Russian Imperial Stout Recipe Advice

[dbelicki]

Hello everyone! I'm currently getting ready to brew a RIS that is comparable to Hanger 24's "Pugachev's Cobra." I'm aiming for a winter sipping beer, and I've developed the following recipe. Any thoughts/advice/critiques would be extremely helpful. The recipe is as follows:

16 lbs domestic 2-row
2 lbs flaked barley
2 lbs flaked oats
1 lb special b
.75 lbs Black (Patent) Malt
.75 lbs Crystal 120
.75 lbs Chocolate Malt
.5 lb Cara-pils
2 oz Columbus, 90 mins (70.2 IBU)
1 oz Columbus, 60 mins (32.8 IBU)
2 sticks cinnamon, 5 mins
1 lb table sugar at flameout

Wort collected: 8 gal, boiled down to 5 gallons

Mash temp goal: 145-148

Estimated OG: 1.119
Estimated FG: 1.014
Estimated IBU: 103
Estimated ABV: 13.8%

I plan on using WLP-001 until fermentation stops, then transfer to secondary where I will pitch a starter of WLP-099 (super high gravity) and let that finish as low as it can go. Then add 2 oz of medium toast wood cubes (soaked in bourbon of my choice that I haven't yet decided) to the secondary and let it age for 4-6 months.

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated

 

[hopmonster2189]

Looks good mostly, I would probably drop the cara-pils cus all that flaked barley and oats will provide good head and body, and add some roasted barley if you like that roasty coffee type flavor in RIS's.

also i use a lot of hops for big stouts more like 6-7 oz's because the bitterness seems to be weaker with all the dark malt and after aging. just suggestions they might not be what you prefer.

Just bottled a big stout yesterday that was aged on bourbon soaked oak cubes, I'm kinda sad to say I'm excited for winter..

 

[Eli55]

Hangar is local for me , I would love to hear how this comes out for you.

 

[HopHoarder]

I'd cut back quite a bit on the Black Patent. Take that bad boy down to 4oz and put in around 5% grainbill of Roasted Barley instead. Personally I'd also scale back your flaked barley and oats to 1lb each. If you can get some Special Roast or Victory Malt, I'd throw in 1lb of that. I just finished making an RIS that had an OG of 1.092 and even after primary fermentation it was quite drinkable. We split the batch in half and did one half with Scottish Ale yeast (#1728) and the other half with Wyeast Pacman.

 

[sweetcell]

you could save the sugar for post-primary fermentation - add it (after boiling it in a little water) after high krausen. this would get the 001 to ferment only malts and contribute its flavors. the 099 will take care of the sugar, beside you're only going to get alcohol (little to no flavor) out of it anyways.

personally i'd lower the black and replace with some roast barley. i find that black patent is more astringent and i prefer the contribution of RB, but that's just a preference of mine.

 

[dbelicki]

Cool! I appreciate all the feedback! I'll keep you guys posted on what I end up doing and how it turns out.

I was thinking about splitting the batch and doing 1 oz of bourbon oak cubes for long term aging, and 2 oz bourbon oak chips for a week or so. Has anyone had any experience with the chips (amount and duration)?