Hello, new here. So I just got done with my first all grain batch of beer. I'm no wuss so of course I make my favorite beer and step right up to the plate doing an advanced beer, a Russian Imperial Stout. This recipe required 23lbs of grain and 5.5 oz of hops. I used 11 gallons of water total using 7 to mash with and 4 to spare. Strike temp was around 154*. I ran into a couple issues throughout the process. First being that I was about a half gallon over when filling up my fermenter. I made a unique starter using Wyeast Scottish Ale (sorry forgot the Wyeast #). In the end I couldn't use all of my starter because my fermenter was too full (about 200ml left over). But my biggest issue was that the entire process took 7 1/2 hours! Does it take anyone else that long? Well I've got this turkey fryer that I use and it is far too small for my 15 gallon boil kettle that is 16 1/4" in diameter. I think the fryer is only set up to handle 13" in diameter. So it's far too dangerous to use the fryer for that size kettle. Any ideas as for a replacement cooker? Well that was the trial and tribulation of my first all grain batch. Tons of work and now I'm exhausted. Please comment.
Trial and Tribulation of first All Grain batch
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mrduna01
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7.5 hours sounds pretty good for your first go at it. I got it down to about 5.5 after careful planning and utilization of down time to clean and such.
freisste
Well-Known Member
1728 is a Scottish ale yeast (maybe not THE Scottish ale yeast, not sure).
If you are good at stuff or know someone who is, maybe see if you can make some sort of an adapter to hold your pot on the stand. Better that buying new.
You are right to be concerned, though. Boiling sugar water is not something I would like to be near if it was going to topple over.
If you are good at stuff or know someone who is, maybe see if you can make some sort of an adapter to hold your pot on the stand. Better that buying new.
You are right to be concerned, though. Boiling sugar water is not something I would like to be near if it was going to topple over.
1728 sounds about right.
As for the fryer, I don't have a problem with worrying about it toppling over. My problem is with the flame. Since the kettle I have is larger than the rim of my cooker, the flame wants to come out of the sides. Which makes it extremely dangerous. Especially if the flame were to get near the valve. So I need a new cooker.
What does everybody think about the Blichman cookers from Northern Brewer?
As for the fryer, I don't have a problem with worrying about it toppling over. My problem is with the flame. Since the kettle I have is larger than the rim of my cooker, the flame wants to come out of the sides. Which makes it extremely dangerous. Especially if the flame were to get near the valve. So I need a new cooker.
What does everybody think about the Blichman cookers from Northern Brewer?
Well, Blichmann is the best. But, there is a reason many of us call them "Blingman" as they also expensive.
I got SQ 14 when I was brewing on a burner. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009JXYQ4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 It was fine.
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I've got a King Kooker with a 17" top for about $80 at my LHBS. It's 54K BTUs which is plenty for my 5G batches, not sure how much you need for a 10G boil.
Ok but listen to this.. So when I filled my carboy with the wort, I filled it all the way up to the bottom of the neck. Well today was the first day of fermentation and whoa! The carboy is going crazy with fermentation. It required a blow off tube quickly after it started. The kreusen has pushed almost a quarter of the beer out through the tube. Can anyone tell me if this is normal? I already know I filled it too full to begin with. But this is beyond vigorously fermenting.
From everything I've heard about brewing RIS, this seems like par for the course. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/southern-tier-creme-brule-stout-clone-127932/index2.html Look at jmilton1987's post a little ways down the page for a good example of this.
mikeh80 said:
Thanks for the heads up! Jmilton1987 had a nice photo of his fermenter there. Guess he knew the krausen build up would be that high since he fermented in a 12 gallon fermenter. Though I'd still not recommend it. I like my blow off tube
Okay so my first all grain batch of RIS has been in primary now for 1 full week. I actually saw a couple bubbles yesterday haha.
Anyway my question is how long should I keep this RIS in primary and should I siphon over to a secondary at some point? If so, when?
Anyway my question is how long should I keep this RIS in primary and should I siphon over to a secondary at some point? If so, when?
mrduna01
Well-Known Member
That's a big beer so it will take a while. If it were me I'd do a month primary and then age it in bottles for a few more months.
stpug
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It doesn't matter what beer you put in your carboy, if you fill it to the bottom of the neck you're going to lose plenty of beer. The fact that you put a super high gravity beer only makes matters worse. I put ~5.25 gallons in what is called a 6.5 gallon carboy - the carboy actually holds 7.25 gallons - which gives about 2 gallons of headspace above the beer for fermentation/krausen/foam/etc, and occasionally I still get nervous about blowoff. You need to give yourself more headroom by either using a larger fermentation vessel or splitting the batch between multiple vessels.
It's a big beer that could take a while to condition. You can choose your preferred method for conditioning - secondary carboy or in the bottles. I agree that 4 weeks in primary is about right, then take a gravity reading. If it is fully attenuated then pick a method; if it's not then transfer off the yeastcake to secondary (no strict rule on this of course, just 4 weeks on yeastcake is probably sufficient).
Well I have explored a couple different options as far as what to do when primary fermentation is complete. I have thought about transferring to a secondary fermenter or even possibly a freshly dumped whiskey barrel. So my next question has to be then, how long in a secondary and then how long in a bottle? Sorry just trying to gather info as this is my first RIS. Thanks!
I Would do 6 to 8 week primary then probably 8 to 12 week secondary and the same in the bottle.
I appreciate your help. Thanks!
freisste
Well-Known Member
BrewerBear said:
"Same in the bottle". Is that to carb or just more aging? I ask because I have an RIS that just went into primary. I'm hoping to serve it in June and I plan to keg carb (ABV is >12%).
My thought was about 6 weeks primary and then about 4 month secondary. Hoping it didn't need much more in the bottle I it was keg carbed...
Could go either way I think. Just depends on the brewer. I've seen guys drink RIS before at just a month old. And believe it or not but they tasted great. I have big plans for my RIS though. I'll probably do 6 weeks primary and then 3 weeks in a freshly dumped whiskey barrel
You could do it that way no problem.
