Split Batch IRS - "Dry Hopping" in Secondary

[pkrath84]

A lot of threads talk about "dry hopping" ingredients like fruit and spices during the secondary fermentation, which I get. But I also read a lot about flavors aging out over time and lessening or getting lost altogether which leads me to my question:

When adding fruit and spices to secondary, is it advisable to drop them in and leave them in for the long haul when brewing something like an RIS or a Porter for several months? Or is it best to add them closer to the bottling date - say a month to few weeks out?

I ask because I have an RIS that I'm planning out and I'm trying to figure out how to make my flavor additions. I'm looking at splitting my RIS into two batches. Both will have vanilla, and cold brewed coffee additions. They will have different fruit additions:

1. Raspberry or Blueberry (puree) (I havent decided which yet)
2. Orange (zest) and coriander

This is to be used with the Northern Brewer RIS extract with specialty grains kit.

I assume I'll have enough chocolate flavor and mouth feel with my specialty grains, but could this stand to have cacao nibs tossed into the mix?

 

[pkrath84]

Anyone with input?

 

[pkrath84]

After some research here's what I've gathered:

1. Blueberry/Raspberry can go directly into the secondary fermentater. I've seen pureed, crushed, sliced, depending on the fruit. I'll crush my fruits and add 2 weeks before bottling.
   
2. Coffee: I cold brew my coffee already so I'll use this method. I will cold brew my usual and add 1/3-1/2 cup of my coffee extract to my bottling bucket and rack directly on top of it.
   
3. Orange flavor can be done many ways. I was originally going to use coriander on top of using sweet orange in the secondary. But after much research and getting feedback, I'm going to go with just enough fresh orange zest as to not overpower the stout's flavor.
   
4. I'll be using whole vanilla bean that I plan on soaking in a minimal amount of bourbon to sterilize and toss the whole thing into the carboy 1-2 weeks before bottling.
   
5. Lastly, I havent decided yet but it was suggested that I toss in some oak chips as well. If I do add the oak chips, I'll use french oak soaked in bourbon for a few days and then toss them into the carboy. 1 month before bottling.

I plan on leaving this in primary for about a month then rack to secondary and let it sit for about a month before I start the additions beginning with the oak chips. Bottle conditioning will continue for a minimum of 2 more months. I wasn't planning on cracking this open until thanksgiving or christmas though.

Feel free to make suggestions. I know there's a lot going into this that might just over complicate things so I'm open to the feedback, especially in terms of the timing of my additions.

For the raspberry brew, I'm looking for something reminiscent of Widmer's Raspberry RIS.

The Orange brew was inspired by an old starbucks drink "Mocha Valencia"

 

[pkrath84]

I finally got around to brewing this yesterday. I started with the Northern Brewer Kit as it came and I think it came out pretty good so far. I was really surprised how thick this came out (although I should have expected) with all that dark malt. I plan to backsweeten a bit with some lactose @ bottling (maybe .5 lb for the whole batch)

SG: 1.078

Just about a 2L starter used with Wyeast 1728. I popped the pack yesterday evening , let it puff up for about 4 hours then pitched into the flask and swirled it every chance I got until this afternoon for a total of about 18 hours or so.

Pitch temp: 66*
Ferm Temp: 68*(~4 hours later)

There's no obvious activity right this second, just some foam up top. When swirled however she fizzes pretty good with foam coming out of the airlock. Switched out to a blow-off tube because I'm expecting it to blow over tonight or tomorrow.

 

[pkrath84]

So I got home today and my carboy blew its top and went all Mt Vesuvius on me. There's krausen/trub and beer everywhere. It blew so hard it even sprayed the ceiling. I lost about a full gallon of liquid in the midst of the action. Pix to follow... (updated)

You can't see it here but chunks of trub/krausen were hanging from the ceiling in my garage and is sprayed all across my fiancee's car. I had a heck of a time cleaning up the mess.

Apparently the culprit was a new 3-piece airlock that I picked up the other day. This particular airlock has a built in screen from the inlet coming out of the carboy. When I found the airlock on the ground with the stopper it looked like a ball of moss was stuck on it causing the clog.

 

[pkrath84]

Here's what ended up on the ceiling

 

[pkrath84]

I ended up tossing in 1.5oz of Hungarian Oak - Medium Toast the other day. I'll let it sit for about 3 weeks before I pull a sample.

I've decided that 3 gal will be oak, coffee, cocoa powder and vanilla. The second 3gal batch will be cocoa powder, vanilla and blackberries.

