Russian Imperial Stout - Have you brewed one?

[Ciderman]

I've got a 5L port barrel. Planning on putting in 20-25% in that. Fill right to the top and keep topping up to prevent oxidisation.

 

[kz412]

Thinking of putting on an RIS in the near future by brewing a standard foreign export stout to about 6.5% and adding a can of coopers stout, just wondering when the best time to chuck the can in would be? Thinking probably just add it at flameout...

 

[Rod]

I have brewed a RIS , recipe from this site , K&K by Dan Raynor

dan rayners RIS

Dan's recipe is below (Best beer of Show 2007?). K+K & steeped grains:
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 @ 60
40g EKG @ 15
20g saaz @ 0

He steeped the grains in 6L water, and boiled that for 60 mins, with the styrian added at start boil, the EKG added 15 mins from flameout, and the saaz at flamout.

Then he just added the 3 cans into his fermenter, put the boiling wort on top of that, stirred to dissolve, and added cold water up to 20L mark.
It says he aerated by pouring from one fermenter into another several times,
pitched 40g of yeast,
and it seems like he used 2 fermenters to ferment in, probably at 10L each, cause the krauesen that comes of a good RIS will creep out of the fermenter and strangle you in your sleep if you dont give it bollock loads of head space.

Also says to use champagne yeast to finish it off, expect a OG of 1115, and an FG of 1028.


i did this recipe ages ago and used windsor yeast. worked a treat

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=44166&st=0&#entry626383

this no longer works

I still have some bottles from the batch I made in 2010

tastes like liqueur muscat

 

[TheWiggman]

Venturing into my first RIS. I feel like all my brewing misadventures have led up to this point.

Recipe: Russian Imperial Stout
Brewer: TheWiggman
Asst Brewer:
Style: Imperial Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 16.88 l
Post Boil Volume: 14.04 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 12.00 l
Bottling Volume: 11.25 l
Estimated OG: 1.080 SG
Estimated Color: 81.9 EBC
Estimated IBU: 66.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 78.7 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4.220 kg Pale (Traditional Ale) Malt - JW (6.9 EB Grain 3 87.5 %
0.090 kg Carafa III (1034.3 EBC) Grain 6 1.9 %
0.300 kg Crystal, Medium - Simpsons (157.6 EBC) Grain 4 6.2 %
0.120 kg Roasted Barley - JW (1150.0 EBC) Grain 5 2.5 %
0.090 kg Chocolate Malt (1100.0 EBC) Grain 7 1.9 %
30.73 g Challenger [7.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 38.6 IBUs
30.73 g Goldings, East Kent [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 Hop 9 27.9 IBUs
1.0 pkg London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1028) [12 Yeast 11 -
1.50 g Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins) Water Agent 1 -
1.50 g Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent 2 -
0.50 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) Other 10 -


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 4.821 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 15.53 l of water at 71.2 C 66.0 C 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 76.0 C over 10 min 76.0 C 10 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 9.17 l water at 75.6 C
Notes:
------
OG 1.080, FG 1.019
ABV 8.2%, 60 IBU, 76.3 EBC

Will bulk prime with minimal dextrose and bottle for consumption in many years. And hopefully snare some award somewhere
Once I get a quiet weekend and some 1028 ready to go this will be on the cards.

 

[droid]

i did a 180 boil and enjoyed the taste but at 70ibu and 8.7% it was a bit high in bitterness and a bit llow in abv, due to a couple of miscalculations. 8% is the lower threshold of ris. I threw some dextrose and ldme in to help and a big starter of 1028 all personal taste tho

 

[madpierre06]

I've got a 5L port barrel. Planning on putting in 20-25% in that. Fill right to the top and keep topping up to prevent oxidisation.

If this is the beer I had a couple weeks ago, it was bloody stunning mate. The bottle of it which I now possess will be sat upon and opened for a special occasion.

My Imperial Stout which I just put down a little while back and bottled 2 weeks ago.

Coffee Imperial Stout 23L Batch

B.B. Pale Malt 4.700kg

B.B. Crystal Malt 1.200kg

B.B. Wheat Malt 0.840kg

Voy. Buloke Choc Malt 0.720kg

B.B. Roasted Barley 0.240kg

Bairds Black Malt 0.240kg


Nthn Brewer Hops 84gm bittering@70mins

Cascade 50gm finishing for 5mins post boil


WLP007 Dry English Ale
Danstar Nottingham


Mash @ 65C 1 Hr, then mash off at 77C and begin lautering.
Sparge to 30L wort, boil 70mins

Pitch@21C

Aiming for 1.069, achieved 1.064
F.G. was 1.016

Then split the batch for coffee additions, half was 30gm fresh roast whole bean added at end of primary, soak for 18hrs prior to bottling. Other batch had 12hrs cold steeped and filtered coarse ground (27gm in 250ml) coffee from same roast batch added direct to fermenter. Initial taste of both prior to pitching....the whole bean batch was a tad sweeter and smoother, the steeped was a little drier in keeping with the taste of cold steeped coffee.

This recipe was courtesy of Doug McNair of Redhook Breweries.

