# Russian Imperial Stout - Dan Reyner's Recipe



## brettprevans (26/6/07)

was thinking of putting this down this weekend...

(Dan Rayner's Best beer of Show for last years Aussie comp). 
500g cracked roast barley
500g cracked light crystal
1.7kg can Draught
1.7kg can Porter
1.7kg can Stout (no brand names are listed)
1kg brewing sugar
1kg dried brew booster

60g styrian goldings
40g East Kent Goldings
20g saaz
40g yeast (plus champaigne yeast to finish off)
OG of 1115, FG1028.

steeped the grains in 6L water, boiled that for 60 mins, with the [email protected], the [email protected] and the saaz at flamout.
20L

Now an RIS like this is gonna have one hell of a krauesen as is. Do you think a 60L fermentor would handle it if I *doubled * the reciepe? that should give me about 40L of kick arse RIS if it works (hopefully without covering the interior of my house with krauesen!)


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## Ross (26/6/07)

Ferment cool as possible at the start & fit a blow off tube - You'll be fine...  

cheers Ross


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## pint of lager (27/6/07)

40 litres of RIS is a lot of beer. 

What about doing a 20 litre batch as per Dan Rayner's recipe, then tweaking to your own specs for the next 20.

I would use 1/2 roast and 1/2 chocolate, but that is my personal preference. Plus, try and use Caraffa special.

A good idea would be to use Nottingham yeast for the primary ferment. Or lash out and buy a liquid English ale yeast. Don't use the champagne unless it tastes like it needs to go further.

That is a big beer and they need lots of yeast. A good way to get this is to ferment a regular brew, then pitch 1/4-1/3 cup of slurry into your RIS. Like Ross said, fit a blowoff tube. One of our club members did a brew similar in a 30 litre fermenter with an airlock. It blocked the airlock. He came home at 11pm and found the fermenter very swollen, pulled the airlock out and it sprayed his ceiling. He then was washing his ceiling on a ladder at 11.30pm. Brew turned out well.


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## brettprevans (27/6/07)

Thanks for the suggestions

I figured I might need a blow off tube with a 60L fermentor as if should have heaps of headspace. But i'll look into setting one up (where would I get food grade tubing?).

I thought Nottingham yeast might be nice. will it handle 9% though? I figure thats why the champaigne yest is needed. I did a rough caluation and the % comes out more like 12%. I didnt think normal yeast would cope with that.


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## Stuster (27/6/07)

Many beer yeasts will get up to 12% with a little help. If you have a look at the White Labs or Wyeast sites, you'll see they often include info on the yeast's alcohol tolerance. I've no idea about Nottingham, but US05 should get you there with no problem. Just use three packets.


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## brettprevans (27/6/07)

Stuster said:


> Many beer yeasts will get up to 12% with a little help. If you have a look at the White Labs or Wyeast sites, you'll see they often include info on the yeast's alcohol tolerance. I've no idea about Nottingham, but US05 should get you there with no problem. Just use three packets.



US05 - as in US56?

thought an english yeast might be a nicer touch but short of buying liquid yeast im not any dried english yeast that will be able to handle that much %alc


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## Stuster (27/6/07)

citymorgue2 said:


> US05 - as in US56?
> 
> thought an english yeast might be a nicer touch but short of buying liquid yeast im not any dried english yeast that will be able to handle that much %alc



Yes, US56 is now called US05 as Wyeast didn't like Fermentis stealing their number.  

I have no idea about how much alcohol the dry English yeasts will take. You could always email Fermentis and ask them what their product's alcohol tolerance is. I'd be surprised if they don't give you some info. Link.


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## FazerPete (27/6/07)

citymorgue2 said:


> US05 - as in US56?
> 
> thought an english yeast might be a nicer touch but short of buying liquid yeast im not any dried english yeast that will be able to handle that much %alc


I know S-33 can go up to 11.5% and is mainly used in big Belgian style ales. I've used it in a stout/dark ale toucan and it came up very nice. Craftbrewer (Link) sell it if you can't find it in your LHBS.


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## simpletotoro (27/6/07)

hi..
nice looking stout...but am i alone in thinking 3 kits... 1.7kg can Draught,1.7kg can Porter,1.7kg can Stout +
60g styrian goldings, with the styria[email protected] is going to make it one hell of a bitter stout...or does the 9% alcohol offset this?
i love stout and am not bagging the recipe merely trying to learn something....
cheers simpletotoro


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## RobboMC (27/6/07)

simpletotoro said:


> hi..
> nice looking stout...but am i alone in thinking 3 kits... 1.7kg can Draught,1.7kg can Porter,1.7kg can Stout +
> 60g styrian goldings, with the [email protected] is going to make it one hell of a bitter stout...or does the 9% alcohol offset this?
> i love stout and am not bagging the recipe merely trying to learn something....
> cheers simpletotoro




Obviously the judges didn't think so!!!


