05/09/08 Crazy Ivan Imperial Stout

Had a good one? Tell us about it here - and don't forget - we like pictures!
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adm

Post by adm » Fri Sep 05, 2008 6:59 pm

9.5Kg in my mash tun was hard work!

I was surprised quite how dark the run off was myself - it looked like crude oil or treacle. Smelled fantastic though.

Beer Alchemy tells me that the mash efficiency was 77.7%, which is pretty good for me. I would have thought though, that with half the amount of pale and the rest of the grist similar, you would have got an even darker runoff (if that's possible).

No idea why not. Maybe different dark grains ? (my chocolate was from the Farnborough HBS and the roasted barley was from H&G.

Or.....maybe the difference was the Amber malt (Barley Bottom)?
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coatesg

Post by coatesg » Sat Sep 06, 2008 1:37 am

Love the wort here - it does look like black treacle - bet the smell is amazing. A strong stout/porter is moving higher on my list of "Things to brew", and just seeing that wort this has done a lot to push it further up the pecking order :wink:
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adm

Post by adm » Sat Sep 06, 2008 9:23 am

This beer's taken off like a train! It was already bubbling through the airlock after three hours, but this morning it sounds like a giant cat purring!

There's a lovely big thick yeast head on it already.

So far, I'm loving the liquid yeast and yeast nutrient!
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maxashton

Post by maxashton » Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:08 pm

Let's see a pic of the kreusen, ADM! Were you fermenting it in a 10g fermentor? The headspace will be good for sanity..
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pantsmachine

Post by pantsmachine » Sat Sep 06, 2008 2:40 pm

Nice one looks damn good, what volume does your mash tun hold?
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adm

Post by adm » Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:00 pm

maxashton wrote:Let's see a pic of the kreusen, ADM! Were you fermenting it in a 10g fermentor? The headspace will be good for sanity..
Here you go:

Image

This is 20 hours after pitching, although it looks lower than it did last night! It's still bubbling away like a continuous fart in a bath.
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adm

Post by adm » Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:02 pm

pantsmachine wrote:Nice one looks damn good, what volume does your mash tun hold?
I'm not sure of the mash tun volume (it probably says on it somewhere, but it's outside in the rain and I'm not going out there right now), but I can tell you it will just about hold 9.5Kg of grain and 20l of liquor!

It's the Hop & Grape thermos coolbox one if that's any help....
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maxashton

Post by maxashton » Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:22 pm

I think those are 35 litres or so. I am sorely tempted to give this one a punt.
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adm

Post by adm » Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:33 pm

There's a gap in the rain right now...hold on....

It's a 28 litre mash tun!
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macleanb

Post by macleanb » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:07 am

What a whopper - I knows who's going to be having a nice nap this Christmas!
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maxashton

Post by maxashton » Thu Sep 11, 2008 11:52 am

Coma, more like!
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adm

Post by adm » Thu Sep 11, 2008 12:09 pm

:?

I'm not planning on drinking it all at once!
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The Mighty Badger

Post by The Mighty Badger » Thu Sep 11, 2008 4:14 pm

Wuss!

:D
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The Mighty Badger

Post by The Mighty Badger » Thu Sep 11, 2008 4:16 pm

It is a marvellous looking creation though - please remember to give us tasting report ...
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adm

Post by adm » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:08 pm

Will do!

Fermentation seems to be stuck right now. It's was at 1030 for the last coupe of days so last night I gave it a good old stirring with a sanitised spoon to try and rouse the yeast.

I was going to try and get it out of the FV by Friday as I'm off to the Phillipines for a week on Saturday.....but I think I'll just leave it there for another week instead and see where it's got to when i get back.
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