1st AG Imperial Russian Stout - Disasterski!

[drumgerry]

Well after much build up and nagging you lot on here with daft questions the BIG DAY arrived. On Sunday. Only recovered enough now to put it down in print!

My plan was to make an Imperial Russian Stout. I thought b****r it I'll just go for it and see what happens. I should maybe have listened to the good angel on my shoulder rather than the wee devil on the other one as my ambition met the brick wall of my capabilities and a head on collision resulted.

Here's the recipe - changed from the Beersmith one to match my ingredients.

Brewer: Gerry Thompson
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 25.00 L
Boil Size: 30.11 L
Estimated OG: 1.110 SG
Estimated Color: 161.2 EBC
Estimated IBU: 79.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 % (aye right!)
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.25 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC) Grain 72.83 %
0.75 kg Carafa III (1034.3 EBC) Grain 5.91 %
0.75 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (118.2 EBC) Grain 5.91 %
0.50 kg Amber Malt (43.3 EBC) Grain 3.94 %
0.50 kg Chocolate Malt (689.5 EBC) Grain 3.94 %
0.50 kg Roasted Barley (591.0 EBC) Grain 3.94 %
0.45 kg Black (Patent) Malt (985.0 EBC) Grain 3.54 %


80.00 gm cascade08 [8.00 %] (90 min) Hops 43.6 IBU
50.00 gm Challenger [6.00 %] (30 min) Hops 14.7 IBU
50.00 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (30 min) Hops 12.2 IBU
50.00 gm Fuggles [4.50 %] (20 min) Hops 8.7 IBU

1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) Yeast-Ale

First thing I didn't take into account was just how much grain this actually is. I have a big shiny mash tun (70l) and it was about two thirds full by the time all the grain was in. This was where it started to go wrong. I had already added the mash water in the amount specified by Beersmith at around 80C to heat the tun up. By the time I got all the mash water in the temp had gone down to 69C . So I had to add numerous kettles of boiling water to get it back to 72C and then drain them out the tap so I had the right amount of mash water. Added the grain and a situation resembling kneading bread dough ensued rather than the loose slurry I had expected. Temper beginning to fray just about at that point So I had to add more water to loosen it up. Which left my measurements of the water needed all out of kilter.

Left the mash on and the tun kept its temperature very well. Had a bacon sarnie and a rest before returning to battle. Next big problem was I turned the tap on the tun on and "drip drip drip" was all that happened. Temper really beginning to fray now Had to improvise at this point - took the tap off,slipped some syphon tube into the gap and a proper run off started. Managed to carry out a very approximate version of batch sparging and collected my 30 litres boil volume. The runnings were still at 1030 at this point so I was/am well confused about that. Well I drew a line under it anyway, gave the "spent" grain to the chooks (which kept them going for hours afterwards!) and moved on to the boil.

Gravity (not sure if this is still called OG at this point in the process) was 1075 before the boil and I was doing a 90 minute boil so I was expecting that to go up. This part of the proceedings went ok apart from a minor boil over just at the start as I had the lid on to get it to the boil quickly. Plugged both 3kw elements in to get it to the boil and didn't fry the house's electrics - which was nice.

The immersion chiller also worked a treat and soon after I was ready to run the wort into to the FV. Which is where the biggest of my problems started.

The hop strainer which had been supplied with the boiler was a slotted copper pipe and I thought nothing of it. But as soon as I opened the tap I could see I had big trouble. Barely a drop was coming out. Since Sunday I've been madly surfing this and other forums and I now know the design of the strainer is the problem and it was always going to get blocked. Planning to make a hop taco/hopstopper for AG2 (yes there is going to be a second AG brew even after this!).

But on Sunday I had to find a way to get the wort out of the boiler. I ended up having to reach in with my very unsterile arm to clear the hops repeatedly to allow the wort to flow through a sieve and into the FV. Much splashing of tar like wort all over the kitchen floor was the result plus 21 litres of the stuff into the FV.

Gravity of the wort before pitching my yeast starter was 1095 rather than the 1100 i was aiming for. It seems to be fermenting ok (after 2 days) and I haven't opened the FV yet to check to see if it's an infected mess. Even if it is I've learned a lot from the process.

I know it's really my own fault for trying something so challenging to start with but I thought it'd be ok. But for a stuck mash and a dodgy hop filter everything might have been ok.

Sorry for the lack of pictures - they'd all have been of a very red faced bloke surrounded by blue air anyway! If anyone has any advice or suggestions for me to improve for AG2 I'd be really grateful to have them.

