Imperial Russian Stout

[Bowl sprayer]

This was an expensive experiment with kits but the result so far is superb! It will work out to be around £1 per pint.

I have brewed this as follows:-

1 can of Coopers Stout
1 can of Brewferm Abdij
1 can of Brewferm Diabolo
1.5 kg golden syrup

2 packets of brewferm yeast

OG 1090
FG 1022 (so far) looking like a 9%+ brew

It was volcanic to start with and has been in the primary for a month and is still going.

It took a sample to test the gravity today and drank it. It was sweet and bitter in perfect balance. Stunning! If I can get it sub 1020 I will be pleased. Planning to rack it in a week or so and leave it for another month before thinking about bottling.

So far the experiment has worked.

 

[Goudie]

How much is this madness going to brew?

Hats of to you, would be up for trying this myself.

 

[Bowl sprayer]

I brewed it to 20 litres and magically got a total of 55 bottles (330 ml) out of it. I'll work out the cost per bottle but much cheaper than the original from Courage. It took 2 months to brew out and I bottled it last week. Had my first proper taster yesterday. Incredible, the big daddy of all stouts! It is already very drinkable. Flavours will only get better.
I already have all the ingredients to do it again as soon as an fv comes free.
It has the deep stout flavour & bitterness you would look for and a lot of "body" and residual sweetness given the amount of malt. The sweetness is not excessive.
The icing on the cake is the flavour ROM the Abdij kit. It brings it alive with added flavours. That is the key. Just straight stout would have come out rather dull I think. If you are anywhere near Portsmouth and want to try it give me a shout.

 

[Bowl sprayer]

And for the short answer about 80p per bottle.

 

[Goudie]

Happy days, I may just have to give this a shot. As for being near Portsmouth, Belfast is a bit if a journey :)

 

[clibit]

Are you getting a Belgian yeast flavour?

 

[Bowl sprayer]

No, I find the Brewferm yeast is a superb top fermenting yeast which brews and drops out very cleanly. It has left no bad flavours in any of the brews I have attempted.

 

[clibit]

Cheers. So it's like an English stout. Sounds good. I don't consider Belgian yeast flavours to be bad though.

 

[bez]

Did it age well??

 

[terrym]

Did it age well??

OP hasn't been seen since 2016 so don't hold your breath for a reply

 

[bez]

OP hasn't been seen since 2016 so don't hold your breath for a reply

Hi terry. Thinking about making a Russian imperial stout. Lots of ideas on here by mixing kits. Lovebrewing offer a kit though I may go for that.

 

[Richard_H]

Hi terry. Thinking about making a Russian imperial stout. Lots of ideas on here by mixing kits. Lovebrewing offer a kit though I may go for that.

I brewed the Lovebrewing imperial earlier this year, sadly i lost 10 litres in the heatwave just gone when 2 kegs buckled so never got to taste it after 6+ months maturing but i would say it probably needs about a year(maybe longer) after 3-4 months it was good but had a very intense malt flavour that i feel would mellow after more conditioning

mine came out at 8%

 

[bez]

I brewed the Lovebrewing imperial earlier this year, sadly i lost 10 litres in the heatwave just gone when 2 kegs buckled so never got to taste it after 6+ months maturing but i would say it probably needs about a year(maybe longer) after 3-4 months it was good but had a very intense malt flavour that i feel would mellow after more conditioning

mine came out at 8%

Thanks for that. I might try the brewtherm composite with coopers stout.