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## Stuster (27/6/07)

STT, the bitterness would be pretty intense if you were to drink this straight away. The think is this beer is a keeper - you can keep this for many years and it should improve for a number of those years. During that time the bitterness will decrease, which is why you're aiming for a very high bitterness to start with, as well as to balance the sweetness from such a high gravity beer.


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## simpletotoro (27/6/07)

Stuster said:


> STT, the bitterness would be pretty intense if you were to drink this straight away. The think is this beer is a keeper - you can keep this for many years and it should improve for a number of those years. During that time the bitterness will decrease, which is why you're aiming for a very high bitterness to start with, as well as to balance the sweetness from such a high gravity beer.


cheers thanks for that...i never realised that bittness decreases from age ...good to learn something new...glad i asked the question now...might give me a burl at making that as well then...
cheers simpletotoro


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## brettprevans (13/12/07)

ok so I couldnt wait any longer....I had to try a bottle of my RIS

 The bottle I opened was dead flat. No idea what happened. Anyways I decided Im drinking it anyway. It came out like syrup. Im talking thick as all buggery. pretty good taste though. still very young and the tastes need to mellow and even out more. The alcohol is there in the palate and it certainly has some warmth to it. It was almost undrinkable dead flat (well hard to drink 750ml flat anyway)

The old man came around whilst I was drinking it and wanted a beer so I cracked him one - I had mislabeled it and low and behold it was my test stubby of RIS!!!! and it was carbonated!!! So I mixed the carbonated and noncarbed beers together and drank. It made a huge differance. Added so much to the beer. so much more enjoyable.

I recon this will be a pearler with some age (and if the other bottles are carbed up!).


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## Fatgodzilla (13/12/07)

citymorgue2 said:


> ok so I couldnt wait any longer....I had to try a bottle of my RIS
> 
> The bottle I opened was dead flat. No idea what happened. Anyways I decided Im drinking it anyway. It came out like syrup. Im talking thick as all buggery. pretty good taste though. still very young and the tastes need to mellow and even out more. The alcohol is there in the palate and it certainly has some warmth to it. It was almost undrinkable dead flat (well hard to drink 750ml flat anyway)
> 
> ...



Good on ya for trying, hope it becomes drinkable but for the life of me I can't work out why any sensible person would want to drink let alone brew this spore of Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout
In the words of that great philosopher Gordon Matthew Sumner "I hope the Russians love their children too "


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## beerguide (13/12/07)

I know what I want to do with the few odd kits I have floating around now. 
If I can get this done before the New Year it should be a cracker of a beer come winter *fingers crossed*

Ross, pardon my newbiness - but what is a blow off tube? It sounds like something I'd whack on my car :S


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## brettprevans (13/12/07)

basicly a length or food grade tubing you have coming our of where your airlock would normally be and have the other end submerged into a bucket of steralized water. The idea being for over active brews where kraussen normaly explodes out the top it will go into the tube and expel into the bucket. The beer stays sanitised because nasties cant get into the hosing because of the water.

I used my 60L fermentor and a normal airlock and didnt have any problems. But I did get a good 10cm of kraussen


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## beerguide (13/12/07)

Ah gotcha, I know what you mean now - just never heard it called that before - in fact, never heard it called anything.

Thanks!


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## voota (13/12/07)

Sometimes its nice to add a bit more yeast at bottling, I brewed something with a high OG a while ago and had a few of them flat.. My last Barley Wine (11%) had some random yeast added just before bottling and it's worked out marvelous. Bit late for that now I guess.


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## Weizguy (13/12/07)

Citymorgue2 and STT,

My 2 cents worth of advice is to bottle strong beer in small bottles only. 750 ml is taste-bud suicide and a potentially huge headache.

That what I did with my Strong Ale (3rd place in the last AABC, behind Dan and number 2- sorry I can't name the brewer).
BTW, I added some W1028 at bottling and it did a great job, and I only carbonated low anyway (to avoid bottle bombs).

Seth out


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## beerguide (20/12/07)

Could I replace the steeped grains with a can of Light Malt Extract? I'm trying to clean out my old cans as I'm now primarily All Graining - but don't want to waste what I already have.


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## brettprevans (20/12/07)

you could but it wouldnt be the same. do some toucans with with your tins or basic quaffers. The complexity in flavour is from largely from the grains (well certainyl in this receipe). The grain is providing flavour and colour not fermentables (well only a slight bit with crsytal). you could replace some of the dex and malto dex with a can of LDME just up the bittering hops to balance out the increase in maltyness


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## beerguide (20/12/07)

Thanks for that citymorgue. I'm only trying to clear out my stocks so I dont let them go out of date 
I have the crystal, so I'll just figure out how to replace the malto/dex with the can using beersmith or something.

