Russian Imperial Stout

[user 23602]

Just wanted to know what peoples thought's are on this.

5kg Stout Malt Extract
2kg Dark Malt Spray
500g Lactose Powder
20g British Ale Yeast
650g Brewing Sugar
150g Columbus Hops
700g Cognac Oak Chips Soaked in Remy Martin VSOP for 1 month

I understand this will probably come out around the 8% ABV mark, but I would like to push it higher if possible. What are people's thoughts? Any possible additions? This is for a 20L batch.

I will keep an updated version of the ingredients below based on recommendations.

Updated Version
5kg Stout Malt Extract
2kg Dark Malt Spray
500g Lactose Powder
20g British Ale Yeast
1kg Brewing Sugar
150g Columbus Hops
200g Roasted Barely
1kg Golden Syrup
700g Cognac Oak Chips Soaked in Remy Martin VSOP for 1 month
20 Litre Batch

 

[BeerCat]

Ditch the lactose, you can always add after fermentation if you want. Swap the sugar for golden syrup and use some roast barley. 150g of columbus seems excessive. What IBU are you aiming for?

 

[user 23602]

Ditch the lactose, you can always add after fermentation if you want. Swap the sugar for golden syrup and use some roast barley. 150g of columbus seems excessive. What IBU are you aiming for?

How much golden syrup would you use? And when would you add it? Same questions for the roast barely. I have no idea what IBU is if I'm honest.

 

[BeerCat]

How much golden syrup would you use? And when would you add it? Same questions for the roast barely. I have no idea what IBU is if I'm honest.

Put your recipe in some brewing software, this one is good > https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator
IBU stands for international bitterness units. About 10% golden syrup is fine, add 10m from the end of the boil. Something like 8 to 10% roast barley. If you put it in some software it will tell you the SRM (colour). There are also style guidelines in the software so you can play about with amounts and see what you get. Have a look at recipes online to get an idea what you want, some will use 5% crystal some none.
Be aware if you ferment 20l of RIS in a small fermentor it might go everywhere.

 

[user 23602]

Put your recipe in some brewing software, this one is good > https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator
IBU stands for international bitterness units. About 10% golden syrup is fine, add 10m from the end of the boil. Something like 8 to 10% roast barley. If you put it in some software it will tell you the SRM (colour). There are also style guidelines in the software so you can play about with amounts and see what you get. Have a look at recipes online to get an idea what you want, some will use 5% crystal some none.
Be aware if you ferment 20l of RIS in a small fermentor it might go everywhere.

I think the FV I'll be using is 23L or 25L. Sorry, what do you mean by using % instead of weights? I'm only brewing with beer kits and then add a few things.

 

[user 23602]

I'm trying to add Dark Spray Malt to the recipe calculator, but can't seem to find it. Any ideas?

 

[BeerCat]

Apologies my dyslexia, i thought i read 5kg pale malt. So i take it your using pre hopped kits? Its still helpful to put it in brewing software as you will get an idea of the volume,original gravity, colour and bitterness. There are options for adding liquid and dry malt.

 

[BeerCat]

I'm trying to add Dark Spray Malt to the recipe calculator, but can't seem to find it. Any ideas?

under fermentables type in "extract". set your efficency to 75% and boil time to 0

 

[user 23602]

under fermentables type in "extract". set your efficency to 75% and boil time to 0

Got it.

So with my original plans:

5kg Stout Malt Extract
2kg Dark Malt Spray
500g Lactose Powder
20g British Ale Yeast
650g Brewing Sugar
150g Columbus Hops
700g Cognac Oak Chips Soaked in Remy Martin VSOP for 1 month
20 Litre Batch

I'm getting the following:

OG: 1.085
FG: 1.023
ABV: 8.16%
IBU: -

 

[user 23602]

If I added in addition to the above:

350g Brewing Sugar
1kg Roasted Barely
1kg Golden Syrup

So:

5kg Stout Malt Extract
2kg Dark Malt Spray
500g Lactose Powder
20g British Ale Yeast
1kg Brewing Sugar
150g Columbus Hops
1kg Roasted Barely
1kg Golden Syrup
700g Cognac Oak Chips Soaked in Remy Martin VSOP for 1 month
20 Litre Batch

I get:
OG: 1.110
FG: 1.024
ABV: 11.29%
IBU: -

Which is more of where I want it. Would I need to add more yeast to cope with the amount of fermentables?