 

[Mardoo]

Just reporting back, the Courage 1914 Imperial Stout recipe is the bomb. Chuck 10% of the patent malt into the boil whole. The Wyeast 1469 was fantastic fermented down near the bottom of its range. Awesome dark cherry-ish stonefruit esters. It crapped out at 9.5% and I had to finish with the WLP099 super high gravity. Next time I'm keeping the OG lower so I can just use the 1469 and keep every last one of those esters as the 099 chewed through quite a few of them (based on what I've read and heard on podcasts).

Easily one of my favourite styles now, with a permanent spot on my brew list. Commercially the Founder's RIS and the 8Wired iStout are two of my favourite examples.

 

[Yob]

Here Here

 

[TheWiggman]

How'd you manage the fermentation? For my 9.6% EBW it spent 2 weeks in the primary (1.5l starter, stir plate, ensured FG etc. etc.), was bulk primed with dextrose and then bottled. Used Wyeast 1028. No additional yeast or anything. It carbed up very nicely and remains by #1 beer to date.
My opinion is the less faffing about the better and I intend to do the same. Unless someone can give me a very good reason to put in a secondary.

Might do my recipe above and then the Courage. Can't hurt to have a few different RISs conditioning on the shelf surely?

 

[Dave70]

Just reporting back, the Courage 1914 Imperial Stout recipe is the bomb. Chuck 10% of the patent malt into the boil whole. The Wyeast 1469 was fantastic fermented down near the bottom of its range. Awesome dark cherry-ish stonefruit esters. It crapped out at 9.5% and I had to finish with the WLP099 super high gravity. Next time I'm keeping the OG lower so I can just use the 1469 and keep every last one of those esters as the 099 chewed through quite a few of them (based on what I've read and heard on podcasts).

Easily one of my favourite styles now, with a permanent spot on my brew list. Commercially the Founder's RIS and the 8Wired iStout are two of my favourite examples.

How do you reckon it would go with a Belgian strain like 1388? To estery perhaps? At least the ABV would/t be an issue.

 

[coopsomulous]

I brewed Courage 1914 Imperial Stout on the weekend. Its now fermenting using WLP007 as its what I had in the freezer.

Can't wait to see how it goes, but the SG samples so far have been delicious.

 

[Mardoo]

How do you reckon it would go with a Belgian strain like 1388? To estery perhaps? At least the ABV would/t be an issue.

I haven't used 1388 so can't say really. I've definitely been thinking about trying a Belgian strain. I would imagine that any overt phenolics would clash badly with the bitterness of the dark malts, but not sure. I've contemplated the WLP510 Bastogne Belgian Ale due to the totally untested-by-me notion that the slight tartness would complement the slight residual sweetness of the RIS. I think Yob may have tried a Belgian on this. Yob?

http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp510-bastogne-belgian-ale-yeast

 

[Ciderman]

If this is the beer I had a couple weeks ago, it was bloody stunning mate. The bottle of it which I now possess will be sat upon and opened for a special occasion.

My Imperial Stout which I just put down a little while back and bottled 2 weeks ago.

Coffee Imperial Stout 23L Batch

B.B. Pale Malt 4.700kg

B.B. Crystal Malt 1.200kg

B.B. Wheat Malt 0.840kg

Voy. Buloke Choc Malt 0.720kg

B.B. Roasted Barley 0.240kg

Bairds Black Malt 0.240kg


Nthn Brewer Hops 84gm bittering@70mins

Cascade 50gm finishing for 5mins post boil


WLP007 Dry English Ale
Danstar Nottingham


Mash @ 65C 1 Hr, then mash off at 77C and begin lautering.
Sparge to 30L wort, boil 70mins

Pitch@21C

Aiming for 1.069, achieved 1.064
F.G. was 1.016

Then split the batch for coffee additions, half was 30gm fresh roast whole bean added at end of primary, soak for 18hrs prior to bottling. Other batch had 12hrs cold steeped and filtered coarse ground (27gm in 250ml) coffee from same roast batch added direct to fermenter. Initial taste of both prior to pitching....the whole bean batch was a tad sweeter and smoother, the steeped was a little drier in keeping with the taste of cold steeped coffee.

This recipe was courtesy of Doug McNair of Redhook Breweries.

That's the one. Look forward to trying yours!

 

[Mardoo]

How'd you manage the fermentation? For my 9.6% EBW it spent 2 weeks in the primary (1.5l starter, stir plate, ensured FG etc. etc.), was bulk primed with dextrose and then bottled. Used Wyeast 1028. No additional yeast or anything. It carbed up very nicely and remains by #1 beer to date.
My opinion is the less faffing about the better and I intend to do the same. Unless someone can give me a very good reason to put in a secondary.

Might do my recipe above and then the Courage. Can't hurt to have a few different RISs conditioning on the shelf surely?

