Davst
Member
Update.. checked in 12 hour later and it was chugging along, so either its the yeast working or we got crazy ammounts of contamination lol =)
Imperial Stout Russian Imperial Stout (2011 HBT Competition Category Winner)
- Thread starter marubozo
- Start date
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OldAtHeart
Active Member
Brewed this up about 6 weeks ago, and ran a parti-gyle off the grist. The RIS tasted excellent when transfered to secondary last week, like the best expresso I've ever had, but beer. Can't wait for the winter when I'll be drinking this. I'm going to add some bourbon-soaked oak chips about a month or two before bottling.
The parti-gyle has also proven to be a very good beer! I ran off a full 5 gallon batch, which required about 1.5 lbs. of DME to get up to about 1.045 OG. Then I used all Willamette in the boil and also dry hopped with 1 oz. of Willamette. The result is a very light and dry black ale with good toasted notes and a subtle earthy/floral hop aroma. I wouldn't quite call it a stout, and even calling it a dry porter might be a stretch. Had I hopped it more agressively, it would have made a good Black IPA or with the proper lager treatment, even a decent Schwarzbier. Either way, it's a very summer friendly dark beer, so the timing works out nicely.
The parti-gyle has also proven to be a very good beer! I ran off a full 5 gallon batch, which required about 1.5 lbs. of DME to get up to about 1.045 OG. Then I used all Willamette in the boil and also dry hopped with 1 oz. of Willamette. The result is a very light and dry black ale with good toasted notes and a subtle earthy/floral hop aroma. I wouldn't quite call it a stout, and even calling it a dry porter might be a stretch. Had I hopped it more agressively, it would have made a good Black IPA or with the proper lager treatment, even a decent Schwarzbier. Either way, it's a very summer friendly dark beer, so the timing works out nicely.
blip01
Well-Known Member
Brewed this at the beginning of January, a little bit left in the keg and man has it aged well. Keeps getting better and better. Will do a new batch shortly so i have some for the winter.
Brewed mine in February. Another one last month. The first just went into the kegerator. Waiting for it to cool down. Got about 2hours left. Oh, boy!!!
Question about brewing IRS:
What grain to h2o ratio is everyone using. 1.00 qt (h2o) to 1 lb or 1.25 qt (h2o) to 1 lb of grain.
I have read that "big beers" need a thicker mash. Also i looked at midwest and NB to see their RIS ratio (they use 1.00 qt to 1 lb of grain).
Cheers,
What grain to h2o ratio is everyone using. 1.00 qt (h2o) to 1 lb or 1.25 qt (h2o) to 1 lb of grain.
I have read that "big beers" need a thicker mash. Also i looked at midwest and NB to see their RIS ratio (they use 1.00 qt to 1 lb of grain).
Cheers,
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
OP
OP
When I designed the recipe and subsequent brews, I shot for 1.25 qt per pound. Since that seemed to do well I never bothered to experiment with anything thicker. But going a little thicker probably wouldn't hurt.
NorCalAngler
Well-Known Member
I brewed this two weeks ago. My efficiency was terrible, only getting about 1.080 in 5.25 gallons. I'm hoping it attenuates pretty well because anything that finishes above 1.020 is generally too sweet for me. I added a little over 2oz of medium toast American oak cubes soaked in 50ml of Absolut Vanilla. I'll post results when I keg it in a couple weeks.
Just tapped my well aged keg 3 days ago. WOW! Definitely a sipper. Great range of flavors. Wish already I had started another. Hah! I did, 6 weeks ago. Six months is a long time to age a brew, but this one is so potent, it might last that long. Thanks again for posting this recipe.
Pat
Pat
NorCalAngler
Well-Known Member
I pulled a sample last night to check the gravity. It is at 1.020 down from 1.080. I'm hoping it squeaks out a few more points, but even if it is done I can't wait to get this one kegged. This is the first beer where I sipped and enjoyed the warm, flat gravity sample like it was a finished beer. The flavors are complex and a perfect balance of bitterness, roast and chocolate. The oak I added is going to play very nicely with this beer.
Riseabovebb
Well-Known Member
Great!