The cocoa powder and vanilla beans will do in just 2-3 weeks before, fruit will go in 10 day - 2 weeks before bottling

 

[pkrath84]

Here's the near final product of the 1st half of the batch. This 3 gallons got:

• 1.5 Vanilla Beans, split and soaked in vodka for 1 week. Dumped all contents into secondary @ (2 weeks)
• 4oz cocoa powder (2 weeks)
• 4 packs of frozen organic blackberries (fancy) from sprouts (2 weeks)
• 8oz lactose (at bottling)
• 2.5oz priming sugar (dextrose) (at bottling)

After racking to the bottling bucket, I ended up with 2.5gal of bottled stout. The sample I tasted from the last of my bottling bucket was AMAZING! The vanilla really draws out the sweetness of the lactose. The berries are solidly present but not overpowering and the chocolate coats the tongue, but still allows the stout to shine through. I think I got lucky with the balance on this beer. If anything, I might cut back on the lactose to 1/3lb instead of 1/2, but that's my preference. At 1/2 lb I feel it's going to be palatable to more people...

I also planned on bottling the 3 gallon portion sitting on oak today too, but I forgot to brew my coffee. I'll follow with that update shortly

Dont mind the particulate on the glass. This was the last of what was in the bottling bucket and I managed to suck up a bit of cocoa powder. I'll cold crash these bottles once they've carbed up.

 

[pkrath84]

Today the oaked batch got bottled. This portion was treated with:

• Medium toast Hungarian Oak Cubes - @ 8 weeks
• 1.5 vanilla beans soaked in vodka 1 week - @ 2 weeks
• 4oz organic cocoa powder @ 2 weeks
• 6oz french roasted cold brewed coffee - @ bottling
• 4oz lactose - @ bottling
• 2.8oz dextrose for priming - @ bottling

I was actually worried that I would be confronted with an over the top oak character, but to my surprise it was pretty moderate. Its a tad strong on the oak, almost overwhelming the stout, but I'm confident that as it ages it will settle out just right. The oak lends such a deep character, vanilla, a tad leathery and smokey (thankefully not too much!). I'm really looking forward to drinking this one at christmas. I got to sip on 6oz of leftovers and I was incredibly pleased!

This split batch stout was my best and most favorite brew thus far! It took a lot of work and patients, but it paid off in the end. I learned quite a bit about handling various adjuncts: how much, how long to steep, the best time to add, etc. I hope people can learn a bit from my experiences.

 

[pkrath84]

I'm back with an update and a photo! I forgot to take a photo of my batch sitting on the blackberries/vanilla/cocoa, but attached you'll see a photo of the batch that sat on oak/coffee/cocoa/vanilla.

Blackberry/cocoa/vanilla:

This beer was the least favorite of the two. Aroma was spot on. You can smell the berry fruit, chocolate, and a bit of the vanilla perceived by sweetness. The beer carbonated well and created a decent 2 finger head that faded fairly quickly. Small amount of lacing. Where it's lacking is in body. The beer was much too thin for the style. I believe the sugar from the berries thinned the beer out more upon secondary fermentation.​

Oak/Vanilla/Cocoa/Coffee:

This beer was amazing in flavor and aroma, in my opinion. The oak came through VERY nicely. Aroma just screamed roasted malt, coffee, vanilla, and oak. Lots of deep flavors including oak, vanilla, leather, tobacco, coffe. Just really complex in flavor and aroma, overall. The oak is a bit forward right now, but not by much. I expect it to settle out nicely by christmas time, which is when this was intended to be ready. This batch, like the blackberry batch suffered from being too thin. It had a decent bit more body than the blackberry batch, I believe from the tannins in the oak, but I still think it could use more. Another "flaw" in this particular batch was that it foamed over a little bit when I popped the top and poured. I think it could just use another week or so to finish conditioning in the bottle though becuase I sure as hell didn't put too much priming sugar (same amount as blackberry batch, pre-measured).​

Can anyone chime in on how to get more body in my extract brews? I plan on making an all grain batch... But I'd still like to know how to do this properly when I'm too lazy to do an AG. What works best, more specialty grains? Malto dextrin?

I'm thinking of going with malto dextrin but I've seen tons of variation on the amount. Some commercial recipes say 4oz. Some recipes on the forum say that's WAY too much and to stick with an oz for a 5 gal batch. What's the consensus?

Thanks for popping in to check out my thread and thanks in advance for feedback!

Cheers!

 

[pkrath84]

Cracked another bottle of my "Black Eye Stout!" with cocoa, vanilla and blackberries.

The aroma that comes off is amazing! You definitely get the chocolate and roasted malt followed up by the dark fruit and vanilla sweetness. A few weeks later the blackberry flavor has come forward a bit more to my liking but still lacks body (not that I'd expect that to change).

Overall, I still prefer my "Imperial Stout Destroyer" which sat on french oak, cocoa, vanilla and espresso. It definitely needs something to thicken it up a bit and perhaps even some more sweetness? I'm thinking I might add more lactose to this recipe the next time around to balance it out a bit more.