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

[ja09]

I wouldnt say its impossible or even difficult to get down that low with a normal fermentation. See my above post on my most recent experience. I didnt expect it to drop below 1.030 but it ended at 1.020 and started higher than his did. I believe I mashed at 152 as well. Infection is certainly not the only way to get down that low. IF anything, an infection would drop it lower, it not dry it out completely.

I totally agree that variances happen, but if you're 15+ points under calculated terminal gravity then something is wrong either with your recipe, ingredients, process or measuring equipment.

 

[finsfan]

I totally agree that variances happen, but if you're 15+ points under calculated terminal gravity then something is wrong either with your recipe, ingredients, process or measuring equipment.

Imo, calculated fg doesnt mean a lot to me. Even with a yeast that attenuates 70%, a large pitch can easily take it to 80% or more. Recipe builders (at least brewers friend) dont take mash temp into consideration when determining fg. I agree that your ingredients, processes, and other factors can lead to that lower fg, but for you to say something went wrong and his process is bad is not correct. First you said it was infected and the recipe couldnt get that low, now you say it might be his recipe or processes/equipment. Instead of telling someone they are wrong and produced a beer the wrong way, we should be encouraging them to examine their brewday and learn. Maybe mash higher next time if you the same yeast, or use a yeast that doesnt attenuate so much. I can certainly tell you that my beer tastes fantastic and i imagine his will as well. Thats not a fail, just a different than expected outcome.

 

[ja09]

Imo, calculated fg doesnt mean a lot to me. Even with a yeast that attenuates 70%, a large pitch can easily take it to 80% or more. Recipe builders (at least brewers friend) dont take mash temp into consideration when determining fg. I agree that your ingredients, processes, and other factors can lead to that lower fg, but for you to say something went wrong and his process is bad is not correct. First you said it was infected and the recipe couldnt get that low, now you say it might be his recipe or processes/equipment. Instead of telling someone they are wrong and produced a beer the wrong way, we should be encouraging them to examine their brewday and learn. Maybe mash higher next time if you the same yeast, or use a yeast that doesnt attenuate so much. I can certainly tell you that my beer tastes fantastic and i imagine his will as well. Thats not a fail, just a different than expected outcome.

Dude what are you rambling about? Really not trying to get in an argument. If you think it's acceptable for fg to finish 15 points below calculations that's your issue. No need to lower the bar for everyone.

 

[finsfan]

Guessing either the hydrometer is wrong or there's an infection. Taste ok? Probably boozy and a little harsh. Any metallic or buttery flavors?

I really don't think this recipe & og with that yeast is capable of fermenting down that far on its own, even with low mash temps. Or maybe your og was a lot lower than you thought it was?

I totally agree that variances happen, but if you're 15+ points under calculated terminal gravity then something is wrong either with your recipe, ingredients, process or measuring equipment.

You are full of contradiction.... Cheers

 

[ja09]

You are full of contradiction.... Cheers

The second post was obviously a general statement, but if you'd like me to talk slower and elaborate for you I can. Plus the posted recipe/profile could be very different from what he actually brewed.

Good try though.

 

[TxBigHops]

You are full of contradiction.... Cheers

Are you serious dude? People come on here asking for help in analysing their results and processes. Pretty sure the guy with the 1.013 FG beer WANTS us to suggest possible reasons why it finished so low. I would if it were my beer. @ja09 threw out a bunch of possiblities. It pretty much HAS to be at least one of those things he mentioned. And where is the contradiction? Give all the opposing opinion that you want, but what is the point in attacking someone who is trying to help? You can disagree, and even point out flaws in someone's logic without being a d!@% about it.

 

[finsfan]

Are you serious dude? People come on here asking for help in analysing their results and processes. Pretty sure the guy with the 1.013 FG beer WANTS us to suggest possible reasons why it finished so low. I would if it were my beer. @ja09 threw out a bunch of possiblities. It pretty much HAS to be at least one of those things he mentioned. And where is the contradiction? Give all the opposing opinion that you want, but what is the point in attacking someone who is trying to help? You can disagree, and even point out flaws in someone's logic without being a d!@% about it.

I never attacked him but instead provided other experiences and opinions on what could have happened. The entire reason for my post was to encourage them to look into their process and gather information, instead of being told they messed up. Go back and read my responses. I certainly dont see where I attacked ja09 at all until he took my opinions personally and tried to bash me.

 

[ja09]

for you to say something went wrong and his process is bad is not correct. First you said it was infected

First of all, I never said any of those things, so thanks for putting words in my mouth. I threw out a couple possibilities for the guy. The only reason I led with infection and hydrometer is because those are the two easiest things to rule out in this situation.

