The Mad Russian - Imperial Stout

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JonBrew said:
@strange-steve Any further updates on this? Did you end up adding the champagne yeast?
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Yeah I added the champagne yeast just over a week ago and I think the plastic bottle seems to have firmed up a little but I'm not sure to be honest. I'll give them another week or so then crack one open, but I'm not terribly optimistic.
 
strange-steve said:
Yeah I added the champagne yeast just over a week ago and I think the plastic bottle seems to have firmed up a little but I'm not sure to be honest. I'll give them another week or so then crack one open, but I'm not terribly optimistic.
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Fingers crossed it works out for you. I'm currently bulk aging a 13% imperial stout in demijohns. Undecided how long I'll do this for but possibly anything up to a year so I'll definitely need to re-seed with yeast when i decide to bottle so keen to hear how your results go. I had planned to using a cask/bottling yeast but I've since heard mixed reports on success with these strains so now thinking champagne yeast will be the way to go. Also conscious that your beer is a good 3%+ stronger than mine though.
 
foxbat said:
I've a feeling that these big stouts would benefit from keg conditioning instead of bottles. Takes the risk out of it after you've put all the hard work in. I have a couple of 12l kegs I keep around for big Belgian beers etc.
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I kegged my last one. Easy and takes away all the stress. I might try some other yeast in a few bottles though to see what happens.
 
Yeah that's why I used hornindal along with the Voss, which is supposed to be good for 16%, which seems about right considering mine crapped out at 16.2%. The fermentability was higher than I expected though, I didn't really expect it to get past 15%.
 
I had a stout that was thick and gorgeous and had the consistency of creosote. After 18 months it was just about getting there. Trouble is that by 18 months I had very few bottles left due to seeing if they were ready yet.
Put them away and try another one a year from now.
 
An Ankoù said:
I had a stout that was thick and gorgeous and had the consistency of creosote. After 18 months it was just about getting there. Trouble is that by 18 months I had very few bottles left due to seeing if they were ready yet.
Put them away and try another one a year from now.
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Part of the beauty of kveik yeast though is that it drastically reduces conditioning times. This actually tastes great right now, it's just the carbonation thing that's disappointing.
 
strange-steve said:
Part of the beauty of kveik yeast though is that it drastically reduces conditioning times. This actually tastes great right now, it's just the carbonation thing that's disappointing.
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There are some things I shudder away from- many for no good reason. I think it's about time I looked kveik squarely in the face. I understand there are a number of varieties. Is there one you would recommend?
 
Similar to BeerCat most of my experience is with Voss which is extremely reliable, ran it fom 40c down to 25c, plan to try even cooler soon, should keep working in the teens. Hornindal has been more temperamental; seems to like taking a week to ferment for me and left a lot of banana esters in a pale ale.

I've also used Saure which fermented a 1.052 80/- wort down to 1.013 in 3 days at 30c. Started off pretty funky, but in a nice way, that has mellowed over time and it's left a really malty beer behind which is still nice.

Got Espe and Ebbegarden still to try out.
 
I'm glad I came across this, I've been planning on doing an IS for a long while now, using the BYO Old Rasputin recipe as I'm sure I've had that beer before and loved it! I may be very tempted to try the kveik on it instead of the recommended Wyeast/White Labs suggestions... I was going to pitch 2 packs of S04, but the party seems to be on the kveik train, I might as well jump on :P
 
I'm going to try one tonight, but judging by the lack of turgidity in the plastic bottle I'm not too hopeful.
 
-Bezza- said:
Do you have the option of kegging this if all else fails?
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I do have an empty corny keg, though I'm concerned about the oxidation risk of opening the bottles and pouring them in. I know the keg can be purged but will that be good enough??
 
Also apologies to those who were promised bottles of this, obviously this final step hasn't quite gone to plan. If tonight's test bottle is flat (as I suspect it is) then I might just dump it in the keg after all, cos the lack of carbonation really does spoil the enjoyment. Then I'll fill a few bottles from the keg and get them posted out.
 
strange-steve said:
I do have an empty corny keg, though I'm concerned about the oxidation risk of opening the bottles and pouring them in. I know the keg can be purged but will that be good enough??
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I don't know the answer definitively but presumably oxidation only occurs when there has been exposure to oxygen over time. So if you were to very gently pour the bottles into the keg so as not to trap oxygen in the beer and then purge, I can't see it being a big deal.

I guess you could always take periodic samples from the keg and if the beer is showing signs of deteriorating, just get it down the hatch ASAP.
 

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