Russian Imperial Stout

Today’s brew – currently underway – is a batch #2 of an RIS I made a few years back (January of 2013) I called that one Imperial Bourbon Barrel Stout at that time. This is a variation of that beer as I had to scale it back from an 8 gallon recipe to 5 and it is not going into a barrel this time.

Back then, I had purchased a recently emptied bourbon barrel from Woodinville Whiskey Co. of Woodinville, WA. I purchased the 8 gallon barrel back in August of 2012 and obviously didn’t get around to using it until January.

The result of that brew was fantastic. It was put into a 5 and 3 gallon keg. I made the 5 last and it aged very well. I lost track of the 3 gallon keg and rediscovered it a few years later. Still very good. In fact, at the time of this writing, I still have a few pints left in that keg.

The reason it is still here is because my keezer died on me two weeks after this COVID-19 thing broke out. By then all the chest freezers were bought up in America. I was just recently able to purchase a 10 cu ft unit from the big box store I have been working part time at for the past 22 years. I will be picking it up this next week. This is an upgrade from the 7 cu ft unit that I had so I have to make a new collar for it. I can reuse all the taps and such – replacing all the hoses. I think the extra space will be nice. I could just cram 4 kegs into the 7 cu ft model with not much room to spare.

The keezer’s demise brings up an interesting ongoing discussion that Mark and I have. He has a beer fridge in his possession and has been decorating it with all the brewery stickers that he has been collecting over the years. Most of them are from places that he has actually been to. He has done quite well – if your were to see it.

I also have the sticker thing going. Unlike Mark, I have not been to most of the places represented. However, I do not place my stickers directly onto the unit. I put them on magnetic material, carefully cut them out, and then place them on my unit. Mark claims this lacks commitment to the cause. I claim that I can “redecorate” at will AND when the unit ceases to function, I can easily remove them and place on the new unit – no need to start completely over. Mark still claims that I lack true dedication by doing it this way. Oh well…

I’m going solo on this brew today. Mark’s excuse is that he is in Alaska – he left here yesterday. This is his 50th state that he has been to. I have been to a few – OK, maybe a couple. Good for him in this accomplishment. His first text was him at an unnamed brewery, mask on and brew in hand. Jeff is probably cutting the grass lest the lawn police write him up for having a blade or two of grass longer than the rest.

I just cut the heat on the RIS in the garage and will let it cool down on its own until 170 F. I’ve been employing the “no chill” method lately for my brews and it works well. I guess the Ausies have been using this procedure for a long time now. Once at 170ish degrees I rack the wort into a 6 gallon container that I purchased from US Plastic Co. It sits overnight in the basement and the next day it is ready to be poured into the conical and the yeast pitched. What is nice is that this leaves all the crud in the bottom of the container and it is at cellar temp.

So, this RIS has been adjusted for a 5 gallon batch since the 8 gallon barrel was converted to serve as my house sour device a number of years back. The grain bill ended up at the 21 lb mark which is where my barley wine grain bill is. This amount of grain and strike water completely fill my Blichmann Boiler Maker kettle with false bottom. This thing is filled to the very tip top! 21 lb of grain for a batch is a good limit anyway and I don’t regularly make these big beers. I really should get another barely wine going but I still have bottles from back around the time the original RIS was brewed – no rush.

This beer will ferment for a couple of weeks – or longer. Afterward, it will be racked to a secondary fermenter where 2 oz of medium toast oak cubes and 12 oz of bourbon will be added. I haven’t decided on what bourbon to use. I know Maker’s Mark is a good one but I may just use Jim Beam as well. The beer will sit for a couple of months before being put into a keg. The plan is to keep it until December or January – when the weather is cold.

This will be my first time using the oak cubes because the barrel did the job on batch #1. Avery’s Samael is the beer that got me to liking oak in a big beer. To me, drinking a Samael is like biting into an oak 2 x 4 – I like it!

Just checked on the wort temp. It is at 183 F and is cooling faster than I thought it would as it is 85 F outside. I guess that is a big enough of a temperature difference to cause it to drop.

Not much else to report at this time so here is the recipe. Then it is time to “do the dishes” – cleanup the equipment.

Mash Ingrdients

Yeast

• Safale US-05 (x2) (or starter)

Adjuncts

• 4 oz Oak Cubes – Medium Toast
• 750 ml Bourbon