Dead Czar Imperial Russian Stout

[pantsmachine]

After much tweaking of equipment and a practice run of Hefeweizen yesterday i have played around with my IRS recipe and came up with this. Planning on doing it in around 10 days time as time does not allow. Any opinions on it?

Recipe: Dead Czar Imperial Russian Stout
Brewer: Joe Inglis
Asst Brewer: Martin Inglis
Style: Imperial Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 24.00 L
Boil Size: 27.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.100 SG
Estimated Color: 86.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 69.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 74.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 44.44 %
1.25 kg Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
1.25 kg Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
1.00 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 8.89 %
1.00 kg Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM) Grain 8.89 %
0.75 kg Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 6.67%
0.50 kg Amber Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 4.44 %
0.50 kg Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 4.44%
2.00 oz Northdown [8.50 %] (90 min) Hops 33.8 IBU
1.50 oz First Gold [8.30 %] (90 min) Hops 24.8 IBU
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] (20 min) Hops 6.1 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.60 %] (20 min) Hops 5.2 IBU
0.32 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)
1.27 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)
5.07 oz Oak Chips (Secondary 7.0 days)
1 Pkgs Irish Dry Stout (Brewtek #CL-0240) Yeast


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 11.25 kg
----------------------------
Primary ferment at 20 degrees if possible for 7 to 10 days. Sec ferm on oak chips for 5 days then bottle.
Remember Campden tablet. Keep alcohol under 10%.

[Garth]

it's gonna be black and thick, and knock you over if you drink more than 4 pints, anything else ?

no really it looks good, the different hops sound good but I don't know whether they'll get lost in there...

[pantsmachine]

I agree on the hops, thinking about a ounce or so in with the sec ferment to try and get some hops flavour through.
The hefe weizen i made last night smells fantastic, recipe below. My only doubt is that i threw the orange peel in for the whole boil so could have lost the orange flavour. Didn't bother with the corriander as i am aiming more for German style than Belgian

Recipe: joes whit beer
Brewer: Joe Inglis
Style: Witbier
TYPE: All Grain
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 24.00 L
Boil Size: 27.47 L
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 4.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
2.00 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 40.40 %
1.75 kg Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 35.35 %
1.20 kg Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 24.24 %
0.75 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 18.9 IBU
0.30 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (10 min) Hops 2.7 IBU
1 Pkgs Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP300) YeastWheat

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 4.95 kg

[Aleman]

5.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 44.44 %
1.25 kg Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
1.25 kg Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
1.00 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 8.89 %
1.00 kg Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM) Grain 8.89 %
0.75 kg Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 6.67%
0.50 kg Amber Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 4.44 %
0.50 kg Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 4.44%

Its gonna be roasty . . . and take ages to mature. I'd drop the Black Patent completely, halve the roast barley, and double the Chocolate.

Personally I think 74% is a little ambitious for a beer of this gravity, I'm going with 68% on my Effin Imperial Stout this weekend. . . . I'm also thinking of adding flaked barley to mine if I can get to the LHBS tomorrow . . . and assuming he actually has stock

[oblivious]

Thats a keeper alright

[pantsmachine]

Thanks Aleman and oblivious

I am currently drinking a roast barley stout with the following ingredients.

6.5lbs Marris Otter
3.25lbs roasted barley
1lb flaked barley
1lb cara pils
1.5oz northernbrewer hops 60 mins
1.0oz EKG hops
1 can of 1 week soured guiness
Nottingham yeast
1 Tsp irish moss

Steve F told me a guiness type should be 7(mo)/2(fb)/1(rb). Got to admit at 1/2 the pale malt weight in roast barley its a bit roasty as you say. Looking at my ingredients for the IRS i could up the choc malt to 1 kg, drop the roast back to 1 kg, i'll see what other exotics i've got at the moment. Hope your LHBS has what you need. Look forward to reading about your brewday if you get the chance.


Oh yeah, I expect the IRS to sit for a year before i try bottle 2. Obviously bottle 1 will have to be sampled after a couple of months! The other pain in the backside(apart from the wait to try is that i will have to do the mash in 2 parts as there is no way my tun can hold 12kgs of grain and a meaningfull amount of licqour.

[pantsmachine]

I did some mild tweaking and have came up with this, what do you guys think.

Recipe: Dead Czar Imperial Russian Stout 2
Brewer: Joe Inglis
Asst Brewer: Martin Inglis
Style: Imperial Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (0.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 24.00 L
Boil Size: 27.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.100 SG
Estimated Color: 74.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 69.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item
5.50 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
1.60 kg Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM)
1.50 kg Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM)
1.00 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)
1.00 kg Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM)
0.60 kg Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
0.50 kg Amber Malt (22.0 SRM)
0.25 kg Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)
2.00 oz Northdown [8.50 %] (90 min)
1.50 oz First Gold [8.30 %] (90 min)
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.60 %] (20 min)
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] (20 min)
0.32 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.27 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
5.07 oz Oak Chips (Secondary 7.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs Irish Dry Stout (Brewtek #CL-0240)


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 11.95 kg
----------------------------

[maxashton]

Hmmmm. Very big beer.
Not sure what the other longhorns think, but perhaps don't bother with the late hop additions? This is going to be a pretty meaty gravity, so the late hops might be overwhelmed in conditioning.

