Russian imperial stout aging

[gstolas]

I plan on brewing a Russian imperial stout next weekend. Making a Starter tomorrow. From what I know it requires some time to age or mature before enjoying. I plan on just letting it sit in primary for 3-4 weeks and transferring it to a keg for some additional time. I'd like to add some cold brewed coffee concentrate JUST before force carbonating or priming (when I finally decide) .

My question is, with a OG of 1.090 how long should I let it mature inside the keg purged without oxygen before I finally add the coffee and carbonate. I prefer my coffee flavors fresh after the beer has had its time to mature. I hear anywhere from 2 months to as long as a year on aging.

Just seeking suggestions from anyone that has had experience aging this style.

 

[DogSlobber]

I have a RIS aging from almost 1 year ago and have made two renditions of Yooper's Oatmeal Stout, the second of which got a good dose of cold brew coffee.

The RIS was 1.094 OG and finished at 1.020 with wyeast 1335. I left it in primary for 4 weeks and then bottled. After three weeks in the basement (mid 50's F) it was slightly sweet and lacking in carbonation, but very tasty. I drank way too much of it in the first 2-3 months. I've continued opening a couple every few months since then and it just continues to improve, rounding out really nicely.

With the cold-brew addition to Yooper's Oatmeal Stout, wyeast 1335 took it from 1.047 OG to 1.010. I added the coffee and kegged, force carbing it over the next week. I attached it to the nitro tank for serving (1st pour was great!), but unfortunately there was a leaky post or something and it bled out completely over night. Over time, some of the coffee flavored seemed to diminish in prominence, but never completely, even over about 3 months.

Long story short, if I did it again with plans to add coffee and keg the RIS, I would age in secondary as long as possible (target 1 year), then add coffee, force carb, and throw an epic winter RIS party within a couple weeks!

I'm not sure how much difference you can expect when aging in secondary and force carbing vs. bottle conditioning. Maybe someone with more experience there can elaborate...

For what it's worth, I'm doing the RIS again next weekend also with a few tweaks for using mostly Patagonia malt (which I've grown to really like) and reduce for use in my 5 gallon MT. Last time a split the 22 lb mash between cooler and biab, it was much too big of a pain in the ass for an extra 2 gallons...

Sounds delicious either way, I would love to hear your update on how you decide to go and how it turns out!

 

[gstolas]

Thanks for your input. I never did a beer this big but I plan to be patient with it.

 

[gstolas]

Maybe 6 months in secondary. Add a quality coffee (suggestions welcome as well) and prime just to see how it gets over the months

 

[DogSlobber]

Sounds great! I may have to follow with part of my batch next week. I really liked the 1.09-1.02 finish in the last one, but I think I might try increasing OG and mashing higher for a slightly sweeter finish this time. Might go nicely with some coffee actually.

 

[Roadie]

I brewed Kate the Great from the recipe posted on this site. OG was 1.101 and I don't have my notes in front of me but think it finished at 1.022. I fermented for close to a month and then transferred to keg and stored at 55F. After about 3 months I added Hungarian Oak cubes that had soaked in port wine since brew day. I aged it another 3 months then force carbed it and it tasted great but was still too young. I had planned to age it a year then bottle and give away at Christmas but a cross country move meant bottling early and giving away with the instruction to leave it at least until December. For that beer I think you should age at least a year and I would think on other large RIS that you would want to do the same.

 

[kh54s10]

I my RIS in the middle of August. I transferred it to secondary 3 days ago on top of Bourbon soaked oak chips (bagged). I plan on bottling then so that I don't tie up a keg and tap for more than a year. I plan on trying some mid winter.

For the coffee, I did one where I cold steeped 8 ounces in a quart of water for a week. I tried coffee filters to strain out the grounds - utter failure. I did get enough liquid and the porter had a great coffee flavor. I put the coffee in about a week before I tapped the keg.

If you are going to age in the keg I would just purge it and let it sit until you want to start drinking it. Then maybe add the coffee and set the pressure at about 10 -13 pounds and do the set and forget method of carbonation for about 2 weeks.

 

[solbes]

7-10 months is when I enjoyed my RIS the most. At first the roast bite was pretty sharp and it was over oaked. Then the roast mellowed enough to be perfect, and the level of oak was great. At around 12 months the roast and oak started to mellow into the background (along with bitterness) into a very pleasant but seemingly less interesting beer. It mellowed to a point at 14 months that judges mistook a 12% ABV, 98 IBU RIS for a foreign export stout (even thiugh it was clearly labled an RIS). I kept about a 12 pack from 1 year on.

I plan to drink 3/4 of my next batch between 7 and 12 months and age the remaining 12 over a few years.

 

[gstolas]

7-10 months is when I enjoyed my RIS the most. At first the roast bite was pretty sharp and it was over oaked. Then the roast mellowed enough to be perfect, and the level of oak was great. At around 12 months the roast and oak started to mellow into the background (along with bitterness) into a very pleasant but seemingly less interesting beer. It mellowed to a point at 14 months that judges mistook a 12% ABV, 98 IBU RIS for a foreign export stout (even thiugh it was clearly labled an RIS). I kept about a 12 pack from 1 year on.

I plan to drink 3/4 of my next batch between 7 and 12 months and age the remaining 12 over a few years.

How long did you let it sit on oak? What would you have done different?

 

[plumbrew]

I've got in on my schedule to make this RIS every year on Father's day weekend, primary it for a month, then to the secondary until Veteran's day (November 11th) and then to bottles and then start slowly adding them to the fridge right before Christmas. I saved a 12 pack from last year and plan on doing that every year so that I can compare years. It's one of the best beers I make and the time table seems to work well:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=238807

 

[solbes]

How long did you let it sit on oak? What would you have done different?

It sat on 1.5 oz of Medium char US white oak cubes for 7-8 weeks in secondary. Oak chips would be much faster, so be careful there. I had presoaked them in Scotch for a couple of weeks. I tossed the original scotch (down the hatch of course), then added 3 oz fresh scotch with the cubes for a few days. Threw cubes and scotch into secondary.

I'm keeping my second version pretty similar. I will be using some chunks of a bourbon barrel I received from a member here. They've been soaking in bourbon now for a few months. I will be throwing it all in when it gets to secondary. Might go 4-5 oz of bourbon.

 

[gnef]

I have been aging a number of batches of RIS in the walk-in. One is around 2 years, and the other is around 4-5 years old now. The youngest one was a club project, and aged in an oak barrel. The older one I did on my own and used oak cubes. I oak a minimal amount for the life of the keg, probably 1oz or maybe 1.5 ozs.

I have never added coffee to my RIS, but if you are going to, I'd suggest pulling a shot of espresso (this is if you have the equipment - I also dabble in home roasting, have a baratza preciso grinder, and a Ranchilio Silvia at home), pour a pint of the RIS, and then add metered amounts of the espresso until you get it to taste. Once you know exactly how much you've added for the pint, just scale it up for the keg. I would recommend adding a bit less than you calculate, pull a sample, and then do micro additions from there.