I'm brewing this on Sunday via BIAB. I don't have a valve on my kettle so I'll be syphoning out to primary. Sounds like I'll have to unclog my syphon a few times...wish me luck.
Riseabovebb
Well-Known Member
Brewed this one up yesterday (the power came back on in time to brew!). Brew day went relatively well, but I'm really getting tired of BIAB'ing these big beers. I hit my volumes but fell a little short on the OG (got 1.090 instead of 1.095). Pitched a nice sized started and aerated it well with some O2. Fermentation was up and running within a few hours and was bubbling away nicely this morning before I left for work.
I've got it in the chest freezer fermenting away at around 64-65 degrees. Hopefully that's low enough (but not too low??) to prevent any fruity esters from ruining my first non-extract RIS.
Fingers crossed!
I've got it in the chest freezer fermenting away at around 64-65 degrees. Hopefully that's low enough (but not too low??) to prevent any fruity esters from ruining my first non-extract RIS.
Fingers crossed!
KarlHungus76
Well-Known Member
Sadly I do not have a chest freezer or fermentation chamber just yet . I can keep the fermentation (ambient temp, not temp inside bucket) at around 70 or below. With the wait time involved and the fact that I would hate to crack one of these in 6 months and find it overrun by esters etc. Do you think that this beer would suffer significantly without the 65 fermentation given that we are not talking about a short 5-10 fermentation for a beer this big.
I know there are no guarantees but I would hate to tap a keg or open a bottle of this on a cold winter day, and find a bunch of off flavors. thanks
I know there are no guarantees but I would hate to tap a keg or open a bottle of this on a cold winter day, and find a bunch of off flavors. thanks
Well, do note that you'll know well before wintertime if anything went wrong with the fermentation; those flavors will be apparent right away.
With a beer this big, I'd be concerned about an ambient 70F temperature profile. All that fermentation is going to crank out quite a bit of heat, so I would bet it'll be well over 70 inside the beer at the peak of fermentation. Could you rig up a swamp cooler? That should get you down into the right range.
If you can't get the temps down any more than that, I'd consider switching to a less-estery yeast, such as WLP001/US05.
With a beer this big, I'd be concerned about an ambient 70F temperature profile. All that fermentation is going to crank out quite a bit of heat, so I would bet it'll be well over 70 inside the beer at the peak of fermentation. Could you rig up a swamp cooler? That should get you down into the right range.
If you can't get the temps down any more than that, I'd consider switching to a less-estery yeast, such as WLP001/US05.
OP
OP
I'd definitely recommend what ResumeMan said. If your ambient is only about 70 degrees, there's no doubt that the beer itself will be fermenting well into the 70s, and given the English yeast already gives off some natural esters, you would probably have a lot of odd flavors going on if you went that high of a fermentation.
Putting the bucket in another bucket with water and ice is a good way to keep temps down if you can. And remember, this is really only necessary during the active fermentation stage, so typically after a week you wouldn't need to maintain the cold water bath. But if that simply isn't an option, then a cleaner yeast would certainly help a bit at the higher temps.
Putting the bucket in another bucket with water and ice is a good way to keep temps down if you can. And remember, this is really only necessary during the active fermentation stage, so typically after a week you wouldn't need to maintain the cold water bath. But if that simply isn't an option, then a cleaner yeast would certainly help a bit at the higher temps.
KarlHungus76
Well-Known Member
Thanks guys. Appreciate the responses. I'm picking up either a 7.2 fridgidaire chest freezer, or the kenmore 8.8. I'll just wait until I have it in a couple weeks. Cheers
stalewater
Well-Known Member
Made this beer four months ago and I can't stop drinking it, my intentions were to age it the full year and I dont think its gonna last. everyone who has tried it LOVES it definetly a keeper!!
blip01
Well-Known Member
I think this one really shines between 4-6 months!
Einberger1
Junior Member
Firing this one up tonight to christen my new Blichmann Boilermaker! First RIS too...feels like prom night all over again. Very excited to have this on tap for Christmas!
