Russian Imperial Stout

[arctic78]

Just put together a RIS ( first ) And have to say I found it a real challenge.
I do not have the rolls Royce of brewing equipment as I believe home brewing should be kept simple and cost effective. I guess if you have the money though go all out. LOL. I managed a OG of 1.105 with grain only and in a 30ltr mash tun . had 1 ltr of space left. done a mash schedual of 15min @ 52 , 70 min @ 68 and 20 @ 76 . My grain to water ratio was 2.6ltr-1kg .
I have to say though that I had very little sparge water 9.4ltr. was very happy with my efficiency 87 % got 21ltr into the fermentor. I used WLP500 ( trappist ale ) Made a 2 step starter fist step 3ltr then decant and a 2 ltr 2nd starter then decant and cold pitch slurry. Oxygenated with O2 for 5min before pitching and plan on leaving in primary for 3 weeks then move to secondary for 8 weeks . Bottle condition until this time next year.

I use gelatine to clear my beers in the secondary before bottling with good results . Just takes a little longer to carbonate my beers. but have read a that a lot of people use yeast again before bottling a RIS not sure if this is necessary ??? but would like to know what others that have made these have found with theirs ?

Thanks

 

[danestead]

Just put together a RIS ( first ) And have to say I found it a real challenge.
I do not have the rolls Royce of brewing equipment as I believe home brewing should be kept simple and cost effective. I guess if you have the money though go all out. LOL. I managed a OG of 1.105 with grain only and in a 30ltr mash tun . had 1 ltr of space left. done a mash schedual of 15min @ 52 , 70 min @ 68 and 20 @ 76 . My grain to water ratio was 2.6ltr-1kg .
I have to say though that I had very little sparge water 9.4ltr. was very happy with my efficiency 87 % got 21ltr into the fermentor. I used WLP500 ( trappist ale ) Made a 2 step starter fist step 3ltr then decant and a 2 ltr 2nd starter then decant and cold pitch slurry. Oxygenated with O2 for 5min before pitching and plan on leaving in primary for 3 weeks then move to secondary for 8 weeks . Bottle condition until this time next year.

I use gelatine to clear my beers in the secondary before bottling with good results . Just takes a little longer to carbonate my beers. but have read a that a lot of people use yeast again before bottling a RIS not sure if this is necessary ??? but would like to know what others that have made these have found with theirs ?

Thanks

5 mins of O2 is a heck of a lot more than people usually use (not that I know anyone who measures their dissolved oxygen content). For a RIS type OG, I do 1 minute of O2 when pitching the yeast and then another 1 minute at 8-12 hours.

I pitched some extra yeast at bottling stage however this was an insurance policy for me; I didn't want to waste the 6 hour brew day and a month of fermenting to find out it didn't carbonate. I can't say whether the additional yeast was required or not though, sorry.

 

[arctic78]

I know 5min seems a lot but I done some looking around and from what I found in a few spots 5 min was recommended for pure 02 with beers with a high OG to get the right environment for the yeast to reproduce. They said 10min if just using an aquarium pump.
They also mentioned about the second dose of 02 at around the high krausen time which is what you are doing when you say 8-12 hours I guess.
As I said this is my first RIS so maybe I went longer on the 02 than needed but after all the time and money spent on ingredients I really want it to ferment out well .
I am seriously thinking about using more yeast come bottling time as I also want it to carb up.
So how did you add your yeast a bottling time?

Thanks.

 

[Grainer]

Syringe with CB-1

 

[danestead]

I know 5min seems a lot but I done some looking around and from what I found in a few spots 5 min was recommended for pure 02 with beers with a high OG to get the right environment for the yeast to reproduce. They said 10min if just using an aquarium pump.
They also mentioned about the second dose of 02 at around the high krausen time which is what you are doing when you say 8-12 hours I guess.
As I said this is my first RIS so maybe I went longer on the 02 than needed but after all the time and money spent on ingredients I really want it to ferment out well .
I am seriously thinking about using more yeast come bottling time as I also want it to carb up.
So how did you add your yeast a bottling time?

Thanks.

When I made my yeast starter, I poured a portion of the yeast from the wyeast packet into a sanitised vial and kept it in the fridge. I added this to the bulk-priming vessel during the process of priming and bottling. This isn't the best way to add fresh yeast as the inactive yeast would have had a hard time springing to life in the high alcohol environment however between that and the original yeast in the beer, it carbed up. It was just an insurance policy after all.

 

[HBHB]

Lallemand CBC-1 yeast is the ducks nuts in big beers where the original yeast is clapped out and suffering alcohol toxicity.

