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

[Tand]

Has anyone tried adding flavours to this beer? I'm considering splitting the batch, and ageing 1 gallon with whiskey soaked oak, and 1 gallon with rum soaked oak.

 

[DagoBrewer]

I brewed this on 8-1 and just kegged it on 10-09. I can't believe how perfect this beer is!! Thank you so much for this recipe!!

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I was wondering if anyone has had oxidation issues aging this beer for so long, or if anyone has tips for aging high gravity beers during conditioning/bottle storage? I recently upgraded my system and have capacity to brew high gravity beers and want to take a shot at this, but I've only aged brett beers before and brett is an oxygen scavenger so I haven't really worried about it.

Personally think the oxygenation worries are overrated. Your bottles will have positive pressure. So unless the capping job was very poor, nothing is getting in. When I do bottle, the key is to keep them away from light.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Has anyone tried adding flavours to this beer? I'm considering splitting the batch, and ageing 1 gallon with whiskey soaked oak, and 1 gallon with rum soaked oak.

Yes! My favorite thing to do with stouts! Have a Coconut and bourbon/coffee/vanilla bean split, 2.5gallons each. Also done peanut butter and coco nibs/chipotle split. Not necessarily this beer, but sky's the limit with stouts.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Do plan on brewing this. Doing a lower abv stout with wlp05 to build a yeast cake up for this beer.

 

[Ariza-Poet]

Gonna give this a go.
Been looking at this recipe for months now.
This beer is what made me want to do AG.
Brewed 3 AG batches (a blonde, hef and an amber, all recipes from HBT) just to prepare my self for this beer.
Looking at Nov. 11th as a brew date since i have the day off.

 

[TorMag]

Do plan on brewing this. Doing a lower abv stout with wlp05 to build a yeast cake up for this beer.

Why bother doing that when you can just build up a big enough starter?

 

[Ariza-Poet]

Why bother doing that when you can just build up a big enough starter?

to jump in on this.
I've only done a yeast starter once, but a MUCH smaller beer.

I was using an online calculator for a starter
it says i need a 9.75L starter for a 10.5 gallon batch
is that accurate and if so how much DME would I need?

heres what i used
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Gonna give this a go.
Been looking at this recipe for months now.
This beer is what made me want to do AG.
Brewed 3 AG batches (a blonde, hef and an amber, all recipes from HBT) just to prepare my self for this beer.
Looking at Nov. 11th as a brew date since i have the day off.

So brewing a high alcohol beer takes bit more work if you've never done one.

After boil, I oxygenate the chit out of the wort by pouring back and forth between 2 sanitized buckets. Next I'll divide the brew between 2 buckets to ensure lots of head space. Next, and found this critical, after 12hrs go back, re-oxygenate again and still keep in 2 buckets. Temp controlling 2 buckets is a pain for me, but others may not be. I'll combine in 14days or so to secondary. Doing this method got me to over 11.5%.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Why bother doing that when you can just build up a big enough starter?

I get an extra 5 gallons of stout out of the deal.

 

[TorMag]

I get an extra 5 gallons of stout out of the deal.

There is that.......

 

[Ariza-Poet]

So brewing a high alcohol beer takes bit more work if you've never done one.

After boil, I oxygenate the chit out of the wort by pouring back and forth between 2 sanitized buckets. Next I'll divide the brew between 2 buckets to ensure lots of head space. Next, and found this critical, after 12hrs go back, re-oxygenate again and still keep in 2 buckets. Temp controlling 2 buckets is a pain for me, but others may not be. I'll combine in 14days or so to secondary. Doing this method got me to over 11.5%.

great to know thank you.

is this oxygenating before or after the worts been chilled and yeast pitched?

 

[Rush]

Trying to decide between this recipe and an Old Rasputin clone. Can someone who has tasted this recipe as well as Old Rasputin give me some thoughts? Old Rasputin and Yeti are two of my favorite RIS's. Would this recipe get me in that direction or is it a different style of RIS without much of a roasted grain bill ala w00tstout?

