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

[TorMag]

Is it cold enough? How long does it usually take for you to get a keg to serving temperatures in the keezer? When my keg get beer is still warm, it tends to foam up on me....

I was wondering if that was the case too, but I did another pour last night with the same results.

 

[Tand]

Anyone gone straight from primary and bottled? And if so was bottling yeast necessary?
Concerned out my bulk aging capability; putting the beer in to my secondary would leave a lot of head space and risk oxidation(?)
Could split the batch into 1gal fermenters and minimise head space I suppose..

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I entered this recipe into my Brewer's friend log with one addition of some flaked oats. I then tried to come up with a water profile with a decent pH and I'm really struggling. Using a Desired water profile of "Black Full" in Bru'n Water I can't seem to find a combination of minerals that will stay in the recommended profile and yield a pH in the 5.4-5.6 range.

Does anyone have a water profile/mineral addition that will work with RO water?

 

[phyllobeddo]

I entered this recipe into my Brewer's friend log with one addition of some flaked oats. I then tried to come up with a water profile with a decent pH and I'm really struggling. Using a Desired water profile of "Black Full" in Bru'n Water I can't seem to find a combination of minerals that will stay in the recommended profile and yield a pH in the 5.4-5.6 range.

Does anyone have a water profile/mineral addition that will work with RO water?

Maybe try cold steeping the dark grains and mashing the others? Just a thought. I want to brew this some time and I have not input the grain into EZ Water Calc yet.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Maybe try cold steeping the dark grains and mashing the others? Just a thought. I want to brew this some time and I have not input the grain into EZ Water Calc yet.

I just read about this yesterday. I'm curious about it, but what I read mentioned it as a solution to my problem, but didn't really go into much detail about how to do it. I get the basic premise, and Bru'n Water has a setting for it, but it wasn't clear to me if it's as simple as omitting the dark grains from the mast water calcs and just adding the output of the separate steep to the kettle?

I'm really interested in any steps I can take to create a rich, thick mouthfeel and get the nice flavors without too much burnt roast flavor. The beer I have in mind is the BA Dark Star from Fremont.

 

[phyllobeddo]

I just read about this yesterday. I'm curious about it, but what I read mentioned it as a solution to my problem, but didn't really go into much detail about how to do it. I get the basic premise, and Bru'n Water has a setting for it, but it wasn't clear to me if it's as simple as omitting the dark grains from the mast water calcs and just adding the output of the separate steep to the kettle?

I'm really interested in any steps I can take to create a rich, thick mouthfeel and get the nice flavors without too much burnt roast flavor. The beer I have in mind is the BA Dark Star from Fremont.

Sounds like we are after the same thing with thick mouthfeel and no burnt roast flavor. I'd like it to be deep, dark black as well.

My take on cold steeping was that you exclude it from the mash calculations and just add the cold steep, say for instance, at 10 minutes before the boil is done. I plan to brew a cream ale next and then the Left Hand Milk Stout clone on HBT and try a cold steep with the chocolate malt and the roasted barley for that batch. I may try boiling for 90 to 120 minutes for that batch as well. I plan to do some more reading and research on cold steep over the next few week and then give it a shot.

 

[JBone120]

I've made this a couple times and have had a great thick, rich mouthfeel without being overwhelmed by the burnt roast flavors. I also haven't gotten to water adjustment or anything. One thing I've heard of people doing is adding the dark, roasted grains at the end of the mash. Maybe like 10-15 minutes, but I've not tried that either.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Bru'n Water has an option to mash roasted and/or dark crystal malts separately. It must not be uncommon....I just need to read more about the process to ensure I'm doing it right. I really don't want to brew/ferment/age a big stout and have it turn out bad because I did something stupid.

 

[phyllobeddo]

Bru'n Water has an option to mash roasted and/or dark crystal malts separately. It must not be uncommon....I just need to read more about the process to ensure I'm doing it right. I really don't want to brew/ferment/age a big stout and have it turn out bad because I did something stupid.

I agree. There's lots of investment for this big beer. That's another reason I plan to try cold steeping with the LH milk stout recipe. I've brewed that one multiple times so I have an idea of what it should taste like. I hope it will be a good way to compare cold steep vs full mash. If that works out, I need to get around to brewing this one. Hopefully I can report back results in a few weeks with the results. Let us know what tips and tricks you may find as well. The pipeline is built up right now so brewing a beer that needs to be aged is a good idea for me.