[Aleman]

I did some mild tweaking and have came up with this, what do you guys think.


Amount Item
5.50 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
1.60 kg Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM)
1.50 kg Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM)
1.00 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)
1.00 kg Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM)
0.60 kg Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
0.50 kg Amber Malt (22.0 SRM)
0.25 kg Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)


0.32 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.27 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc


1 Pkgs Irish Dry Stout (Brewtek #CL-0240)

1st Thoughts is that that isn't enough yeast, minimum of 2 11g packets probably better with three, or If using liquid pitch onto the yeast cake of a 1.040 beer.

Use either torrified wheat or Flaked barley not both . . . I'd drop the torrified, and replace it with more amber, as I cant stand the taste it imparts to a beer. three kinds of roast malt is overkill, Drop the roast barley and increase the Black malt slightly. I'd also watch how much non diastatic adjuncts you are using as that qty of pale malt will only convert 5Kg of non diastatic adjuncts . . . and you are pretty close on that.

Be aware that Amber malt really increases the body of the beer. so it could finish quite high

But don't let me put you off

[steve_flack]

Where are you planning on getting your Brewtek yeast from? My understanding is that it's no longer available. If you're using dried then I'd probably go with Nottingham with this beer. It'll dry it out a little and there's so much else going on you won't notice how dull it is!

[pantsmachine]

Sorry guys, wrong info, it was early this morning when i posted! Yeast will be white labs irish stout liquid yeast(its sitting in the fridge saying use me use me). Can't do the yeast cakes starter as my current brew is a hefeweizen. I suppose i could fire in a pack of rehydrated Nottingham as well as the liquid irish stout yeast but does that not defeat the purpose of using the liquid yeast? I thought a big old dark DME and water starter for a couple of days before brewing would do the job? Off to read more about grains. Thanks very much for the assistance, mucho appreciato.

Although the question arises why should i not use the yeast cake from the hefeweizen, feels weird though its a stout.......

[Aleman]

I thought a big old dark DME and water starter for a couple of days before brewing would do the job?

Ok Lets see what Mr Malty Says



You are going to be underpitching by a significant degree . . . You may very well get away with it, but you will be pitching yeast int a wort with a high sugar concentration . . .which will stress them . . . causing them to reproduce a lot . . . which will stress them . . . and expect them to work until all the sugar is turned into alcohol. . . . .which as 10%+ is going to stress them.

One thing I've discovered with big beers is really to pitch BIG My stout is really cracking on, and I deliberately over pitched (according to MR Malty) . . . but fingers crossed I'm not hoping to run into any problems.

If that is an authentic Hefe Yeast do not use it for the stout . . . Banana Stout anyone? . . . . . Its just wrong

[pantsmachine]

Banana stout, It COULD catch on you know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr Malty,eh? guess i'll be going into the freezer for some back up then. Thanks Aleman you may just have saven me from making expensive crap tasting ovaltine. After a quick rummage through my bags i have settled on the following. Frankly i'm crapping it as i've not attempted anything like this. Still what doesn't kill you only cripples for life so on we go....

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item
0.45 kg Dark Dry Extract (17.5 SRM)
6.00 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
1.50 kg Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM)
1.50 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)
1.00 kg Amber Malt (22.0 SRM)
1.00 kg Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM)
0.50 kg Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)
1.50 oz First Gold [8.30 %] (90 min)
2.00 oz Northdown [8.50 %] (90 min)
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.60 %] (20 min)
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] (20 min)
0.32 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)
1.27 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min)
5.07 oz Oak Chips (Secondary 7.0 days)
1 Pkgs Irish Ale (White Labs #WLP004)

I will up my boil time from 90 to 180 minutes and i have added the 1/2 KG of dark malt extract which i will be using as a starter. Off to check what yeasts are in the freezer. Ahah, i've got 2 packs of windsor in there so it'll be 2 packs of windsor and my phial of WL irish stout yeast all going into a demijohn along with a 1/2kg of dark malt & 2 ltrs of water. That should be a sufficent jumpstart. It must be a lot easier when you know what your doing.........................

[pantsmachine]

Mr Malty,

That's ace just been for a look.

[Aleman]

Pants,

Big beers have their own issues, but its no more difficult than making a normal beer in many ways. When I did my first Imperial Stout I broke all the rules . . . I pitched onto the yeast cake from an earlier beer . . . a 1.060 Beer . . . . and that had already been reused . . . rules say don't repitch onto a cake from a beer more than 1.050 . . . turned out fine Funnily enough that was a wyeast Irish . . . and I pitched the 50ml smack pack into the original 23L of normal bitter

I would save the Irish Ale, for something a little less adventurous, but do use both the Windsor for this one . . . marginally under pitching according to Mr Malty but pitch the hydrated yeast (no Starter!!), a bit warm (say 27C) and allow the FV to come down to 21C over 12 hours and you should be fine.

Use the 500g of Malt extract in the boiler, but be careful about that long boil, its better to boil to hit your desired OG rather than a specific time . . . That was my error with this Imperial stout, I didn't check the gravity before turning off the heat had I done so I would have boiled for that extra period of time . . . but my refractometer doesn't go above 1.080, and I couldn't be bothered getting the HB hydrometer out and cooling a sample to check it.