Russian Imperial Stout

[Where's Jim?]

Hey all,

I am in the middle of designing my first recipe. I currently AG BIAB but this recipe is to be my first on a 3V system. I have been invited to brew with a friend's father (avid home brewer of many years experience) and he has given me the task of designing the recipe we are to brew. Only one guideline - it is to be a big bad Russian Imperial Stout.

I am still fairly new to the world of brewing (thank you all for this forum) and know little about malts and recipe design.

I have come up with the following based on Jamil's RIS and some reading around the internet.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 23.00 l

Estimated OG: 1.101 SG
Estimated Color: 80.6 EBC
Estimated IBU: 63.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 87.4 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name
8.50 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC)
0.50 kg Roasted Barley (591.0 EBC)
0.40 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (236.4 EBC)
0.30 kg Pale Chocolate Malt (500.0 EBC)
0.20 kg Caramunich Malt (110.3 EBC)
0.20 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC)

60.00 g Magnum [14.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min
40.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min
40.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 1.0 min

1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)

-----------

I replaced Jamil's Special B with Crystal 120L as I am not keen on getting prominent amounts of raisin/plum/current like flavours.
I've reduced the Roasted Barley slightly and upped the Pale Choc slightly to attempt to reduce the potential for an overpowering harsh bitter tone coming from the Roasted Barley and instead provide a smoother flavour.

I'd still like roasted coffee type flavours to dominate but I want it backed by a smooth sort of roasted caramel, chocolate, malty, sweetness.
I would like some mild hop aroma on the nose too. The Magnum is there for the bittering economy and the Fuggles - well, I've always wanted to use it and it seems appropriate here

Oh, I'll probably leave the mash schedule to him but I assume he'll chuck in a protein rest at 50deg, sacc at 65~, mash out or something along those lines.

Yeast-wise, 1056 seemed the safe option. We might brew something else first and then brew this up and pitch it onto the former's yeast cake or something?

I am unsure if I'm anywhere in the ball park for designing and describing this recipe. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[mckenry]

Jamil's RIS[/url] and some reading around the internet.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 23.00 l

Estimated OG: 1.101 SG
Estimated Color: 80.6 EBC
Estimated IBU: 63.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 87.4 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name
8.50 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC)
0.50 kg Roasted Barley (591.0 EBC)
0.40 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (236.4 EBC)
0.30 kg Pale Chocolate Malt (500.0 EBC)
0.20 kg Caramunich Malt (110.3 EBC)
0.20 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC)

60.00 g Magnum [14.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min
40.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min
40.00 g Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 1.0 min

1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)

-----------

I replaced Jamil's Special B with Crystal 120L as I am not keen on getting prominent amounts of raisin/plum/current like flavours.
I've reduced the Roasted Barley slightly and upped the Pale Choc slightly to attempt to reduce the potential for an overpowering harsh bitter tone coming from the Roasted Barley and instead provide a smoother flavour.

I'd still like roasted coffee type flavours to dominate but I want it backed by a smooth sort of roasted caramel, chocolate, malty, sweetness.
I would like some mild hop aroma on the nose too. The Magnum is there for the bittering economy and the Fuggles - well, I've always wanted to use it and it seems appropriate here

Oh, I'll probably leave the mash schedule to him but I assume he'll chuck in a protein rest at 50deg, sacc at 65~, mash out or something along those lines.

Yeast-wise, 1056 seemed the safe option. We might brew something else first and then brew this up and pitch it onto the former's yeast cake or something?

I am unsure if I'm anywhere in the ball park for designing and describing this recipe. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

One thing I and others do is only add the roast barley late in the mash i.e. last 10 mins or so. Seems to get all the colour and flavour without extracting any harsh biterness.
mckenry

 

[Josh]

With a beer that big you might get a lower efficiency. Something to consider.

 

[Swinging Beef]

Big and belgian beers are my favorite and speciality, but beers that big are really hard to design, brew and ferment.

All credit to you to want to attempt such a beast, but I would strongly recommend you get a few brews under your belt on your current system before you go for such a big, bold beer.

RIS is also quite a strange beer to taste, even when done properly.
The stronger acrid flavours, big malt and the huge hop bill contribute to an unusual mouth feel that is not always desirable.

I would recommend you make yourself an Export Stout, first.
Taste it.
Consider where you you would improve or change things.
Then build upon the knowledge you gained there, to move up to something stronger.

Your suggestion of using the yeast cake from a donor beer is a good one.

Good luck!

 

[Where's Jim?]

One thing I and others do is only add the roast barley late in the mash i.e. last 10 mins or so. Seems to get all the colour and flavour without extracting any harsh biterness.
mckenry

Does this affect the conversion of the roasted barley at all? I understand that roasted barley has no diastatic power and assuming the enzymes come from the base malt, is 10 minutes enough time to allow for proper conversion? Or am I completely wrong in assuming that roast barley adds any fermentables to the mash?

(I just like to know why I do things and how they work...)

Thanks for the replies so far guys.