Initial pitch was OG 1.115 wort onto a cake of 1469 that I had grown up with a Dry Stout. (Note: I do not recommend 1469 for a Dry Stout. Just didn't quite work. ) Pitched at 15C and let rise to 17C, holding it there for 4 days and then bumping it to 18.5C. Primary went for two weeks until I was sure the 1469 had reached its limit at about 1.044 (9.3% ABV). I did a forced ferment test that went to 1.028. Then at the three week point I bumped the temp to 22.5C and pitched a very active 3 litre starter of the 099 at high krausen, no transfer to secondary. Virtually nothing happened for about 9 days and I was giving up hope, then I saw a 3 point drop finally and figured I'd just leave it to do its thing. I just left the temp at 22.5C. 3 weeks later I checked again and lo and behold the 099 had taken it down to 1.026. So, all told, about 7 weeks for the total ferment. If I had bottled I would have had a go at letting the 099 do its thing slowly. I transferred it to a secondary for conditioning at 2.5C. I'll be kegging it soon.

I had heard some references Jamil made to the 099 being able to sustain a high-alcohol pitch by having a very thick membrane, so I oxygenated and fed the starter at pitch and at 12 hours. I was a bit nervous about pitching the whole thing and oxydising the whole batch, but if there is any oxydation I haven't been able to taste it. I did not add any further oxygen to the fermenter. I'm not sure if the double oxy and feed made a difference to the 099 surviving a suicide pitch, but it doesn't seem to have hurt the beer.

Might just go pull a glass out of the conditioning fermenter now. It's been awesome at fermenter level carb. I will definitely be saving up for a hand pump for future RIS's.

 

[manticle]

I haven't used 1388 so can't say really. I've definitely been thinking about trying a Belgian strain. I would imagine that any overt phenolics would clash badly with the bitterness of the dark malts, but not sure. I've contemplated the WLP510 Bastogne Belgian Ale due to the totally untested-by-me notion that the slight tartness would complement the slight residual sweetness of the RIS. I think Yob may have tried a Belgian on this. Yob?http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp510-bastogne-belgian-ale-yeast

As far as belgians go, 1388 is restrained in phenolics. It's also got a great abv tolerance so an active starter can finish a stuck high gravity beer if the initial yeast conks out.
Be interesting to start with 1469 (my fave uk) and finish with 1388 (fave belgian).
When I get my stuff set up in a few weeks, I aim to knock out an alt. Following that, that courage ris looks like something I want to do a version of.

 

[TheWiggman]

Cheers for the detailed comments, need more quality feedback like that in this forum. Considering the performance of London 1028 on the previous batch of 1.090 I might just -

• Yeast nutrient
• O2 inject
• 1.5l starter with the above, pitched after decanting
• Ferment at 20°C until 1.020 and nudge to 24°C for a week
• Bulk prime with ~20g dextrose, no extra yeast

Will report back in a few years.

 

[Yob]

Just about to embark on my second barrel top up batches, my other 1.100 AG on a blend of 1084 (super fresh smack pack) and 099 active starter..

Second one will be a pimped toucan stout on greenbelt and 099 starter.. Blow off tube this time..

Epic..

 

[Judanero]

I have a RIS that I am going to split into two ~10L batches, use the same yeast but vanilla beans in one and cacao nibs in the other.

For yeast I was going to use either WLP 022 (Essex Ale) or Wyeast 1203 (Burton IPA).

I had ~5L extra wort in the kettle that I threw 2x SO-4 packets at and got it from 1.102 down to 1.024, I figure the yeast just reached its alc tolerance with a grain bill of:

6kg MO mashed @ 65 and then into that wort;
1kg JW Trad ale,
1 kg JW Wheat,
1kg Red X,
600g TF Brown,
600g Ding Biscuit,
500g Golden naked oat,
350g Carapils, 300g TF Light xtal, 200g TF Med xtal, 100g TF Dark xtal
mashed @ 68

Total of 28L

Wyeast 1203 apparently only has a 10% alc tolerance, WLP022 has a 'medium' alc tolerance so I'm guessing that's only 10% tolerant as well.

Assuming they'll both stop around 1.024 like the S-04, could I add a packet of cbc-1at the same time to get it lower? Would co-flocculation be a concern?

Should I let either 1203 or 022 finish (or get close to) and then throw the cbc-1 at it? And if that's how I should proceed (which is my gut feeling) I should transfer to another fv and add the cbc to that?

Thought I'd throw it over to people that have successfully brewed something this big

 

[Markbeer]

When looking at alcohol tolerances of yeast its not an absolute.

Jamil has stated just about any ale strain will go to 12% and most to 15%.

But you have to pitch enough and aerate enough.

A cake of s04 took a ris from 1115 to 1030 in 2 days.

I wondered how much further I could push it. I drew off some and added sugar and it kept on going.

I suspect it went over 12% and still carbed in the bottle.

If i had pitched a couple of packs instead of a cake it probably wouldnt have.

 

[droid]

44 liters fermenting out now and that finally fills up the 100 ltrs in the bourbon barrel. 4 different blends, 4 different brew days including the bummock brew (20% of total brew) ended up using London ale yeast all the way through and it performed fine, smells great that stuff.

Could I keep racking out 20 ltrs here and there and replacing with another unfinished RIS or will the long term beer be compromised? I like the idea of adding a young RIS after pulling some older stuff out??