@m1356guy if you can give us any more info, maybe a recipe & profile, that'd be great!

 

[m1356guy]

First of all, I never said any of those things, so thanks for putting words in my mouth. I threw out a couple possibilities for the guy. The only reason I led with infection and hydrometer is because those are the two easiest things to rule out in this situation.

@m1356guy if you can give us any more info, maybe a recipe & profile, that'd be great!

Didn't mean to start a heated debate there guys. I appreciate the feedback and don't take offense to any comments above.

Here's the link to my recipe and notes: http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/254002/12-russian-imperial-stout-2

 

[finsfan]

Not your fault, things got taken out of context but its worked out now. Cheers!

 

[m1356guy]

Not your fault, things got taken out of context but its worked out now. Cheers!

Beer is good by the way. I'm no BJCP judge and haven't tried too many RIS's but it's smoother than it was a week ago after thawing out. At 12.3% it's not too bad.

 

[abbysdad2006]

Ok, so on 11/9 I added the amylase and on 11/14 I took a gravity reading and it is now at 1.030. From the OG it is about 9%. So the amylase worked.

So, measured the gravity again on 11/22/15 and its at about 1.026, which brings the ABV to roughly 10%. My question is, should I a little more amylase or just wait and take another reading this coming weekend and see what its at then?

 

[TxBigHops]

So, measured the gravity again on 11/22/15 and its at about 1.026, which brings the ABV to roughly 10%. My question is, should I a little more amylase or just wait and take another reading this coming weekend and see what its at then?

In my opinion, 1.026 is perfect for this style of beer. That's where my RIS stopped, and I love it. I may even attempt to get the one I brew next year to finish higher.

 

[abbysdad2006]

In my opinion, 1.026 is perfect for this style of beer. That's where my RIS stopped, and I love it. I may even attempt to get the one I brew next year to finish higher.

So, should I bottle?

 

[D_Nyholm]

Check the gravity again in a few days to be certain the yeast are done with the amylase and if so, bottle er up!

 

[abbysdad2006]

Check the gravity again in a few days to be certain the yeast are done with the amylase and if so, bottle er up!

OK, thanks. I've heard this can be a little tricky to carb up, any ideas on how to do it? Should I add more yeast when I add the priming sugar, or just add the sugar?

 

[olotti]

OK, thanks. I've heard this can be a little tricky to carb up, any ideas on how to do it? Should I add more yeast when I add the priming sugar, or just add the sugar?

I add 1/2 a pack of Cbc-1, it's a cask conditioning yeast, on any beer I make 9% or higher, learned my lesson when a dipa I made took a month to carb and just destroyed the hops. I've brewed my ris 3 times now varying between 9.5-11% and used the same formula of 1/2 packet rehydrated and added to the bottling bucket. Usually takes about a month but it gets the job done no problem and gets better the longer you let it sit.

 

[abbysdad2006]

I add 1/2 a pack of Cbc-1, it's a cask conditioning yeast, on any beer I make 9% or higher, learned my lesson when a dipa I made took a month to carb and just destroyed the hops. I've brewed my ris 3 times now varying between 9.5-11% and used the same formula of 1/2 packet rehydrated and added to the bottling bucket. Usually takes about a month but it gets the job done no problem and gets better the longer you let it sit.

So add the cbc-1 and priming sugar to bottle bucket?

 

[olotti]

So add the cbc-1 and priming sugar to bottle bucket?

Yup. It's that easy and you only have to rehydrate the CBc-1 in about 4oz of water, boiled and cooled of course to sanitize the water, then cool to about 90-ish let the yeast rehydrate for about 15 min and then add cooled water I boil a little extra and stick it in the freezer to chill it down then add it in increments so it'll bring the yeast temp down to about 65 then pitch it in the bucket. I also don't cold crash my ris's like I do my ipas so I try to get the yeast to the temp of the beer which is usually 65-68deg.

 

[MaxStout]

I add 1/2 a pack of Cbc-1, it's a cask conditioning yeast, on any beer I make 9% or higher, learned my lesson when a dipa I made took a month to carb and just destroyed the hops. I've brewed my ris 3 times now varying between 9.5-11% and used the same formula of 1/2 packet rehydrated and added to the bottling bucket. Usually takes about a month but it gets the job done no problem and gets better the longer you let it sit.

Ditto on the CBC-1. That yeast is awesome. The mfr. recommends 10g per hectoliter, so that works out to about 2g in a 5 gal batch. You could pitch 1/2 pack just to be sure. I pitched about 1/3 of the 11g packet in my RIS and had full carbonation in 3 weeks.

 

[mgr_stl]

A couple questions as I just today came across this recipe thread and will be brewing it on Saturday.

