How to brew a big beer - Russian Imperial Stout

Wort is in the fermenter and everything cleaned up. Wort tastes delicious. Coffee and chocolate yummmm. Gravity going into the fermenter is 1.090 Missed my gravity by a point but I'm really happy. Gave it a thirty second shot of oxygen and pitched the yeast then put it to bed.

A lot of work for this beer but I feel really good about it. All done cleaning up too :cool::p

Drinking a cider
 
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ChicoBrewer said:
Wort is in the fermenter and everything cleaned up. Wort tastes delicious. Coffee and chocolate yummmm. Gravity going into the fermenter is 1.090 Missed my gravity by a point but I'm really happy. Gave it a thirty second shot of oxygen and pitched the yeast then put it to bed.

A lot of work for this beer but I feel really good about it. All done cleaning up too :cool::p

Drinking a cider
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Very nice. Narwhal is a really good beer. Sounds like you did it up well. I think I just got a new plan for what stout to brew next. Will have to wait til I can get to the lhbs for some grains. I have 2 -10gal recirculating mash tuns so would fit my setup perfectly.

Did you do a partygyle, get a second beer from the second runnings?
 
Pictures as promised:

Final Recipe here

Creamy mash​
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First Mash Runnings​
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Hot Break​
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OG - One point off​
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Krausen this morning​
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Head First said:
Very nice. Narwhal is a really good beer. Sounds like you did it up well. I think I just got a new plan for what stout to brew next. Will have to wait til I can get to the lhbs for some grains. I have 2 -10gal recirculating mash tuns so would fit my setup perfectly.

Did you do a partygyle, get a second beer from the second runnings?
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I had planned to do a partygyle but I decided to focus on the process first. It was a dammed long brew day as it was LOL. I did feel a little wasteful leaving all that sugar behind and I'm certain the spent mash has turned into a big stuck together lump. I'll do it next time and call it a partigyle porter.
 
This has been 15 days in the fermenter. The krausen has fallen into the wort. I replaced the blowoff tube with a bubbler a few days ago and it still has a bit of activity. I think I'll let it go until Saturday then check the SG.

This feels like one for a secondary to get it off the yeast cake. Maybe good for mixing priming sugar as well for bottling. I don't bottle much but here is how I see it:
  • Transfer to secondary
  • Leave in secondary for a week or two
  • add priming sugar, mix carefully and bottle
  • Let sit in bottles 6-8 weeks
  • Chill two and drink
  • repeat until gone :p

If this works out I'll probably do another soon so it can condition until next Christmas and make it a tradition.
 
Just regurgitating other people's opinions as I haven't been brewing long enough to have experience, but at homebrew scale getting things off the yeast cake by transferring to secondary seems to be based on times when yeast weren't so healthy and there was a reasonable chance of autolysis and the lovely meaty/umami tastes it brings. I understand those days are gone now and the three or four RIS batches I've done have sat in the primary for 4-7 weeks with no problem.
 
^^^ He's right. But getting the beer off the yeast is more important in bigger beers because you HAVE stressed the yeast! The alcohol content of the beer is pushing against the yeast's alcohol tolerance at the end of a big fermentation, the environment is acidic and full of carbon dioxide and alcohol, imagine living in your own waste products - wait, we're trying our best to reach that state.... It's a risk management decision - you're likely to get away with leaving the beer on the yeast cake but there's no good reason to.
 
thunderwagn said:
I listened to a podcast with Jamil Z about brewing big beers like RIS. One way is BIAB method. Basically mash, pull grain, and squeeze, remove grain. add more grain and mash in again in same pot. You can sparge your spent grains for another smaller beer. I've considered going this route.
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I know this is an old thread, but I heard the same podcast, basically using the same wort to mash the added grain. IIRC Blichman had duplicated this to be sure it worked as claimed. Good podcast.
 
Mark Farrall said:
Just regurgitating other people's opinions as I haven't been brewing long enough to have experience, but at homebrew scale getting things off the yeast cake by transferring to secondary seems to be based on times when yeast weren't so healthy and there was a reasonable chance of autolysis and the lovely meaty/umami tastes it brings. I understand those days are gone now and the three or four RIS batches I've done have sat in the primary for 4-7 weeks with no problem.
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Beg to differ. I had a batch of Robust Porter that I left in a controlled temp fermenter for too long. Soy Sauce ....! I was using Imperial's A10 Darkness. My thinking was, I am busy, it is cold , no worries. I was wrong.
 
I moved it to secondary. The head space in the Carboy is so little that there is only a couple of inches under the stopper. Hope that reduces any chance of oxidation.
 
Quaff_an_ale said:
Beg to differ. I had a batch of Robust Porter that I left in a controlled temp fermenter for too long. Soy Sauce ....! I was using Imperial's A10 Darkness. My thinking was, I am busy, it is cold , no worries. I was wrong.
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I don't think that would be related to the yeast. The perceived "soy sauce" flavor is usually a byproduct of certain dark malts and can be amplified by oxidation.
 
lonelymtn said:
I don't think that would be related to the yeast. The perceived "soy sauce" flavor is usually a byproduct of certain dark malts and can be amplified by oxidation.
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Generally it's yeast autolysis.
 
64F inkbird in a chest freezer with heating pads. Nice and cozy
 
I appreciate the dialog. I'm pretty sold on secondary for big beers at this point in my career. Can't hurt if I do it right. Just feels like leaving the wort on that Gigantic yeast cake for six to eight weeks isn't the right thing to do with so much etoh in solution.
 
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