Sounds awesome, can get dangerous when they're deceptively sessionable! Haha!
Help with my first RIS
- Thread starter Schikitar
- Start date
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Sounds awesome, can get dangerous when they're deceptively sessionable! Haha!
Alright, about 2 hours later and it's nearly got an inch of krausen onboard and I can see it fizzing away underneath, think I'll leave it until morning and throw it in before I leave for work, otherwise mid-afternoon...
Hi guys, two and half days later, no movement with the starter added, looks like it's sitting on 1.036 
When I taste the sample it doesn't taste sweet to me (I don't typically like sweet things so anything slightly sweet stands out to me). It tastes dark and roasty, the mouthfeel is surprisingly thinner than I expected. Is it possible there's just no fermentables left in it? I don't really understand this part of it. I mean, if it was chilled and carbonated I'd actually be quite happy to drink it, it's nice as it is without having yet fully developed - I'd live in fear of bottle bombs though...
Another idea I had was that I've got a Rye IPA sitting in a cube, I thought about maybe pitching to that, let that guy ferment out and then chuck the RIS on top of its yeast cake..?? I've got about a one litre of yeast sitting at the bottom of the RIS fermenter, would another option be to rack that off to tertiary and then drop the Rye IPA on top of that (so as to not waste the 5 packets of yeast that have so far gone into the RIS)?
When I taste the sample it doesn't taste sweet to me (I don't typically like sweet things so anything slightly sweet stands out to me). It tastes dark and roasty, the mouthfeel is surprisingly thinner than I expected. Is it possible there's just no fermentables left in it? I don't really understand this part of it. I mean, if it was chilled and carbonated I'd actually be quite happy to drink it, it's nice as it is without having yet fully developed - I'd live in fear of bottle bombs though...
Another idea I had was that I've got a Rye IPA sitting in a cube, I thought about maybe pitching to that, let that guy ferment out and then chuck the RIS on top of its yeast cake..?? I've got about a one litre of yeast sitting at the bottom of the RIS fermenter, would another option be to rack that off to tertiary and then drop the Rye IPA on top of that (so as to not waste the 5 packets of yeast that have so far gone into the RIS)?
homebrewnewb
Well-Known Member
no takers on that one huh, sorry chap without know much more you may not be able to rescue it, you might just have to tick it up to learning. bigger starter and plenty of 02 for the wort. maybe you can try a secondary but apart from that you might just have to see how it goes bottled.
Alrighty, well the RyeIPA is going gangbusters on the RIS's yeast bed. I drained the RIS to another vessel for storage, it separated very cleanly from the yeast at the bottom, that went swimmingly well. I threw in the RyeIPA and (controversially) I added a drop of olive oil in lieu of having decent aeration, a discussion for another day I think! Anyway, that's humming along and I have some crud coming up through the airlock at the minute. Unless anyone thinks it's a terrible idea, in about two weeks I'll carefully rack the RIS back onto the cake left behind by RyeIPA and see if it can't go about finishing it up. If it doesn't then I'll just bottle it and store it away in sealed plastic containers incase of bottle bombs. Will report back, mostly for anyone that perhaps stumbles upon this thread in a similar predicament!
Thanks again to @homebrewnewb for attempting to help me out, I appreciate you taking the time earlier on (and I've learnt how to make a healthy starter as a result)! Cheers!
Thanks again to @homebrewnewb for attempting to help me out, I appreciate you taking the time earlier on (and I've learnt how to make a healthy starter as a result)! Cheers!
homebrewnewb
Well-Known Member
mate, you will be in THE best position to help the next guy out, and tell them to aerate that wort and get a strong starter going, yesterday.
i heard someone recommending a drop (olive oil) on ss skewer shaking it off then swishing it through the wort (technical term) you dont need much obviously. all the best!
i heard someone recommending a drop (olive oil) on ss skewer shaking it off then swishing it through the wort (technical term) you dont need much obviously. all the best!
Just an update as I bottled this stout yesterday. I ended up racking it on top of the yeast cake from a Rye IPA I did - probably beer suicide but I really didn't care. I left it there for over a week but saw no airlock activity and the sample I took after a few days had really not budged. Last night I bottled with about 6g/L of dex, 12 shots of freshly stovetop-brewed espresso and about 100ml of Knob Creek (yeah, I had a couple under the belt and got ambitious/impulsive, not the best idea). I chucked a bit of fresh yeast as well to help with the carbonation just as a precautionary.