#1 - The obligatory "is the recipe on the first post still the most widely used and acclaimed"?

#2 - Is there a good reason to use all those low-alpha bittering hops (4 ounces) as opposed to an ounce of a high-alpha hop?

#3 - The LHBS does not carry White Labs, and instead recommended I use Wyeast 1318 (English Ale III). After looking at it's description, I'm not convinced it's the best option. Think it'll work well for this beer?

 

[btbnl]

A couple questions as I just today came across this recipe thread and will be brewing it on Saturday.

#1 - The obligatory "is the recipe on the first post still the most widely used and acclaimed"?

#2 - Is there a good reason to use all those low-alpha bittering hops (4 ounces) as opposed to an ounce of a high-alpha hop?

#3 - The LHBS does not carry White Labs, and instead recommended I use Wyeast 1318 (English Ale III). After looking at it's description, I'm not convinced it's the best option. Think it'll work well for this beer?

Partial answers:

#1: the first recipe is the one I brewed and it's excellent.

#2: I think it's more about he character of English hops - and an extra 2oz of hops is the least of your costs with this grain bill!

#3: if you can only get Wyeast, for a RIS their website recommends
1028 - London Ale
1056 - American Ale
1762 - Belgian Abbey II
1728 - Scottish Ale
1450 - Denny's Favorite 50

 

[TxBigHops]

A couple questions as I just today came across this recipe thread and will be brewing it on Saturday.

#1 - The obligatory "is the recipe on the first post still the most widely used and acclaimed"?

#2 - Is there a good reason to use all those low-alpha bittering hops (4 ounces) as opposed to an ounce of a high-alpha hop?

#3 - The LHBS does not carry White Labs, and instead recommended I use Wyeast 1318 (English Ale III). After looking at it's description, I'm not convinced it's the best option. Think it'll work well for this beer?

1) From all I've read, the original recipe makes an excellent RIS. I was torn between this recipe and the Kate the Great recipe, so I did a bunch of research and came up with my own. Its close to this, but I added a few additional malts.

2) I thought the same thing as you. I ended up using 1 ounce of Magnum at 60, 2 oz Challenger at 45 and 2 oz of EKG at 30. So almost the original, but one oz less total.

3) I used two hydrated packs of S-04, which I think is the same yeast as WLP002. Fermentation blew the lid off the fermenting bucket. I love S-04! My version turned out amazing.

 

[bowserm]

I brewed this back in July and after bottling the end of August, it is amazing. I had a local RIS last night and then 1 of these, and I preferred mine to the craft beer. I will be doing this again in Feb-March.

One of the better beers I have done. Thank you OP (I don't even think he is active anymore)

 

[HappyFermentations]

Has anyone tried barrel aging this? I've got a 5g whiskey barrel arriving this week and am looking for something to put in it. Any advice would be great - thanks!

 

[finsfan]

Has anyone tried barrel aging this? I've got a 5g whiskey barrel arriving this week and am looking for something to put in it. Any advice would be great - thanks!

This is the recipe i used in my rye whiskey barrel. Havent bottled yet but like i mentioned in your thread the samples have been fantastic.

 

[Alidocious]

My first post on HBT is to let you guys know I brewed this last weekend. I made some very moderate changes to the recipe due to availability, but otherwise followed to a tee. OG was 1097 and went off like a cannon. I use an ambient, but controlled, temperature in a small room so I've kept it at 60 degrees. I'm thinking of picking up a new Hungarian oak barrel to throw this into, we'll see what the post Christmas sales look like.

Also parti-gyled the second runnings onto the yeast cake from a smoked squash ale I made. Very curious to see if the yeast kept any of the smoky flavour from that beer. OG was 1041 for the parti-gyle.

 

[abbysdad2006]

I add 1/2 a pack of Cbc-1, it's a cask conditioning yeast, on any beer I make 9% or higher, learned my lesson when a dipa I made took a month to carb and just destroyed the hops. I've brewed my ris 3 times now varying between 9.5-11% and used the same formula of 1/2 packet rehydrated and added to the bottling bucket. Usually takes about a month but it gets the job done no problem and gets better the longer you let it sit.

Ok so my LHBS was out of cbc-1, got US-05 instead. That's the yeast I used originally in the beer. Question is should I still only use 1/2 the package?

 

[MaxStout]

Ok so my LHBS was out of cbc-1, got US-05 instead. That's the yeast I used originally in the beer. Question is should I still only use 1/2 the package?

That will be plenty. You only need it to chew through a few oz. of priming sugar.

 

[abbysdad2006]

That will be plenty. You only need it to chew through a few oz. of priming sugar.

Cool thank you!