Russian Imperial Stout - Colour Too Light?

[Beatsy]

I have brewed my Chocolate Russian Imperial Stout a couple of weeks ago. The OG came in at 1.079. After a couple of checks with the old hydrometer, the FG is 1.020. This is near enough what I expected. The plan was to then add roasted cacao nibs/vanilla pods/bourbon and keep in the primary for another 2 weeks before racking.

So far everything seems okay to me except for - the colour. I was hoping for a brew which was really dark, but I'm getting a more pronounced brown.

My questions are:

Should the extra time with the cacao nibs etc help to darken further?
Does a stout darken with extra conditioning anyway?

My recipe is...

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/649574/russian-chocolate-imperial-stout

...pic attached

 

[suffolkbeer]

Typically for an RIS you’d be expecting an SRM of 30-40

Yours looks on the lighter end of the scale but still within the bracket at a guess?

 

[foxbat]

They always look lighter in a slim tube. It'll look darker in a proper glass. Did the colour of your ingredients match those in the recipe link?

 

[Zephyr259]

I made 15l of sweet stout with 200g chocolate malt and 150g roast barley and it's a good deep black at 63 ebc, your record should be darker at around 80 ebc given that you added similar amounts and the carafa III. It'll look darker once it's in a good and not a measuring cylinder but it should really taken with aging. Pale beers can due to oxidation but dark beers are already so dark is unlikely your be able to see it and the dark malts are more antioxidant. Not used cacao nibs but I doubt they'd darken the beer more than all the roast malts have already.

How does it taste?

 

[dad_of_jon]

ideally it will look like black ink or thereabouts in the glass

 

[Beatsy]

They always look lighter in a slim tube. It'll look darker in a proper glass. Did the colour of your ingredients match those in the recipe link?

I hope you're right :-)

You mean the colour of my steeping grains before adding? Yeah I think so. Got from a HBS that added all the malts into the one bag for ease of delivery.

 

[Beatsy]

I made 15l of sweet stout with 200g chocolate malt and 150g roast barley and it's a good deep black at 63 ebc, your record should be darker at around 80 ebc given that you added similar amounts and the carafa III. It'll look darker once it's in a good and not a measuring cylinder but it should really taken with aging. Pale beers can due to oxidation but dark beers are already so dark is unlikely your be able to see it and the dark malts are more antioxidant. Not used cacao nibs but I doubt they'd darken the beer more than all the roast malts have already.

How does it taste?

Yeah I'm hoping the aging helps. It's my first stout. I really love the big chocolate American ones doing the rounds at the moment, so that's why I went straight for the chocolate lol.

The taste: really easy to drink, which surprised me a little. i get the roasted barley coming through. Like a thin Guinness. It's also my first time using the steeping grains, so not completely experienced at picking the flavours out. Really looking forward to seeing how the chocolate flavour develops.

One thing - I only left the grains in for 30mins (as per Greg Hughes' RIS recipe). Brewer's friend gives 45mins in their steps. Might do that next time.

 

[Zephyr259]

Worth a shot at longer steeping I guess, I've never steeped grains before as I went straight from kits to all grain. Good luck.

 

[Beatsy]

Cheers Zephyr - I didn't have the confidence to go straight to AG lol. The guide on this forum with the Maris Otter malt looks like it's something I'd like to give a bash though. I might buy a smaller stock pot to do it. The price of AG compared to Extract is enticing.

 

[Beatsy]

Typically for an RIS you’d be expecting an SRM of 30-40

Yours looks on the lighter end of the scale but still within the bracket at a guess?

Yeah I thought it did too. I'll prob up the chocolate malt or leave to steep longer next time I guess.

 

[Beatsy]

Thanks everyone - I'll post a pic when it's finished for completeness :-)

 

[dad_of_jon]

Cheers Zephyr - I didn't have the confidence to go straight to AG lol. The guide on this forum with the Maris Otter malt looks like it's something I'd like to give a bash though. I might buy a smaller stock pot to do it. The price of AG compared to Extract is enticing.

A couple of bags of muntons extra dark dme will help with the colour.

 

[Simonh82]

If you're steeping grains make sure that the water can penetrate and circulate right through them. If your pot is too small or you tie then tightly in a grain bag the water won't be able to get in and the flavour/colour won't be able to get out.

 

[ACBEV]

I've added carafa III and blackstrap molasses to the FV for blackening beer. It will add flavour, but I think in a good way.

Grind 100g Carafa III to a powder (or roast barley if you want some bitter taste added). 100g blackstrap (from Holland & Barret). Add both to 1l of boiling water, cool and add to FV.

 

[Llamaman]

Looks terrible. Send the bottles to me.

 

[BeerCat]

MM sell black extract

 

[Beatsy]

I've added carafa III and blackstrap molasses to the FV for blackening beer. It will add flavour, but I think in a good way.

Grind 100g Carafa III to a powder (or roast barley if you want some bitter taste added). 100g blackstrap (from Holland & Barret). Add both to 1l of boiling water, cool and add to FV.

That's a really interesting idea. I'll defo make a note of that. Out of interest, was it the same issue you were having that made you go down this route or was it part of your original recipe?

 

[ACBEV]

Sort of the same issue... I have a habit of splitting batches into two. i.e. I make a brown stout and a black stout with the same batch... The black version gets the extra bits...

 

[Beatsy]

Just for completeness - i thought I would show you the 2 week carbonation check. The colour is good for me - quite pleased. The carbonation less so lol. I'm letting the bottles condition for a few months though, so hoping for a bit more then.