RIS / Sweet Stout Parti Gyle

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Nathan Graen

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I want to brew 2.5 gallons of Russian Imperial Stout and 4.5 gals of Sweet Stout. DISCLAIMER: I've never tried a high gravity beer nor a Parti Glue.

After several days of research (and headaches) I have a plan.

I'm going to use up some random malt in my inventory. 11 lbs pilsner, 2.5 lbs of Munich/Vienna/Biscuit.

I believe 3.75 gal of strike water should be able to get me 2.1 Gal @ 1102. Top up to 3.5 gal @ 1061.

I'll then steep additional grains for flavor and 9PPG.
7oz of 80L
6oz of 120L
6oz of Chocolate
2oz of English Black.

Boil back down to 2.5 gal at 1100. Adding EKG @60&15 for 50IBUs.

Then I'll add a pound to the mash tun, run another 5.5 gal @ 1035.

Steep
13 oz flaked oats
13 oz chocolate
13 oz 80L
7 oz roasted Barley

Boil down to 4.5 gal @ 1065 with 13oz of lactose added near the end. Adding EKG @60&15 for 30IBUs.

I'm tweaking my water chemistry for a little more malt flavor.

I'm planning to ferment both under pressure in 3 gal and 5 gal corny kegs.

Any thoughts? Or advice?
 
You're steeping 13oz of an adjunct without any base malt? If you have space in your kettles I think it would be better to put enough base malt in with the flaked oats to convert all the starches.
 
You're steeping 13oz of an adjunct without any base malt? If you have space in your kettles I think it would be better to put enough base malt in with the flaked oats to convert all the starches.

Thanks, I could throw the oats in the mash with the extra lb of base, but I think I would need more of it for the same extraction because I would be leaving some of it in the mash. I was thinking I could put in in a small bag like the partial extract brews or a mini BIAG. I thought I had read that 5 minutes Oats didn't need conversion. What do you think?
 
I haven't experimented with a variety of oats. What I typically use, I add to a mash.

I haven't crunched the numbers, but if you added no more grain to the to the big mash after you took the wort you need for the RIS, what do you hope to get from it for the oatmeal/sweet stout? What volume of what gravity?

If it was me, I think I'd just mash that extra pound of base malt (or whatever is needed to convert the oats) with what you're steeping for the oatmeal/sweet stout in parallel to your main mash (maybe BIAB style) and blend that wort with the late runnings of the big mash after all the wort is collected. It could save you some time, as I think that by the time you'd have all the wort collected for your big RIS, you'd be ready to sparge for your oatmeal/sweet stout.

You're already planning to steep some grain separately. If you're already planning to dirty a kettle, if it can handle a larger mash, why not?
 
...if you added no more grain to the to the big mash after you took the wort you need for the RIS, what do you hope to get from it for the oatmeal/sweet stout? What volume of what gravity?

I would probably run 5.25 gals at 1032.5 adding back in the Mini-Mash and the crystal, my OG doesn't really change.

You are right, I re-read Palmer, looks like steeping oats will give flavor, but no gravity points and a potential for haze.
 
That all makes sense, except steeping oats should increase gravity, but it would add starch rather than fermentable sugar.

It would end up with a high final gravity. Sweet stouts usually have a higher final gravity, but that's because of an addition of lactose in the boil.
 
Well, I made one mistake, I didn't account for the wort absorption of the steeped crystal. I was half a gallon short on my imperial and my gravity was high on my Sweet Stout.

I topped up my Imperial with the Sweet Stout(before the lactose addition) and topped up the Sweet Stout with water.

Sweet Stout OG:1068
Imperial Stout OG: 1100
 
I put the oats and a lb of pilsner in the mash tun after the first runnings and mashed again. Next time, I would probably throw all the crystal for my second runnings in the mash as well. I fly sparged the second runnings.
 
Any advise on oaking a beer? I would like to turn my RIS in to a bourbon barrel RIS. I picked up some oak chips at the LHBS and then started reading. It looks like cubes would be preferred, and there is contradicting advice on how long to soak the cubes in bourbon, how long to soak the cubes in the beer and whether to add the bourbon with the cubes to the beer.
 
A lessons learned follow-up. My RIS finished higher than expected. 1.033. I tried getting it restarted by moving it to the boiler room where I held it at 86 deg. I tried getting it restarted with a sachet of US-05. I tried getting it restarted by adding amylase enzyme Next time I will dial back the grain and make up the gravity with sugar or honey.

With it finishing higher, it was done when I moved it to my 2.5 gal keg for aging. I purged the headspace a few times. Hopefully it was good enough. I also added in 1.5 oz of hungarian oak cubes and 6 oz of Woodford Reserve I had in a main jar for a few weeks.

I'll sample in a few months to see if I regret adding the bourbon with the cubes and report back.
 
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I'm having some trouble with my english barleywine finishing too sweet. I actually really like how it tastes now, but it's definitely under-fermented.

I had a belgian dark strong ale that I couldn't get to finish either. It took 3 or 4 new additions of yeast and an extra few months, but it got there.
 
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