Russian Imperial Stout - First Recipe

[james1988]

Evening All,

I want to have a go at brewing a Russian Imperial Stout after trying one a few months ago and falling in love with it. It's not a style of beer I've ever brewed before so I'm not expecting to get the recipe spot on (or even close for that matter). While I've read the BJCP guide and I've noted that it doesn't state that you should or shouldn't include peat malt I've added it to my recipe to give it something different, I suspect it'll be rather warming on a winters night. Anyway, the recipe:

For 12L at 10.12% ABV (around 75% efficiency)
Pale Malt 4.30Kg
Crystal 120 0.35kg
Roasted Barley 0.35Kg
Wheat Malt 0.20Kg
Black Malt 0.15Kg
Peat Malt 0.10Kg

Hops
I've chosen Bramling Cross to give a dark fruit flavour
Bramling Cross 25g at 45mins
Bramling Cross 30g at 25mins
Bramling Cross 30g at 10 mins

Yeast
1 Sachet of Nottingham yeast

1Tsp of Irish Moss

Any critique would be hugely appreciated.

James

[micmacmoc]

Just finished an Old Rasputin, excellent RIS. They do some heavy late hopping with centennial (or at least the clone recipes I found say they do!) which makes me wonder...RIS generally takes months or better still years to condition to its best....late hopping leaves little if left to condition for months or years. So whats going on? Then in some clones they say to make up ten gallons and boil it down to five! This is no more than witchcraft surely? Crazy sounding ideas...but then again...

Your recipe looks grand, I would put some flaked barley or porage oats in it to add a bit of smoothyness. I use t.58 yeast in my strong stouts, having one now....heres the recipe:
23Lt
Black Star
pale 8000
R.Barley 260
munich 522
f.barley 607
crystal (150) 700
choc malt 370
black 60

hopped to 73 ibu with 90 mins and 15 mins pacific jade (12.5AA)
2 hour 65C mash, T%8 yeast 2 tsp gypsum to the mash (very very soft water here!)

Paddys day tomorrow, best I start my stout drinking now, g'luck whatever you brew,
SLAINTE!

[charliemartin]

I would be surprised if you achieve 75% efficiency brewing an RIS. If that is your normal efficiency level for 4-5 % beers you will need to lower it quite a bit. Maybe 60-65 %. There will be quite a bit of sugars left in the grist, probably enough to sparge and brew a "small" beer with.

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[james1988]

Apologies for the late reply.

Presumably, the drop in efficiency would be due to the high grain quantity than normal or would it be something else?

[scuppeteer]

Assuming you're still to brew this a couple of things.

Firstly don't waste Bramling Cross on a RIS. Any flavour you think you might get will be lost. As a rule only a bittering addition is required of around 70-90IBU's. Go for a higher AA% hop such as Pilgrim or Admiral.

If you know how, stop the mash run off quite high at around 1030 (Reduces efficiency as already mentioned)Then you will be sure of getting the strength you require. Keep an eye on the gravity during the boil and boil longer if needed.

Not sure one packet of Notty will do it. I would have 1 1/2 or even 2.

Bottle as and when but leave at least a year before drinking. If too harsh leave it for another year.

[wilfh]

I used 3 packets of notty in 22L and it went from 1.1 to 1018. I also got 64% efficiency with a 90 min mash and 2 hour boil so would say 75% is a bit optimistic. It drops as you go for a stronger beer as your volume if sparge water is lower. The alternative is to make a 24l Bach at 1.05 and boil until you reach your target gravity. Good luck

[james1988]

Morning,

Thanks Gents, I'll adjust my efficiency in that case. With regards to the hops I've bought a packet of Admiral for a brew I'm doing later on, there should be quite a bit left over so I'll keep them for this.

James

[legion]

The hop contribution does matter, i recently had a bottle of my 8% American stout which was 18 months old hopped late with only 30g of centennial and that flavour still came through.

One of my RIS tasted great after only a month in the bottle and although different two years on is not necessarily better.

[scuppeteer]

The hop contribution does matter, i recently had a bottle of my 8% American stout which was 18 months old hopped late with only 30g of centennial and that flavour still came through.

One of my RIS tasted great after only a month in the bottle and although different two years on is not necessarily better.

My point being Adam, that using Bramling Cross is a waste. Centennial is twice, if not more, the AA% of BX and so would not be so lost in the massive malt flavours from a properly brewed RIS.

[legion]

The AA isn't the only factor in the flavour impact of a hop.
There are various compounds and some are higher in composition for Brambling Cross than Centennial.

Although i have never brewed with Brambling cross to get some experience of its contribution.

[james1988]

Would it be worth using two varieties in that case? One for the bittering addition and the other for the flavour and aroma? I understand that the majority of the flavour should be coming from the malt but for the other fruity flavours suggested by the BJCP I would assume that you need some less bitter and more aromatic hops to impart the flavour; perhaps pairing something like Admiral with Bramling Cross.

James

[james1988]

Assuming you're still to brew this a couple of things.

Firstly don't waste Bramling Cross on a RIS. Any flavour you think you might get will be lost. As a rule only a bittering addition is required of around 70-90IBU's. Go for a higher AA% hop such as Pilgrim or Admiral.

If you know how, stop the mash run off quite high at around 1030 (Reduces efficiency as already mentioned)Then you will be sure of getting the strength you require. Keep an eye on the gravity during the boil and boil longer if needed.

Not sure one packet of Notty will do it. I would have 1 1/2 or even 2.

Bottle as and when but leave at least a year before drinking. If too harsh leave it for another year.

Quick question as I've just been re-reading this thread, would that 1030 be temperature corrected (1047 at 21c)or 1010 at 68c? I hope that make sense, I'm shattered!

James

[scuppeteer]

Assuming you're still to brew this a couple of things.

Firstly don't waste Bramling Cross on a RIS. Any flavour you think you might get will be lost. As a rule only a bittering addition is required of around 70-90IBU's. Go for a higher AA% hop such as Pilgrim or Admiral.

If you know how, stop the mash run off quite high at around 1030 (Reduces efficiency as already mentioned)Then you will be sure of getting the strength you require. Keep an eye on the gravity during the boil and boil longer if needed.

Not sure one packet of Notty will do it. I would have 1 1/2 or even 2.

Bottle as and when but leave at least a year before drinking. If too harsh leave it for another year.

Quick question as I've just been re-reading this thread, would that 1030 be temperature corrected (1047 at 21c)or 1010 at 68c? I hope that make sense, I'm shattered!

James

I take it you don't have a refractometer.

Take a sample of the wort from the mash after 30mins from mash end while its running into the copper. Cool it to around 20C. Take a reading. If you only have a hydrometer it will work the same. If its around 1020-1030 still then stop there. To not waste the rest of the wort, you can save this and make another very low ABV beer. But I would advise to hop it well.

[james1988]

Thanks very much for the explanation. I placed an order for the grain this evening and am working on an efficiency of 65% assuming the normal efficiency of The Grainfather is about 80%, so I'm hoping with some luck that this beer will come out well; it's made more interesting by the fact that it will be my first time using the new kit.

James

[scuppeteer]

Fair play for trying such a big beer on your new kit. Should turn out well.