That or save it for a second recipe of some kind - but I am reluctant to purchase another kit, just to use a can of malt.


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## brettprevans (20/12/07)

you could replace one of the tins of goo with the kit of malt, just up the bittering hops again


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## beerguide (20/12/07)

Very true - i hadn't thought of that. Malt is essentially an unhopped can. I might replace the draught can with the malt and adjust bittering accordingly.

Thanks again


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## Muggus (20/12/07)

Les the Weizguy said:


> My 2 cents worth of advice is to bottle strong beer in small bottles only. 750 ml is taste-bud suicide and a potentially huge headache.
> 
> That what I did with my Strong Ale (3rd place in the last AABC, behind Dan and number 2- sorry I can't name the brewer).
> BTW, I added some W1028 at bottling and it did a great job, and I only carbonated low anyway (to avoid bottle bombs).


Very similiar to what I did with my Half Century Barley wine.

I figure if I want to age a few bottles of it and its particularly strong (12%) I may as well bottle it in 330ml bottles. And seeming though the style doesn't really beg for much carbonation, I'd carbonate each bottle with half the nescessary dextrose. Long process of bottling, but after spending a month in fermentation, and 6 months maturing on oak chips, I figured it'd be worth it.


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## bingggo (7/5/14)

I'm thinking of giving the recipe in the first post a go. Anyone done it since the last post - any tips?

I was planning to use coopers stout, lager and dark ale for the kits, and 3-4 packets of s-05 for the yeast, either split between two 25L fermenters for the initial ferment or in the coopers fermenter (more headspace).

Cheers,
B


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## Bribie G (7/5/14)

Nice necro bing - most of the previous posters are now in the old folks home on walking frames.

:lol:

However with the competition season now beginning it's actually a good thread. Four or five years ago I put a kit based RIS into the Nationals and it did fairly well, didn't score a place or a medal but it came above mid field in its class.
With strong dark beers that have lots of spec malts and hops, extract and kit beers can hold up well against all grain brews in a way that extracts and kits can't really compete against most AG pale ales or lagers.

If you want to dip your toe in the water for a strong stout I'd spruik my Toucan here (as entered in that competition)

2 tins Coopers Stout
kilo of dex
kilo of LDME

chuck in a small handful of any aromatic type hop pellets on day 4

US 05 would certainly be a good yeast, Nottingham does a better job of chewing through the fermentables.


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## bingggo (8/5/14)

Cheers! In the recipe, is it safe to assume:
- '1kg brewing sugar' means dextrose and
- '1kg dried brew booster' means something like Brewcraft 15 or Coopers BE 2 (LDM, Maltodextrin, Dextrose mix)?

B


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## Bribie G (8/5/14)

dex and brewing sugar would be basically the same in this recipe. The dried brew booster would probably be the equivalent of BE2. Personally I'd just use LDME as there's heaps of foaming and body from the two cans without adding extra maltodextrin as in the BE2.


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## Elz (9/7/14)

Hi Bridie G
Would you recommend any speciality grains for your recipe above. I am keen to try but can you remeber the flavour profile? I kinda like a more malty stout, would this suit. And lasty what was the volume (lt) and/or ABV. Thanks in advance
Elz


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## Bribie G (9/7/14)

It came out around 9% and was very smooth. However in the nationals it was criticised for lacking maltiness. I reckon it could stand 150g of Melanoidin steeped for an hour, or even 200g of Caraaroma.


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## Elz (9/7/14)

Bribie G thanks for the updated info. I will try it out tomorrow, probably use Nottingham yeast (one pack?), maybe sub 500g of the dextrose for LDME (more malt is good!) or even just use 2k of LDME with 200g caraaroma. Input into beer smith and shoot for 10%abv. Doe this kinda add to what you brewed, or stick to the original? Any feedback is greatly appreciated
Cheers
Elz


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## RobboMC (15/7/14)

Personally I wouldn't be making 40 litres of one recipe when the opportunity exists to make 2 x 20 litres of different beers.

Why add dex, when you can replace it with malt? I'd be using dme instead or maybe a can of LME.

The steeped grains add complexity to the flavour, RIS needs this as well as the LME.
For the kit brands, nothing wrong with Tomas Coopers Stout and Draught.
For Porter there's Coopers Dark Ale, Cascade Choc Mohogany Porter, Ironbark Dark Ale or Muntons Nut Brown Ale.

But with all those fermentables in there it's going to be almost impossible to make it into a bad beer.