Cheers

Gerry

[WishboneBrewery]

Well I hope the Bacon Sandwich turned out well

[OldSpeckledBadger]

Very brave of you to try something that extreme as a 1st AG. Hope it turns out OK.

[drumgerry]

Bacon sandwich was the highlight of the day. And I'm not sure brave is the word - maybe stupid would be more like it. Got my fingers crossed. It's certainly fermenting great guns anyway.

Cheers

Gerry

[Eadweard]

I wouldn't worry too much about putting your arm in - most skin bacteria are killed by the hops.

[paulski]

YOU WILL LOVE IT,my 1st all grain was drunk in a week

[196osh]

I will be trying a RIS soonish when I get my new sack of malt.

The chance of a stuck ferment is much higher with an OG so large, unless you pitched a huge starter. Also you wont be drinking it for months you will be well through a number of AGs, from grain to glass before the RIS is ready to drink.

Hope it turns out well for you,

[drumgerry]

Thanks for the comments guys. With the yeast I made up 3 x 500ml bottles of spraymalt starter a few days before the brew so hopefully it had plenty of time to get the numbers up before I pitched all of that.

And it's maybe not going to be the disaster I first thought. Took a sample out tonight after 2 and a bit days fermentation to check the gravity. Also had a check to see what was happening on the top of the brew. There's a massive bubbling yeast head (kreusen?) and it smells pretty good!!

I didn't sterilise the sample jar (took the sample from the tap) so the sample wasn't going back in. Funnily there was a little head on the top of the sample which I had to knock off to see the reading. Gravity was down to 1040 from 1095 - which I'm thinking isn't bad in two days or am I wrong?

Had to have a taste and it wasn't half bad even at two days old. Fairly bitter but I used a lot of hops and it is early days.

Cheers

Gerry

[delboy]

Hopefully it'll be fine. I had this happen to me all the time when i had one of those hop stoppers with the slits (pants design). I used to do the stirring with a stainless steel spoon. Used to take ages to get the bugger to drain down fully, why i didn't just syphon it out leaving the hops and trub on the bottom instead of mixing it all up like a numpty i'll never know.
Using a different hopstrainer now so hopefully those days with the long spoon are behind me

[pantsmachine]

I take my hat off to you for going for a big beer the 1st time round. Good going though and a bacon banjo! The grains retain a huge volume of the wort at that weight 1095 to 1040 is great in 2 days. Once it stops give the FV a good swirl a couple of times to rouse the yeast might get an extra point or 2. MY RIS's were becoming good after 6 months. If you are going to bottle the beer i would advise you to fill a good few 330ml bottles as trials along the time line. That's what i did and kept the main bulk in 500ml bottles. There's nothing quite like a RIS.

[drumgerry]

Delboy - the same thought about syphoning came to me after the fact but never mind. Am in the process of cobbling together together a mesh/copper/jubilee clip number which on the yank forums is described as a hop taco (mesh from a frying pan splatter screen folded over in a taco shape). Never again will that slitted copper monstrosity be given boiler room!

Pantsmachine thanks for the kind words. I really should have done something less full on I think but glad I did it now - what a learning experience! Thanks for the advice re the yeast - will do. The Wyeast Scottish ale seems to be a good un I must say. Going to collect it and store it for my next high gravity beer.

Been drinking a good few Duvels these last couple of weeks and keeping the bottles so these'll be just the ticket for the time line samples.

Now to decide what to do for AG2. So many possibilities. I did have a very nice Erdinger Dunkel Weissbier tonight so maybe.....

Cheers

Gerry

[pantsmachine]

There are blue fliptop 330ml bottles on ebay for sale. Some poor sods brewery went tits up and the only thing remaining is thousands of very high quality 330ml fliptop bottles. I was put off of them for months due to the blue colour. Bought 4 dozen as i trial anyway and got to say they are excellent. Real good for higher ABV beers for drinking in slightly smaller amounts. Sadly i am offshore next week for a month so no more brewing for a while, good luck with AG2!

[Jymbo]

The Wyeast Scottish ale seems to be a good un I must say. Going to collect it and store it for my next high gravity beer.

Not sure about collecting it from the FV - it'll probably be knackered after working in such a high gravity brew. You'd probably be better to buy another pack and make a big starter which you can then split into four or six and keep in the fridge. Then you can make a starter from each of these.

My guess is that your RIS will taste great, stouts and porter are much more forgiving than lighter beers.