system-without-oxygen-tank.html
My friend will rack to the secondary when it's ready.

 

[dougugly]

This Is a kit from my LHBS. I added the 2# of Light DME.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 13.11 %
6.00 lb Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 39.34 %
6.00 lb Dark Liquid Extract (17.5 SRM) Extract 39.34 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3.28 %
0.50 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 3.28 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 1.64 %
3.00 oz Glacier [5.60 %] (60 min) Hops 27.0 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (2 min) Hops 0.7 IBU
1 Pkgs British Ale (Wyeast Labs #1098) Yeast-Ale
1 Pkgs Pasteur Champagne (Red Star #-) Yeast-Champagne

"Place bag with grains into the kettle and let steep at ≈ 155°F for 15-30 minutes.
After 10-14 days of fermentation, transfer into a glass carboy and add the Champagne yeast. This will ensure a drinkable attenuation and ensure your carbonation when bottling. This style benefits from an aging period in the carboy of at least 1-4 months."

After I bottle I plan to let them age for an additional 6-8 months. The IBU's seem a little low. Any advice on hops to use to bitter this one up? What about racking this on to some oak chips or cubes?

 

[david_42]

Have your friend brew a 1.050 beer about two weeks before you return, then pitch your beer on the cake. One of the guys in HoV did a RIS in 7 days that way.

 

[MultumInParvo]

for a big RIS why not use dry yeast? You arn't looking for yeast character in that style anyway. I'd go with 3-4 packs of S-05 dry yeast (rehydrated) if I wasn't pitching on a cake for something that big.

I second this. It doesn't get much easier than dry yeast, and since you're not looking for yeast flavor...why not?

 

[dougugly]

cool...I am going to send my friend an email and let him know about all of your suggestions.
First..let me get this straight, I should get successful results with either; the double smack pack starter, the yeast cake or the 4 packs of rehydrated safale? I like the starter or the yeast cake ideas. If my brewing friend can't accommodate those... I like S-05 method too!

I am getting excited to brew this one! less then 25 days now

 

[MrInternet]

Thanks for all the great advice everybody! I should be good on the yeast now. I plan on shaking the hell out of the carboy to aerate. Or should I invest in a oxygen injection system? http://new.midwestsupplies.com/oxygen-injection-system-without-oxygen-tank.html
My friend will rack to the secondary when it's ready.

I glass carboy with 5+ Gallons of liquid isn't something you want to be "shaking the hell out of". Not because it's ahrd to do, but because it subjects the container to a myriad of stresses it wasn't engineered to withstand... I've "shaken the hell out of" my carboys when they've got half a gallon of OxyClean or StarSan left in them, but you're talking about shaking nearly 40 pounds of liquid in something that has the potential to break under the wrong stress.

If you must aerate, think about doing primary in a bucket, or use a sanitized wine degasser in the carboy... don't get me wrong, I use glass exclusively and I LOVE it, but shaking a full one is not something I would recommend.

Thanks for your service!

 

[kanzimonson]

So you might not want to do this because you're pretty excited about the 1.100 beer, but if you backed it off to maybe 1.080 or so, I bet you could ferment it out with enough time to rack to secondary before you return. Especially if you pitch heavy. But if you can get your friend to rack to secondary then at least you can make the beer you planned for.

If you leave it in a secondary for that long, I don't think you'll need to age it in the bottle for so many months, though. Of course, it'll be fun to hang onto some for that long, but with that much aging in secondary, that sucker'll be ready to drink after its carbonated. And yeah, I'd probably repitch a tiny amount of yeast when bottling.

Sounds really fun.

P.S. Thank you for serving.