Good luck at let us know how it turns out. It's on my to do soon list.


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## sp0rk (15/7/14)

RobboMC said:


> Personally I wouldn't be making 40 litres of one recipe when the opportunity exists to make 2 x 20 litres of different beers.
> 
> Why add dex, when you can replace it with malt? I'd be using dme instead or maybe a can of LME.
> 
> ...


If you're referencing Bribie's recipe, it's a 23L batch as it's a toucan (two can, geddit)
Dex thins it out a little (otherwise it's a bit too meaty)


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## Bribie G (15/7/14)

More than enough malt extracts in there, I think the criticism at the Nationals was the lack of "malty" flavour, that I would guess means a fresh grain flavour. So some steeping grains in there would be good.


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## Elz (21/7/14)

In the end I brewed a 19 lt stout in the Williamswarn. The recipe was 1 x Coopers dark ale, 1 x Coopers Irish stout, 1.5 kg LDME and .5kg dextrose. Steeped 200gm Melaoidin for 40 min at 70 C. Used only one pack of Nottingham. OG 1097, FG 1028 (according to Beer smith 2 refractometer tool) ABV 9.19%.
In the end this is a lovely beer, albeit a little malty. Would probably use 2 yeasts next time. Flavours are coffee, liquorice (a little too dominant) and toffee. I did not add any hops but it could probably do with some dry hopping. I am still relative new to brewing but would suggest some classic english hops, maybe Goldings? There is a mild alcohol taste for such a strong beer. Great beer for a cold Melbourne winters night.


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## bingggo (2/9/14)

I did dan's recipe last Sunday using coopers kits (stout, dark ale and lager) and followed the recipe other than reducing brewing sugar from 1kg to 500gm. Used coopers brew enhancer 1, guessing that was equivalent to 'brew booster'. 

Tried the coopers plastic hydrometer for the first time, but OG was off its scale - it only goes up to 1100!

My usual hydrometer revealed OG was 1112.

Am contemplating some dry hopping. The tricentennial stout recipe in brewing classic styles has a different hop bill, but I was thinking about taking its suggestion to dry hop 60g kent goldings. Any thoughts on how that would fit with dan's recipe?

Look forward to bottling and aging


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## Danwood (2/9/14)

I think the EKG would be a nice addition, personally. 

I stumbled upon this thread at the perfect time. I have a toucan+10kgs grain double batch (2 cubes, ~44L @ 1.112) on the go atm.

I pitched a huge WLP007 + WLP099 starter with 02 onto one of the cubes yesterday (it's down to 1.055 already...jeebus ! [temp 17.5°C])

Anyway, the error I made was not including any simple sugar on brew day.

My plan is to add 2 x 250g boiled dex solution additions to dry it out a bit. That should work ok...shouldn't it ?


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## Moad (2/9/14)

I did the RIS from the last edition of beer and brewer and added in some oak and bourbon. When I bottled it I had about half a schooner left over and god damn it was tasty. I've bottled 6 stubbies to be tasted from January to see how it changes leading in to winter.

My only concern is I used the sugar drops and I fear they will be over carbed.

edit: I did have something to contribute to the thread... I used US05 and it fermented out to 9.5% nicely.


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## bingggo (3/9/14)

My krausen is much tamer than I was led to expect - only 2-3 inches by day 3 - I pitched 33g of nottingham rehydrated.


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## Danwood (3/9/14)

I checked on mine this morning to give it a dex feed.

Bloody temp. had shot up to 20°C from 17.5°C just through the monstrous yeast activities. I'd unplugged the fridge from the controller as I didn't think I'd need cooling as well as heating at this time of year.

It's going into a carboy with Shiraz oak staves for a few months, so any fusels produced should disperse. Hopefully.


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## bingggo (3/9/14)

Mine is down from 1112 to 1060 in three days.


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## bingggo (19/9/14)

Hi folks, my OG on Dan's recipe is now 1.035 after 3 weeks. The Kit spreadsheet calculates it would be 1.028. Should I take that as gospel, or is it ready if it stabilises at 1.035? I've read this ain't a bad OG for a RIS, sweetness wise. If it's actually done...


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## Grott (20/9/14)

If it is stable at 1035 over 3 days, bottle.
cheers


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## bingggo (30/9/14)

Thanks. Bottled. Hope the 3x nottingham I put in at the beginning is still up to the job of carbonation  should be an 11% brew.


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## bingggo (16/11/14)

Had a carbonation problem, probably due to not adding the Champagne yeast. Just a heads up to others 

Hoping to get some tips here: http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/83725-carbonation-priming-kinda-failed-on-russian-imperial-stout-fixes-next-time/


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