 

[Ike]

So, not trying to spam the forum, but I'd started a thread in the All-Grain section to ask a question, and thought I'd ask it here since it's relevant to this recipe:

(For the record: Full volume BIAB, using distilled water that I build up with salts to match suggested profiles on Brewer's Friend.)

If I'm going to do the late-addition mash technique for my dark grains, do I still need all the salt additions that Brewer's Friend says I need to meet the Stout water profile? It's quite a bit, including a massive 13g of chalk, which many say will cause off-flavors.

SO, do I:


Use the same water profile, even though I'm only mashing the pale grains?
OR, do I just salt my water for the mash, i.e. 17 pounds of 2-row, and skip the other salts?

ETA: I think I'm going to have to leave the salts out, because the amount of bicarbonate in them is making the pH even harder to hit. BUT, I'd still like to hear what others say...

 

[Ike]

SO, just transferred into secondary the batch I brewed about a month ago. In spite of my concerns about water chemistry and the fact that I had to repitch after 72 hours when my initial yeast pitch just sunk to the bottom, the tasting sample was VERY pleasing.

NOW... to wait. The sample was so good, I'm already wanting to carb it up and drink it; this does not bode well for the next four months of waiting.........

 

[EtchyLives]

I just got this carbed up after letting it sit on oak, bourbon, and 2 oz of Sidamo coffee beans for six months. It is unbelievably good and has a beautiful light brown head with just a hint of red color shining around the edges when held up to the light. My wife, a non-beer drinker, loves it.

 

[Psywar]

I have been wanting to try this as an Extract since I do not have an All-Grain setup.

What do you guys think of this?

Does anyone have an Extract version of this on Beer Smith they can send me if mine does not look right?
I was looking at doing a possible 90 min boil. If I do 90 mins then the IBU will hit around 73 according to beer smith.

I am now thinking about maybe a 120 min work time. I was thinking of getting a large BIAB - bag and putting all 6lbs of grain into it and letting all the grain steep for 60 mins (151deg F).
Pull the grains after 60 mins - Then bring to a boil and put in the liquid extract along with the first hop addition and then cook for 60 more mins doing the final addition of hops when there were 30 mins left.

Thoughts on that?

 

[Taiters]

I happen to have a sack of Maris Otter with just over 17 pounds left in it. Would it be okay to substitute the 2-row with that?

 

[phyllobeddo]

I happen to have a sack of Maris Otter with just over 17 pounds left in it. Would it be okay to substitute the 2-row with that?

IMHO, absolutely yes.

 

[Taiters]

Thanks, good to know! I figured it would be okay but wanted to double check first.

 

[jtd_419]

Entered a version of this that's been cellared for a year into the county fair. Not only was it blue ribbon and best stout but also best in show..... amazing beer

 

[roncruiser]

Entered a version of this that's been cellared for a year into the county fair. Not only was it blue ribbon and best stout but also best in show..... amazing beer

What's your version of the original recipe? What changed?

 

[jtd_419]

Basically same grain bill as original post but subbed northern brewer hops and essex ale yeast

 

[Ike]

My batch is currently aging in a keg in the hallway closet. When (if... hang in there buddy!) I wait until Christmas to carb and tap, is it OK to tap right from this keg? Or is there value to the time/effort/risk of transferring to another keg first?

Thanks!

 

[Taiters]

I'm transferring mine to a keg next week to age for 3 months. After that I'll put that same keg on tap. Any sediment will get pulled out in the first pint. You have nothing to gain by transferring a second time to another serving vessel and you could possibly expose it to too much oxygen.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Any follow up on water chem or separate mash technique?

There are a lot of people reporting great results with this beer...what are you doing for water? Is anyone steeping/mashing the dark grains separately?

 

[Ike]

Any follow up on water chem or separate mash technique?

There are a lot of people reporting great results with this beer...what are you doing for water? Is anyone steeping/mashing the dark grains separately?

If that question was pointed in my direction: There is a BUNCH of info on HBT about this stuff, enough that I fell down a pretty deep click-hole before finally giving up in frustration. I ended up deciding that pH was more important that water profile for final taste, left out the bicarb completely, just tuned the water up with gypsum, epsom, and CaCl and 2% of acidulated malt. With it set like that I just mashed everything together, no separate additions/mashes. Brewer's friend estimated a mash pH of 5.22. I had a bit of a slow start related to what I'm guessing was dead smack packs, but got 'er going with some Notty after that. The tasting at kegging was VERY good. I have high hopes that this may be the first Christmas brew I've planned that will actually work out!

