Crazy Ivan RIS

[Pinto]

I have a few days of leave coming up in a few weeks so my thoughts have turned to a few brews I want to make - and now I have a second Frooker ready to go, Im raring to get a few brews in. First up will be my Morlands Golden Hen clone, but ive decided to bite off more than I can chew ( ) and im going to go for a second brew in my smaller 19l boiler - an RIS !

Heres my thinking :

Crazy Ivan Imperial Stout (Imperial Stout)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.100 (°P): 23.8
Final Gravity (FG): 1.025 (°P): 6.3
Alcohol (ABV): 9.83 %
Colour (SRM): 59.5 (EBC): 117.1
Bitterness (IBU): 61.1 (Average)

75% Maris Otter Malt
5% Flaked Oats
5% Roasted Barley
5% Special-B
4% Chocolate Malt
4% Crystal 60
2% Muscavado Sugar

2.5 g/L Pilgrim (10.84% Alpha) @ 75 Minutes (Boil)
2.1 g/L East Kent Golding (6.25% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

0.3 g/L Irish Moss @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 65°C for 60 Minutes. Boil for 75 Minutes

Fermented at 18°C with Reclaimed Fullers - 1845 / Bengal Lancer


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

Decided to go with Pilgrim as my bittering hops as (a) The LHBS was out of Challenger and (b) the description sounded very nice and challenger-esque too; I can also take advantage of the high alpha that the pilgrim has (10.8%) to minimise hop use.

As to yeast, I plan to revive and step up some Fullers 1845 yeasties I have currently in my beer stock - do people feel that this would be a good choice for the ferment ? I think the fullers charecter will be very much at home here. On this front, should I just take my time to produce a big starter, or would it make sense to make the 'hen ale run with the starter and pitch the cake ?

General comments on the above more than welcome !

[asd]

As to yeast, I plan to revive and step up some Fullers 1845 yeasties I have currently in my beer stock - do people feel that this would be a good choice for the ferment ? I think the fullers charecter will be very much at home here. On this front, should I just take my time to produce a big starter, or would it make sense to make the 'hen ale run with the starter and pitch the cake ?

General comments on the above more than welcome !

I think it would be a good idea to use the Hen ale yeast cake.

[Deebee]

+ 1 for pitching on the cake.. But if time is an issue then i would make a large starter. 8 probably 3 l just to be safe) and pitch it at high krausen. I am not sure though if the fullers yeast will manage near on 10% though so i would have some nottingham handy just in case.

From experience i have found that late hops in stouts have lite meaning other than a slight increase in the bitternes. For me a stout ( and RIS) is al about the malt and roast hit you get. But thats just me.

Let us know how you get on. We need picture!

[Pinto]

Sage advice - i normally keep some notty or S-04 in stock for emergencies; mind you, the fuller yeast happily bottle conditions a 6.4% ale so i have high hopes it can go the distance - going to go with the cake pitch and some added nutrient support.

Having not used it before, is the special-b character worth that much over a dark crystal malt ?

[FUBAR]

I used Special B in a variation of Sarah Hughes dark ruby mild and I found it a bit overpowering,may be a different story in a RIS though.

[scuppeteer]

I'm sure you probably have, but there are some things to consider.
Is your mash tun capable of holding enough grain to give you your desired OG? If not add invert sugar or short fill your copper to compensate. Also consider the possibility of a longer boil to reduce your volume and increase your alcohol content. I would also go for a slightly longer mash and maybe a couple of degrees higher to improve the body.
Pilgrim will be great, used this hop last time in a RIS.
I think the Fullers yeast would work as it must be quite a high attenuator which is why they use it in the 1845.
I would be inclined to drop the Roast Barley in favour of black, but this is just personal taste as I think the roast gives too much burnt flavours.
If you are bottling you should leave it for at least 3 months or more before sampling. Difficult I know but will be worth the wait.

Don't forget to keep us updated.

[Pinto]

Yeah, the grain thing is mad im only running a 10l batch of this RIS and the grain weight is about 6 kg ! Interesting as well that brewmate has informed me that the whole water content of the brew is going into the mash - no sparge will be required !

That sounds wasteful to me....so im thinking to turn the second runnings into another, lesser stout.

[Deebee]

The thing to consider with harvested yeast is whether the yeast was used in primary or not.

If the fullers yeast has ben used to ferment out a 7% beer chances are its gonna be fairly tired:) 9/10 times it goes ok bt it is always wise to have a dried yeast on hand.

[Barley Water]

Just a few things to consider (as usual, your mileage may vary). First of all, the Fuller's strain is one of my favorites but one of the reasons I like it is because it is known not to be a very attenuative strain (so it works well in low gravity situations where I am trying to make the beer drink bigger than it is). If given a choice, I would probably opt for a strain which produces a dryer beer because the monster you plan to make will have residual sweetness no matter what you do to it. Check out the attenuation statistics and alcholol tolerance information on the manufacturer's web sites. Secondly, you want whatever yeast you use to be in very good shape so I agree with the previous poster, a pitch cointaining yeast which fermented a 7% beer might not be your best choice. When brewing the big stuff, you always risk throwing off fusels and less than optimal yeast is more likely to do that to you than really fresh, health yeast. No matter what you decide to do I would counsel adding any sugars after primary fermentation is already under way. Yeast (like humans) are lazy and will eat the sugar rather than the harder to handle malt sugars possibly leaving you with under-attenuated beer. Finally, control the fermentation temperature; if you don't again, you'll throw fusels. Nothing in my experience screws up an otherwise great beer than hot/solvent flavors and man, will it give you a headache. I avoid like the plague judging Belgian beers in contests because I know I will for sure drink some high octane stuff and I know some at least will be poorly made and contain the afore mentioned fusels....ouch.

[Underground Joe]

I'm doing an Imperial Stout soon and I'll be using a couple of vials of WLP007. Going on what Barley has said that might be a better option for you.