I usually re-pitch a bit higher than might be necessary, but half a pack rehydrated in 50ml of water at 32 degrees and allow it to work it's way through the batch once a bunch of the beer is transferred to the bottling vessel with a bulk prime of Dextrose. These typically carb up in about 5-7 days at that rate with 100% success rate. Clean, neutral and 100% reliable.

Hope that helps.

Martin

 

[Markbeer]

I think adding yeast is better.

I had to rotate bottles twice daily to get them to carb up. The beer was 14%.

 

[Killer Brew]

I know 5min seems a lot but I done some looking around and from what I found in a few spots 5 min was recommended for pure 02 with beers with a high OG to get the right environment for the yeast to reproduce. They said 10min if just using an aquarium pump.
They also mentioned about the second dose of 02 at around the high krausen time which is what you are doing when you say 8-12 hours I guess.

I will preface this comment by saying I'm not an expert in high gravity brewing. 8 - 12 hours would be well before high krausen. Still I would be wary of adding any O2 after the start of fermentation as you reduce the time spent by the yeast metabolising anaerobically. I would prefer to go with a larger starter instead.

 

[Yob]

8-12 hours is smack on when to give a second dose, yeast can't breed without oxygen and you need a LOT of yeast for RIS.

I aim for the 12 hour mark.

 

[Killer Brew]

I stand corrected.

 

[droid]

yep - zero carbonation here after a three month barrel age, fortunately i have c02

 

[Mardoo]

Barrels can be water tight but are never gas tight. Hence the angel's share.

 

[droid]

yes indeed and indeedly i didn't explain that very well, as ususal...

3 months conditioning, at the end some was transferred to kegs some bottled with sugar...the ones bottled with sugar didn't do nothin in terms of carbonate

 

[danestead]

8-12 hours is smack on when to give a second dose, yeast can't breed without oxygen and you need a LOT of yeast for RIS.

I aim for the 12 hour mark.

Yep, the idea is to add extra oxygen after the yeast has split/reproduced once.

 

[arctic78]

Heaps of tips, Great.Thanks.
@ danestead thanks for your advise on the coffee addition and the what you did when using the yeast for bottling.
I will leave the coffee right untill the last thing before bottling. Thinking of buying a new glass secondary fermentor so i can age it i there for as long as possible before bottling..

@ everyone else... THanks for the tips . Will use CBC-1 at time of bottling from what you guys have said about it and also next time i think i will hit with a second round of co2 at the 8-12 hour mark.

Making this style of beer i think will be a once a year thing for me Maybe twice if ever i get enough fermentors but having kids chews in to hobby money LOL. I guess now i just got to be patient and see how this turns out.

 

[danestead]

Heaps of tips, Great.Thanks.
@ danestead thanks for your advise on the coffee addition and the what you did when using the yeast for bottling.
I will leave the coffee right untill the last thing before bottling. Thinking of buying a new glass secondary fermentor so i can age it i there for as long as possible before bottling..

@ everyone else... THanks for the tips . Will use CBC-1 at time of bottling from what you guys have said about it and also next time i think i will hit with a second round of co2 at the 8-12 hour mark.

Making this style of beer i think will be a once a year thing for me Maybe twice if ever i get enough fermentors but having kids chews in to hobby money LOL. I guess now i just got to be patient and see how this turns out.

I do love coffee and I have just put a batch of cold brew in the fridge so I can drink it in the morning however I made no mention regarding coffee in your RIS on this page. I think you must be wanting to thank someone else!

 

[arctic78]

This lack of sleep is starting to make me miss heaps of things and mix them up . How much fun a new born is :blink: sorry about that.

 

[danestead]

This lack of sleep is starting to make me miss heaps of things and mix them up . How much fun a new born is :blink: sorry about that.

I've got a new born in a couple of weeks. My partner asked me what I was doing the other day on the computer.

I said "trying to figure out when I can brew when this baby comes."
She said "the baby comes first."
I said "this brew is for the royal show."
She kind of grumbled then worked out a day I'm 'allowed' to brew

 

[Yob]

With regard to your o2, it's not just time thing, it's also the flow rate and you can have too much, from memory without looking it up, above 12ppm isn't great for the yeast and, also from memory, 2mins at 2l/min in a 23l batch gets you there.

Food fo thought and an area to research perhaps.

Cheers

 

[arctic78]

@Yob
Ok thanks . I don't have a reg yet but i have been working on just getting a steady but gentle bubbling at the top of the batch.
have to do more research for sure but time , as always , Is hard to come by at the moment.

@danestead
best of luck with the royal show and with getting the time to brew. if i am lucky i can get 1 brew in a month if all the stars align :lol:
Just enough to keep me topped up with beer to drink