Dead Czar Imperial Russian Stout MkIII

[pantsmachine]

Down to 1.028 this morning, amazed the way it keeps chuntering along. Had a bit of a brief pause about 1.030 but its off again. I have not roused the beer at all. Glad i didn't go OTT with the roast barley, smells nice. Bought a new glass trial jar. 1 advantage over the plastic ones is that i can draw a sample and leave it in the jar with the hyrdrometer in and watch the bubbles rise through the side. Sad old git lava lamp but it makes me happy!


Decided to add 50grms of medium toast oak chips, will leave them in for the next couple of days then bottle assuming all goes as expected.


Also took time to give it a good rousing with a sterilise stainless paddle, end result good!


Roast stuff, coffee, caramel, chocolate. They are all present in the few ml's that dripped off the paddle post rouse!

[pantsmachine]

Finished at 1.023 so around 7.1%ABV.
Bottled today as i had the time. Only 2 days with the chips in the FV. Had a taste and my mind instantly went to a Terry's Dark chocolate orange!



Dates wrong as i prepped labels before bottling, maybe the Guy Fawkes fireworks date will come through in the end product!


Total cost £19 or around 10 bob a bottle.

[coatesg]

Looks like a stormer again I still have both bottles of the MkII conditioning in the "fridge of beer" - looking forwards to having a sample of one of those sometime next year on a cold night

[6470zzy]

I have a couple of questions for you:

1) What is the origin of the oak chip that you used? ie. are they French, Hungarian or domestic? I am curious because of the subtle taste differences in the oaks.

2) Did you happen to do your labels with Open Office? They look great by the way.

Cheers

[pantsmachine]

Labels were done on design pro 5.4 ltd edition, sounds swank but its just a free programme from Avery. The oak chips came from Brupaks. I have had them for a year(sealed bag). I think the choice was medium or heavy toasted. Oh aye and they are French. Plenty distilleries round me but i'm getting on a bit for going over the fence at night!

[6470zzy]

Labels were done on design pro 5.4 ltd edition, sounds swank but its just a free programme from Avery. The oak chips came from Brupaks. I have had them for a year(sealed bag). I think the choice was medium or heavy toasted. Oh aye and they are French. Plenty distilleries round me but i'm getting on a bit for going over the fence at night!

I have had a pack of Hungarian ones about for a few months now perhaps its time I put them in for a swim........

Cheers

[pantsmachine]

Its worth it. In the first couple of months(you know, when you're just testing) they are very apparent but after that they slowly blend into the background. I only had them in for a couple of days this time so they can't imprint a lot over that time. The odds are on they will hardly be apparent once the beer is matured properly. Actually that's a point. I could do a big IPA and mature it on oak chips in a king keg for a few months and then redose with yeast and bottle. Thanks 647ozzy that's a great idea and i'll do it! I was messing about with a recipe with Glacier and Liberty hops for next brew so the ageing on chips will move it more towards the sail to India type thing.

[pantsmachine]

Using my imminent trip to the Congo as a weak excuse( but still feeling the guilt after only 12 days bottled) i decided to crack open one of the sample bottles of this IRS. This is a completely different bag of octopus from my last 2 IRS. WAY lighter, sweeter, slippery smooth and i could drink a few pints of it. Its got a kind of dark fruity thing going on as well. Fermentation temp was low so i was surprised to taste 'fruit'. I could drink this as a standard stout with a slight kick now but in this case i AM going to leave it alone for a few months at least.





Hell, even the heads a lighter colour than previous IRS! Coateseg, promise the version you have is fine just be prepared its not one you'll sling down your neck. But then again nweithers this. Ahah that must be the 7....% thi..a..n..g. kickin gin the nooo. and also

[pantsmachine]

That's 6 months since i tried the initial bottle of the MkIII IRS. SWMBO and myself cracked open a couple last night to try. Bit of yeast out the bottom of the bottle as i wanted the lot but who cares when it tastes like this!



Our tasting notes in this order are

SWMBO
Smells like walking into a high class Deli(i'm hoping she means coffee beans and choclate and not salami)!
Foam is bittersweet followed by dark rich creamy italian coffee.

Me.
Smell of dark bitter choclate
initial taste is toffee, bananas(just) and dark espresso
After 10 minutes warming
Tirimasu and hazelnuts(right at the end of a sip)
Slight Tobacco(dark cigar)

Mouthfeel is big on this beer but not excessive, carbonation is good. I'm going to say that this would stand up no problem beside a st bernadus 12. Ithink i'll have another tonight!

[WishboneBrewery]

Sounds nice, I was thinking along these lines last night... thinking I need to brew a few strong ones to lay down for a while.

[alfie09]

could someone give me a step by step how to print a beer label with avery software please

[pantsmachine]

Sorry mate lifes too short to type out all that stuff, trial and error is the way forward. It worked for me(eventually). The best tip i can give is make sure you know the avery ID type of the labels you use as the software asks you for this at the start of a new project.