November 16th, 2010
Russian Imperial Stout Recipe
Posted by
John in
Recipes
Big and bold, an Russian Imperial Stout is an intense beer with complex flavors and strong alcohol warming. I developed this all grain recipe to be brew some time in the Spring so that it can be enjoyed the following Winter.
My plans for this one:
- 6.5 gallons of wort for an hour long boil – targeting 5.5 gallons of wort at the end of the boil.
- Create a large starter for this one. Maybe I can brew an American Amber two weeks before the Russian Imperial Stout, rack the Amber, and pitch the RIS wort right on top of the yeast used for the Amber. That could work…
- Plan for a long aging period. Once primary fermentation is done, prime and bottle it and let it sit somewhere out of the way for at least 6 months.
Ingredients:
17 lbs. English 2-row Pale Malt
1 lbs. Belgian Special B
1.5 lbs. Black Roasted Barley
.5 lbs. Crystal Malt 60°L
.75 lbs. 2-Row Chocolate Malt
1.25 oz. Magnum Pellets – boiled 60 min.
2 oz. Fuggle Pellets – boiled 10 min.
2 oz. Fuggle Pellets – boiled 1 min.
Yeast: White Labs WLP001 California Ale
Predictions:
Original Gravity: 1.094
Terminal Gravity: 1.025
Color: 40.05 °SRM
Bitterness: 79.5 IBU
Alcohol (%volume): 9.1 %
on November 16th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
This looks incredible. Think I could use Breiss 2-row malt instead of the English Pale? Just awesome.
on November 17th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Looks interesting….I am looking for a beer to make this Friday. My only problem with high gravs is I use a 5 gallon cooler to mash in so I can only fit about 15 lbs of grain….I may try this and use some extract to make up for the rest.
on November 18th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Hi Dave,
First off, I think it’s fine to use 2-row for this recipe.
I think there is some subtle differences between the pale and the 2-row malts. The pale is kilned at a higher temperature and has a fuller flavor. Because there’s so much base malt being used here, I think you would be able to taste the difference between a beer brewed with 2-row vs. pale. If you have 2-row, then use it.
on November 18th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
Hi jambrewsbeer,
You should be able to use extract to make up for the rest of the grist.
on November 18th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
@jambrewsbeer
I know its a pain in the ass, but you could also do two mashes. Put all your specialty grains into the first mash with 60% of the base malt. Then use the remaining 40% of the base malt alone and take only the high gravity first runnings from the second mash. Something like, we could work out better ratios off line.
on November 21st, 2010 at 11:43 am
We pitched our last RIS onto a 001 cake, worked really well. Added some yeast nutrient to the boil and then aerated the heck out of it post-chill, and the yeasties had no trouble hitting the FG. Cheers and good brewing!