 

[jwolf99]

Any follow up on water chem or separate mash technique?

There are a lot of people reporting great results with this beer...what are you doing for water? Is anyone steeping/mashing the dark grains separately?

I brewed this a little over a week ago, all grain with the whole grain bill going into the mash including specialty grains. I plugged everything into the Bru'n Water and adjusted my mash and sparge water according to the results of the spreadsheet. Seems to have worked really well. I ended with an OG of 1.095 which I was really pleased with given how big this beer is and my own history of pretty sucky efficiency. I pitched two WLP002 Pitch Perfect pouches that were just warmed to room temp (no starter). Since day 1, the fermentation bucket has been sitting in swamp cooler (water + two large ice packs) with wort/beer temp maintaining nicely between 66* and 68*. As of yesterday, it had fermented down 1.039 and air lock is still letting off bursts about once every minute or two. So I'm hoping that I can get down to my 1.026 target before the yeast are completely spent. Tasted the sample that I took to test the SG and it was fantastic. Can't wait for this one to be done.

 

[brewprint]

Sounds like we're going to try this recipe for a barrel project. Using some kind of bourbon barrel. Going to use 04 yeast...because who wants to make a starter?

Possibly throw some vanilla beans in the mix as well. Some were talking about adding a tincture of peppers at kegging/bottling as well.

 

[jwolf99]

So a little more than 3 weeks since this went to primary, fermentation has all but stopped. Water is in now in both sides of my S-bubble air lock where up until this weekend, the CO2 was still forcing the water to one side. It got down to 1.032, not quite the 1.026 I was hoping for.

I will let it ride out the remainder of the week before moving to secondary to sit for another month. Assuming no further fermentation at all from this point, I think I should be safe to bottle with 4 oz of corn sugar and a packet of S04 after another month's time has passed. Or should I pitch some S04 right now while still in primary to get the gravity down a bit more just to play it safe (i.e. no bottle bombs)? And if I do, can I then skip the S04 addition at bottling (assuming there will still be some viable yeast remaining by then)?

I really want to avoid any changes to flavor as this tastes just so damn good.

 

[Btaz]

So a little more than 3 weeks since this went to primary, fermentation has all but stopped. Water is in now in both sides of my S-bubble air lock where up until this weekend, the CO2 was still forcing the water to one side. It got down to 1.032, not quite the 1.026 I was hoping for.

I will let it ride out the remainder of the week before moving to secondary to sit for another month. Assuming no further fermentation at all from this point, I think I should be safe to bottle with 4 oz of corn sugar and a packet of S04 after another month's time has passed. Or should I pitch some S04 right now while still in primary to get the gravity down a bit more just to play it safe (i.e. no bottle bombs)? And if I do, can I then skip the S04 addition at bottling (assuming there will still be some viable yeast remaining by then)?

I really want to avoid any changes to flavor as this tastes just so damn good.

More yeast likely won't ferment anything out more. Might try rousing the yeast off the bottom to try to get anything more out of it. I recommend cask yeast to bottle. This will be better at surviving the high gravity and will only chew on the priming sugar and not any residual sugars (in car it really was the initial year that tuckered out) to avoid bottle bombs

 

[jwolf99]

More yeast likely won't ferment anything out more. Might try rousing the yeast off the bottom to try to get anything more out of it. I recommend cask yeast to bottle. This will be better at surviving the high gravity and will only chew on the priming sugar and not any residual sugars (in car it really was the initial year that tuckered out) to avoid bottle bombs

I gave the yeast a good stir yesterday and it hasn't had much effect. So for bottling, a cask yeast like Lallemand CBC-1 would be recommended?

 

[Btaz]

... a cask yeast like Lallemand CBC-1 would be recommended?

Yes, cbc-1 works great

 

[JJ900]

I did a partial mash version of this, bottled after 3 1/2 weeks, and after 3 weeks of bottle carbing its already great. Maybe not fully carbed but still delicious. When bottling, I added a vanilla bean tincture for the second half of the beer in the bottling bucket, then after bottling some of those, for the last 1/4 of the beers I added a hot pepper tincture. I can't wait to make another batch of this!