Russian Imperial Stout Questions

[KennyS1134]

Hey guys! So I made a big russian imperial stout (attempted a Dark Lord clone) It was in the primary for a week, then racked to the secondary on top of bourbon soaked oak, and vanilla beans for 2 weeks. I would like to age the beer a bit more, but am a bit confused. Here are my stupid questions/thoughts:

1. Should I strain the beer from it's current delicious oak/vanilla beans, and place in another carboy to age?

2. Should I transfer it to a keg, and let it age while carbonated?

3. How long would you suggest to age? I know the coffee, and vanilla flavors will start to fade with time.

Also, I am interested in entering this batch into a local homebrew competition, which will require it being placed into 22oz bombers. I normally keg my beer, and was wondering if adding the bottling sugar to the entire batch would cause any problems with kegging. I really only wanna bottle 5 bombers, then keg the rest of the batch (roughly 4 - 4.5 gallons). I'm not sure how to calculate how much sugar per each bottle. My past experiences have been bottling an entire batch, splitting it up is new to me.


I realize these are probably going to make most of you laugh, and wonder how I didn't set the house on fire, but I've never made a batch that was this complicated. Cheers, and thanks!!

 

[ruger988]

Hey guys! So I made a big russian imperial stout (attempted a Dark Lord clone) It was in the primary for a week, then racked to the secondary on top of bourbon soaked oak, and vanilla beans for 2 weeks. I would like to age the beer a bit more, but am a bit confused. Here are my stupid questions/thoughts:

1. Should I strain the beer from it's current delicious oak/vanilla beans, and place in another carboy to age?

2. Should I transfer it to a keg, and let it age while carbonated?

3. How long would you suggest to age? I know the coffee, and vanilla flavors will start to fade with time.

Also, I am interested in entering this batch into a local homebrew competition, which will require it being placed into 22oz bombers. I normally keg my beer, and was wondering if adding the bottling sugar to the entire batch would cause any problems with kegging. I really only wanna bottle 5 bombers, then keg the rest of the batch (roughly 4 - 4.5 gallons). I'm not sure how to calculate how much sugar per each bottle. My past experiences have been bottling an entire batch, splitting it up is new to me.


I realize these are probably going to make most of you laugh, and wonder how I didn't set the house on fire, but I've never made a batch that was this complicated. Cheers, and thanks!!

Vanilla and coffee will stick around for quite some time, vanilla hardly fades at all.....ever.

I'd just use the carb tabs (http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/prime-dose-carbonation-tablets-200-count.html) if I were doing a few bottles. The other option would be to use a beer gun (or DIY equivalent) from the keg. How big of a RIS was this? You said its a DL clone so I'm assuming 1.100 +? If so you may want to add a little fresh dry yeast if you go that route (nottingham or similar.)

Good luck

 

[philosofool]

(1) Oak cubes or chips? Cubes need months to impart their flavor, chips just a couple weeks.

(2) (I always bottle beers that big. I like to have one a few months to half a year after brewing, and I like to have one or two a month until they are gone. Bottles are more convenient for that. Beside, these big beers evolve wonderfully, and you won't experience that as much when it's refrigerated.) However, give your preference for not bottling, I would age and then keg for drinking to avoid temp swings.

(3) If you go with my advice in two, you can age it as little as three months before you try the first one, but you definitely let some of it age at least a year. Some of the flavors will fade, some will blossom. It's part of the experience of cellar worthy beers.

 

[Bamsdealer]

I wouldn't touch the beer for a couple months. Leave it on the oak and vanilla. Going to secondary in week for a beer that big may have been premature. Did you get a gravity reading before you transferred? Leaving it in secondary for a while will give the yeast time to eat up any remaining fermentables.

You can bottle your beer with a one foot section of hose right from your tap if you like. I do it all the time and the beer lasts. That said, I do like the above poster and typically bottle my barleywines, imperial stouts, strong ales and Belgians.

 

[fantomlord]

I would keg and bottle. if you don't have a beer gun, use the BMBF method...works great for me. I've bottled comp beers (including several award winners), and had no issues.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/