Imperial Stout Russian Imperial Stout (2011 HBT Competition Category Winner)

[Shenanigans]

Update…. There was 1 bottle that had firmed up and carbonated. I thought it would be an infection and maybe it was but…. I chilled it for a couple of days and it’s…. Delicious! I need to save this batch!

So, 2 weeks ago I put a sprinkle of CBC-1 yeast in each bottle and made sure they were kept at 19 to 20c. There was a little bit of vegemite smell but this has dropped right away and been replaced by cocoa and roast flavours.

Still no carbonation.

When I originally bottled them I added 1 coopers carb drop per 740ml bottle. This is usually perfect for stout. I assumed that as there had been no previous carbonation the sugar would still be there and the CBC-1 would kick off.

should I try again with some more CBC-1 and add a new carb drop?

The single carbed bottle was so good I don’t want to send the rest down the drain!

Any advice would be great fully received. Thank you.

So what did you do and did it work?

I'm still debating if I should use WLP002 or Voss.
Easier for me to keep something at 32oC with a fermiwrap and jacket than find a month free in my Kegerator to keep the WLP002 under control.

 

[MON5TER]

Well it’s just over a year in the bottle.
After the initial addition of cbc1 the bottle (PET) firmed up a bit but not enough. I left them for a few months.
Then I added a bit more cbc1 and popped in a carb drop. This seemed to work and in 2 weeks the squeezability of the bottles was just right for a stout.
Finally tired one last week after 3 or 4 days in the fridge…..
It’s a winner!!!! Rich, smooth, syrupy, tight lasting head, toasty, coffee and powerful. Gets better the further down the glass you go. First few mouthfuls are a bit overpowering but the journey down the glass is well worth it.

Will I brew this again? Yes! Will I go through the same protracted birth as this batch? I hope not!

A good lesson to me in patience perseverance and to not be afraid to try to save a batch especially when your gut (and nose) tell you it could be worth saving.

 

[taulpondolo]

Still got a case or 2 left of some 18 month old bottles. This beer is incredible. Definitely could beat 90% of stouts in a blind taste

 

[OssianOtt]

Hey, I'm gonna brew a variant of this one in the coming days. Using pilsner malt instead of pale ale malt, another hop for the 60 min addition and two 11g bags of rehydrated s-04 yeast instead of wlp002. The rest is identical.

The yeast in the beer recipe has an attentuation of 63-70%, the yeast I intend to use has attenuation of 74-82%, OG will be 1.105 and intended FG is 1.028, mash temperature is 66°c. if I want the same FG with the yeast I intend to use can I increase the mash temp to generate more non fermentable sugar to make up for the stronger attentuation in the s-04? Anyone with a clue of how much?

I have lutra kveik also which I could use, would it fit the recipe better?

 

[TestTickle]

Honestly, I wouldn't even worry about adjusting the mash temp unless you absolutely don't want to risk going under 1.028. According to the specs I have seen, 1.024 is the lowest S-04 or Lutra will go anyway with that grain bill and OG. You'd be looking at a difference between about 10.5% and 11% ABV.

I personally am not a fan of any Kveik yeast that I have tried, but this recipe tasted pretty good with S-04 from what I recall.

 

[OssianOtt]

Honestly, I wouldn't even worry about adjusting the mash temp unless you absolutely don't want to risk going under 1.028. According to the specs I have seen, 1.024 is the lowest S-04 or Lutra will go anyway with that grain bill and OG. You'd be looking at a difference between about 10.5% and 11% ABV.

I personally am not a fan of any Kveik yeast that I have tried, but this recipe tasted pretty good with S-04 from what I recall.

Thanks! I saw in the pitch rate/yeast starter tool in brewfather it recommended me to pitch about 750 billion cells or 5 bags so now I'm making a 3.4 liter yeast starter for the two yeast packages to hopefully hit that amount. I think I will maybe increase temp 1°c or such.

 

[OssianOtt]

Edit: got it sorted.

 

[OssianOtt]

I brewed 6.6 gallons of this the other day but with s-04, OG 1.090 FG 1.018. I made a two stage yeast starter from 11.5g pack of yeast, first one 1.8 liters next one 3 liters, dont know how many cells I had but probably somewhere north of 500b. The yeast took it down to 1.018 in about 3 days, maybe shy of 4 days, and its been steady since (about 2 weeks now), I managed to control temperature in my fridge, started at 61f ended at about 68f. my DIY copper immersion chiller started to leak a little bit of water into the wort while was cooling it and I had not sanitized the part of the copper where the water was running down into the brew.

Do you think this is infected from the picture? It did not leave any nasty smell when it was fermenting. Seems the original recipe call for 4 weeks in primary FV but I dont see any reason why to keep it that long. I just had a taste, its pretty rough/raw in this stage, not a very pleasant taste. Maybe it should not be at this stage with a brew this big. Could be some off-taste, I'm not really sure.