Whilst I was transferring to the priming bucket I thought to myself that I needed to take another sample, then wife/kids distracted me and then it was too late - so now I'll never know if it actually got below 1.034 or not. Oh well, it wouldn't have changed anything, I was still going to bottle regardless. As for taste, really happy with it; dark, complex and roasty - can't wait to see it hopefully develop. It's surprisingly not sweet which leads me to think that after everything I threw at it I must have just ended up with a bunch of unfermentables possibly as a result of the mash, which seemed fine to me at the time but maybe the temp was higher than what my thermometer was telling me, I dunno.
Now all I can hope for is that these carb up okay, neither flat or explosive. I don't exactly know what puts the "Russian" into a RIS (as per style guidelines) but as this will only be hitting a smidge under 8% ABV I guess this may no longer qualify, not sure..
Thanks again to those who tried to help me out, I learnt a lot along the way! Onwards and upwards! Cheers!
Whilst I was transferring to the priming bucket I thought to myself that I needed to take another sample, then wife/kids distracted me and then it was too late - so now I'll never know if it actually got below 1.034 or not. Oh well, it wouldn't have changed anything, I was still going to bottle regardless. As for taste, really happy with it; dark, complex and roasty - can't wait to see it hopefully develop. It's surprisingly not sweet which leads me to think that after everything I threw at it I must have just ended up with a bunch of unfermentables possibly as a result of the mash, which seemed fine to me at the time but maybe the temp was higher than what my thermometer was telling me, I dunno.
Now all I can hope for is that these carb up okay, neither flat or explosive. I don't exactly know what puts the "Russian" into a RIS (as per style guidelines) but as this will only be hitting a smidge under 8% ABV I guess this may no longer qualify, not sure..
Thanks again to those who tried to help me out, I learnt a lot along the way! Onwards and upwards! Cheers!
DoctorNick
Member
Wow. I just read this whole thread, and it was a nail-biter.
The reason I've started AG brewing is basically so I can learn to make a good RIS, so please do update us all on how your beer turned out. I need to self-educate as much as possible before my first attempt.
My next beer is going to be a Wee Heavy, mostly so I can practise making a high-gravity wort without worrying about the acidity of dark malts, adding any special adjuncts or any other bombshells strewn across the mine-field that is the road to strong-stout-making.
MartinOC
Insert something suitably witty here
Welcome to the Vortex!
Second-things first....
Wee Heavy:
99% Golden promise, 0.5-1% Roast Barley. That's IT. (Do NOT **** with this recipe!).
Mash at ~68-69C until you get Starch-end-point, then give it another 15-20 mins.
The hops are up to you, but since this beer is ALL about the malt, I'd suggest something noble & traditional like Goldings.
A BIG healthy starter of something like WLP028 & ferment at about 14C. Maybe ramp it up a bit after a few days to ensure completion.
BOTTLE IT!!!! This not one of those ones you want on-hand for a hot summer's day in a keg! This is one that needs a lot of patience as it matures. It'll reward you over MANY years if you take care of your bottling regime.
First things second...
Since you're in Melb., you might like to attend a Reiterated RIS brew-day in mid-late March.
A collaboration brew between a few mates that hooked-up via an Aussie-based forum. The scale of the equipment & what we're planning on brewing will probably blow your mind, as will the wealth of knowledge of the attendees (who just love to drink & talk about beer). If you're into making beer, it's a n-brainer & open-invitation.
PM me if you're interested.
Martin
Glad you enjoyed it, I didn't have quite so much fun during the process! Haha! Stout turned out pretty good, have cracked a bottle for a while, it's just ageing away under the stairs, I'll probably wait until a couple more months before I try another one. I didn't quite get the carbonation right, probably needed to give it a little extra for it's long stay in the bottle but it's not too bad.
The biggest lesson I learnt was the importance of oxygenating the wort and getting the pitch rate right the first time. It's not as simple as just pitching more down the track, much better to get it right the first time. This whole experience led me quickly to building liquid yeast starters. I haven't brewed anything this big since but now that I have a number of other brews under my belt I'd like to give it another go.
Good luck with the wee heavy - that collab brew day sounds great (sadly I'm in Tas), definitely check it out if you can!