I brewed this bad boy up on Saturday for the holidays. I made a couple of minor adjustments, mainly hop substitutions based on availability. Also my mash tun wasn't big enough to hold all the grain this recipe calls for, so I dropped a couple pounds of pale malt and made it up with DME. My OG was 1.094 and I pitched a big starter of washed WLP002. It is bubbling away; glad I used a blowoff tube...
Will report back after fermentation.
Will report back after fermentation.
rwagner23
Well-Known Member
Any follow up to this question? Looking to make a Imperial Coffee Stout kind of like Flying Dog's Kujo. Thoughts on this?
None on that, however, last night I did make a beer float with this great stout. Have been threatening to do that for quite some time. One scoop of good vanilla will do it. Mock me, I know, but try it. I'm a serious beer guy. Kind of makes me feel strange.
Pat
rwagner23
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the tip. I might try it with the next attempt. Picked up the specialty grains and hops just now. I'll try about 15 oz of espresso in this during the secondary.
LarsonLE
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2011
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Hey everyone, I brewed this beer today and I must say that it was an incredibly fun brewday. I do have a question. My LHBS did not have Special B, and instead had Weyermann CaraAroma. I went ahead and substituted the special b for the caraaroma. Any idea how that will impact the flavor on this beer?
Also here's an album of the brewday for those of you interested: http://imgur.com/a/ketdE
Also here's an album of the brewday for those of you interested: http://imgur.com/a/ketdE
LarsonLE
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2011
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You know I've been thinking about this concept for the past week or so. When I brewed this beer this past Friday, I came to the realization that the more grains you have means having less sparge water. I kept to the OP's recipe and used 1.25qt/lb, however do people use 1.00qt/lb for bigger grain bills like this one? Because of my lower efficiency (which is around 67-68%), I ended up using 22 pounds of grain total, which resulted in having 7 gallons of strike water, and only 3.25-3.50 gallons of sparge water. Is it better to have the strike and sparge volumes to be somewhat similar?
solavirtus
Well-Known Member
I had recognized this as a potential problem. From previous high OG beers, I didn't want to have too little sparge water. When I brewed this recipe, i ended up increasing the boiling time to 90 minutes to allow for more sparge water. I think I mashed in at 1.1 qt/lb. That was also to have enough room in my MLT. In the end it worked out great. The beer is aging nicely in the keg. It finished a bit lower than expected at 1.018, but i may have mashed a little lower than prescribed. Tastes great.
I brewed this recipe Saturday - my first ever all grain brew. Talk about diving right in. I bought a used three tier brew sculpture from a local guy, 3 10 gallon stainless kettles each with their own burner. It worked great... but, as a newbie, I quickly learned things I need to do differently next time out and I'm worried about how it's all going to turn out in the long run.
First questionable thing I did: I made a yeast starter the day before the brew (long enough in advance?) and I made it small. I only had 4 oz of DME. I had it in a bomber with brown glass, so I couldn't see it very well - but it did develop a head and an aroma so it worked but to what extent I don't know. I poured my wort in the bottle through a funnel then tried to pour my liquid yeast in the same way - duh - the liquid yeast poured on through but the hard yeast (the cake?) just got stuck and I had to force as much through as I could with a sanitized straw. So I don't know if I didn't get enough yeast in the wort in the first place. Is the hard part dead yeast?
Prior to 24 hours my brew surface had developed a small head and the blowoff this morning was bubbling once every four or five seconds... it's only been 36 hours.
So - it appears to be working.
Can't wait to do it again!
First questionable thing I did: I made a yeast starter the day before the brew (long enough in advance?) and I made it small. I only had 4 oz of DME. I had it in a bomber with brown glass, so I couldn't see it very well - but it did develop a head and an aroma so it worked but to what extent I don't know. I poured my wort in the bottle through a funnel then tried to pour my liquid yeast in the same way - duh - the liquid yeast poured on through but the hard yeast (the cake?) just got stuck and I had to force as much through as I could with a sanitized straw. So I don't know if I didn't get enough yeast in the wort in the first place. Is the hard part dead yeast?
Prior to 24 hours my brew surface had developed a small head and the blowoff this morning was bubbling once every four or five seconds... it's only been 36 hours.
So - it appears to be working.
Can't wait to do it again!