 

[BeerCat]

200g of roast barley steeped would be plenty. Its unfermentable and 1kg would raise your finishing gravity. Same with lactose which is why i suggest adding after fermentation. What are you doing with the hops?

 

[user 23602]

200g of roast barley steeped would be plenty. Its unfermentable and 1kg would raise your finishing gravity. Same with lactose which is why i suggest adding after fermentation. What are you doing with the hops?

I'm unsure yet, preferably boil the hops. Will adding roasted barely be okay being added into a malt extract kit? Is it something you would add after the boil or fermentation?

 

[prog99]

150g of columbus seems way too much if just used for bittering. I used 50g of 5%AA goldings last time I made a RIS.

I'd not bother with the lactose at all.

 

[user 23602]

150g of columbus seems way too much if just used for bittering. I used 50g of 5%AA goldings last time I made a RIS.

I'd not bother with the lactose at all.

Well the kit I've bought comes with 150g of Columbus Hops. Why would you leave out the Lactose?

 

[BeerCat]

I'm unsure yet, preferably boil the hops. Will adding roasted barely be okay being added into a malt extract kit? Is it something you would add after the boil or fermentation?

Steep 200g in 1l of cold water overnight, rinse with 0.5l of cold water the next day and boil for 5 mins to sterilise. 15g of 15AA hops boiled in a liter of water for 20mins will add 27 IBU's. See below. Consider a half batch, might save you redecorating. :)

 

[user 23602]

Steep 200g in 1l of cold water overnight, rinse with 0.5l of cold water the next day and boil for 5 mins to sterilise. 15g of 15AA hops boiled in a litresof water for 20mins will add 27 IBU's. See below. Consider a half batch, might save you redecorating. :)
View attachment 19643

Thank you for the Roasted Barely method. Wgen do you add the Roasted Barely? When you say 15g of 15AA Hops, is that instead of the 150g of Columbus? And half batch? Do you mean just brew 10L and half all the ingredients?

 

[prog99]

Well the kit I've bought comes with 150g of Columbus Hops. Why would you leave out the Lactose?

Whats the AA on those hops?

The reason I'd leave out the lactose is that in my experience a RIS will have enough sweetness and body already. I think my last one bottomed out at 1.026.

 

[user 23602]

Whats the AA on those hops?

The reason I'd leave out the lactose is that in my experience a RIS will have enough sweetness and body already. I think my last one bottomed out at 1.026.

14-18% on Columbus Hops

 

[BeerCat]

Thank you for the Roasted Barely method. Wgen do you add the Roasted Barely? When you say 15g of 15AA Hops, is that instead of the 150g of Columbus? And half batch? Do you mean just brew 10L and half all the ingredients?

Yes brew 10l with half the ingredients. I presumed your hops would be 15% AA. Here is a better jpeg and link to the calc > https://www.brewersfriend.com/ibu-calculator/

I would also read this thread A Simple Guide to Extract Brewing

There used to be a website with modifications to coopers kits somewhere but i cant find it. Perhaps someone else reading this knows. Pretty sure they had a RIS on there.

 

[user 23602]

So I've just ordered the kit and am going with the following.

5kg Stout Malt Extract
2kg Dark Malt Spray
500g Lactose Powder
20g British Ale Yeast
1kg Brewing Sugar
150g Columbus Hops
200g Roasted Barely
1kg Golden Syrup
700g Cognac Oak Chips Soaked in Remy Martin VSOP for 1 month

Getting this from the recipe calculator.

OG: 1.106
FG: 1.023
IBU: -
ABV: 10.88%