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

great to know thank you.

is this oxygenating before or after the worts been chilled and yeast pitched?

All after chilled and after pitched, to mix it around.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Trying to decide between this recipe and an Old Rasputin clone. Can someone who has tasted this recipe as well as Old Rasputin give me some thoughts? Old Rasputin and Yeti are two of my favorite RIS's. Would this recipe get me in that direction or is it a different style of RIS without much of a roasted grain bill ala w00tstout?

Just did an OR clone but came out at 7.8%. Halved it between bourbon/coffee and coconut/vanilla bean. Mostly gone in 4 weeks. Think I have a bourbon bottle left...let you know in a few weeks. Doing this Thursday.

 

[TxBigHops]

I get an extra 5 gallons of stout out of the deal.

No kidding! How much "beer" are you pouring down the sink in making a 9 liter starter!

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Pour down a sink??

View attachment 1477576360361.jpg

 

[Steve3730]

I'm looking to do a RIS and age it on some oak spirals that I aged my whiskey on. Anyone try this in a barrel or anything? Should I add the spirals to the secondary and let it sit on them 6 months?

 

[TorMag]

Brewed this on 10/30 still in the primary after almost 3 weeks, still have airlock action and gravity still moving down.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I'm looking to do a RIS and age it on some oak spirals that I aged my whiskey on. Anyone try this in a barrel or anything? Should I add the spirals to the secondary and let it sit on them 6 months?

My technique is to add spiral (about 1/4 of one) in secondary for 10-14 days with bourbon. Then keg. I'm not big on starring at beer. It does take 8 weeks or so to come into it's own. But it's half gone by then. 😉

4 months does seems to be the sweet spot. Just me..

 

[Steve3730]

What was your boil time? How much head room do you recommend in the fermentors?

 

[TorMag]

What was your boil time? How much head room do you recommend in the fermentors?

I boiled for 60 minutes like the recipe calls for. I use a FastFerment conical so had plenty of head room. I had made a large 2l starter, got about 3 inches of krasen, no blow off.

 

[btbnl]

Cracked the last bottle of my February 2015 batch after dinner last night and it had aged beautifully (the rest were gone by New Year). Wonderful balance of dark stone fruits, walnut, and chocolate, lots of warmth but no heat, fantastic with a slice of pecan pie.

 

[TorMag]

Cracked the last bottle of my February 2015 batch after dinner last night and it had aged beautifully (the rest were gone by New Year). Wonderful balance of dark stone fruits, walnut, and chocolate, lots of warmth but no heat, fantastic with a slice of pecan pie.

Oh, it's going to be a long 6 months.

 

[mux11]

what do you make with second runnings?

 

[btbnl]

what do you make with second runnings?

I made a brown porter.

 

[GonzoNerd]

I have a keg of this two months into the aging process. I am looking forward to tapping it!

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

I have a keg of this two months into the aging process. I am looking forward to tapping it!

Tap it and tell us how awesome it is. Looking at cold crashing and maybe adding cocoa nibs this week. Half to have coffee/bourbon. Half to add coconut. Maybe..

 

[ruger988]

Tap it and tell us how awesome it is. Looking at cold crashing and maybe adding cocoa nibs this week. Half to have coffee/bourbon. Half to add coconut. Maybe..

Aged a batch of this on oak chips soaked in Ricardo Coconut Rum.... fan-freakin-tastic. Couldn't believe how much coconut came through. I've used coconut extract in the past with excellent results as well.

 

[ThirstyPawsHB]

Aged a batch of this on oak chips soaked in Ricardo Coconut Rum.... fan-freakin-tastic. Couldn't believe how much coconut came through. I've used coconut extract in the past with excellent results as well.

That is interesting. I've done toasted coconut with great results, but noticed the extract at LHBS. You got me thinking..