NHC Gold Medal RIS

[strange-steve]

This beer came first in the porter and stout category in this year's Irish NHC competition with a score of 43. It's probably the only good stout I've ever made, though not for lack of trying! It's a pretty big beer and so it really needs plenty of aging time to mellow out. There is a lot of roasted barley in this but don't worry, the high FG and residual sweetness help to balance it out. One thing to make sure of is to pitch big, I made a small batch of mild first then used the full yeast cake for this and it really exploded out of the FV which is always a good sign!

Event Horizon
Imperial Stout

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 20
Total Grain (kg): 10.46
Total Hops (g): 305
Original Gravity (OG): 1.105
Final Gravity (FG): 1.032
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 9.6 %
Colour (SRM): 95 (EBC): 187
Bitterness (IBU): 86 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 68
Boil Time (Minutes): 90

Grain Bill
----------------
7.300 kg Pale Malt (70%)
1.100 kg Chocolate (11%)
0.850 kg Roasted Barley (8%)
0.850 kg Wheat Malt (8%)
0.360 kg Special W (3%)

Hop Bill
----------------
60 g Northern Brewer Leaf (7.3% Alpha) @ 90 Minutes (Boil)
50 g Northern Brewer Leaf (7.3% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil)
25 g Northern Brewer Leaf (7.3% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
50 g East Kent Golding Leaf (7% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
70 g East Kent Golding Leaf (7% Alpha) @ 3 Minutes (Boil)

50 g East Kent Golding Leaf (7% Alpha) @ 7 Days (Dry Hop)


Single step Infusion at 65°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 21°C with Wyeast 1084 - Irish Ale

Notes
----------------
Pitched big using reclaimed yeast from a previous brew
Brewed on 4/3/15
Bottled on 25/3/15

 

[IainM]

Wow, that is a tonne of chocolate malt too. My attempt at a RIS didn't really pan out very well, but I'd love to give this a shot.

 

[Leon103]

Congratulations on the win

 

[strange-steve]

Wow, that is a tonne of chocolate malt too. My attempt at a RIS didn't really pan out very well, but I'd love to give this a shot.

It certainly is! It's based on a recipe from BCS and I took the advice of the author who says that with an imperial stout there are no upper limits, only minimums and the balance between sweetness and roasty/bitterness is what's most important.

 

[dad_of_jon]

This beer came first in the porter and stout category in this year's Irish NHC competition with a score of 43. It's probably the only good stout I've ever made, though not for lack of trying! It's a pretty big beer and so it really needs plenty of aging time to mellow out. There is a lot of roasted barley in this but don't worry, the high FG and residual sweetness help to balance it out. One thing to make sure of is to pitch big, I made a small batch of mild first then used the full yeast cake for this and it really exploded out of the FV which is always a good sign!

Event Horizon
Imperial Stout

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 20
Total Grain (kg): 10.46
Total Hops (g): 305
Original Gravity (OG): 1.105
Final Gravity (FG): 1.032
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 9.6 %
Colour (SRM): 95 (EBC): 187
Bitterness (IBU): 86 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 68
Boil Time (Minutes): 90

Grain Bill
----------------
7.300 kg Pale Malt (70%)
1.100 kg Chocolate (11%)
0.850 kg Roasted Barley (8%)
0.850 kg Wheat Malt (8%)
0.360 kg Special W (3%)

Hop Bill
----------------
60 g Northern Brewer Leaf (7.3% Alpha) @ 90 Minutes (Boil)
50 g Northern Brewer Leaf (7.3% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil)
25 g Northern Brewer Leaf (7.3% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
50 g East Kent Golding Leaf (7% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
70 g East Kent Golding Leaf (7% Alpha) @ 3 Minutes (Boil)

50 g East Kent Golding Leaf (7% Alpha) @ 7 Days (Dry Hop)


Single step Infusion at 65°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 21°C with Wyeast 1084 - Irish Ale

Notes
----------------
Pitched big using reclaimed yeast from a previous brew
Brewed on 4/3/15
Bottled on 25/3/15

Big dark beers will take a while to reach their peak, thats why I entered my ris-ky business in the BREWDOG comp. It had been ageing before the comp was announced so I thought, most people will make a brew on hearing of the comp so the dark ones wont have reached their peak. Also considering the time it will take them (and took) them to do the tasting any uber hoppy beers would have lost their punch, so..........

I have a theory on what beer will win this years comp, if they decide to repeat it. Don't hold out on feedback if you're a finalist, because I've not had mine yet :-(

 

[private4587]

Hi Steve I have just completed brewing a RIS taken from Greg Hughes book, could you give me some idea of the amounts of sugar you used for priming your brew. I am going to be using minikegs and bottles for storing.

 

[strange-steve]

Hi Steve I have just completed brewing a RIS taken from Greg Hughes book, could you give me some idea of the amounts of sugar you used for priming your brew. I am going to be using minikegs and bottles for storing.

From memory I think I aimed for about 2.3 vol/CO2 which is roughly 5.5g/L.

 

[private4587]

From memory I think I aimed for about 2.3 vol/CO2 which is roughly 5.5g/L.

Sorry to be a pain Steve but is that for both minikegs and bottles?

 

[strange-steve]

Sorry to be a pain Steve but is that for both minikegs and bottles?

I've never used minikegs tbh, so I don't actually know if they need to be primed differently, sorry.

 

[Donjon]

I'm brewing this today. The main challenge is space for my mash, I've got a total capacity of slightly over 30 litres and the grist takes up so much space!

 

[Donjon]

21 ish litres in the fermenters and it came in at an obscene 1.095 - I think I overdid the grist!

I've decided to ferment at 18 Celsius rather than 21 C like you did. Because the OG is so high, it's going to be sweet whatever I do, so I'm going to get those yeast chomping away as much as possible!