Russian Imperial Stout - First Recipe

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james1988
Piss Artist
Posts: 136
Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2011 11:37 am

Re: Russian Imperial Stout - First Recipe

Post by james1988 » Sun Apr 30, 2017 10:51 am

Morning,

For those still following the topic, I brewed the beer on Friday and completely missed my starting gravity. It was a bit of a disaster of a brewday which I put down to trying to do too much at the same time - keg and bottle two beers after doing a full day in work while brewing the stout.

I followed The Grainfather instructions and mashed with 21l of liquor which worked out to be a full volume mash, I was left with around 17l for the boil having sparged with 1.7l of cold liquor.My final numbers were 1080 at 20c and 12l of wort. So, I need to work on my efficiency which could be down to a number of things but I suspect its mainly down to my understanding and use of the Grainfather for the first brew.

James

james1988
Piss Artist
Posts: 136
Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2011 11:37 am

Re: Russian Imperial Stout - First Recipe

Post by james1988 » Sun May 14, 2017 8:20 pm

Evening all,

Today was bottling day for the Russian Imperial Stout, it is safe to say it is the most interesting smelling and tasting beer I have ever designed. The final gravity was 1012 so it is around 9% ABV. The beer has a wonderful aroma of coffee, liquorice and smoke but the smoke is not in your face - imagine walking into a centuries old pub with an open fire in the middle of winter; instant memories. The beer has tastes of liquorice, smoke, coffee, dark fruits and a sweet saltiness along followed by the warmth from the alcohol; it is not particularly bitter.

I've bottled 36 330ml bottles that are to be forgotten about for the next year or so but by god it is going to be difficult. I'd like to retry the recipe with an Oloroso sherry cask for the vanilla notes but first I need to source one.

My parting advice to anybody thinking of brewing such a beer is to do it, you won't regret it.

James

micmacmoc

Re: Russian Imperial Stout - First Recipe

Post by micmacmoc » Mon May 15, 2017 1:01 pm

Sounds amazing! That's me booked in for Wednesday brewday.

james1988
Piss Artist
Posts: 136
Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2011 11:37 am

Re: Russian Imperial Stout - First Recipe

Post by james1988 » Mon May 15, 2017 1:54 pm

Do it, you won't be disappointed. I also used Admiral hops alongside the Bramling Cross, I can post the amended recipe when I'm home tonight if you would like me to.

James

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