RIS III

As of last week, I am now a Doctor of Musical Arts. What does this have to do with homebrewing and/or blogging? It means I've now finished my terminal degree, so

1) I now have time to brew again.

2) I now have time to catch up on writing about what I've managed to brew in the last few months.

This first post back brings us to a special beer in my brewing calendar: Russian imperial stout. I designated every quarter-century brew as a gargantuan dark beer; while the "even-numbered" ones (#50 and #100, so far) have been imperial porters, this batch (#125) marks my third foray into the biggest entries of the stout family. The previous two iterations (the first predating this blog) have been immensely satisfying, and I'm down to my last bottle of each; after giving this latest batch a few months to age, I'll plan a vertical tasting.

This time around, the aim was for an even bigger, roastier stout. I eliminated all crystal malt, limiting non-base grains to roasted malts. Using a reiterated mash boosted efficiency well above what I expected based on the previous batches; I'd planned to add a pound of turbinado to raise the gravity and drive down the final gravity, but found it entirely unnecessary given the high

OG. It finished out higher than intended, but the high percentage of roasted grains really helped balance this beer. Next time around, I'll work toward an even lower FG and increase the bittering hops to help maintain balance over an even longer term.

I'm sampling my first bottle now; unfortunately it hasn't yet carbonated, but I'll happily reyeast these bottles if the need arises. I'm still working through technical issues with some of my other recipes (more on that soon), but in terms of this series, thing are going well. This beer almost makes me look forward to next winter already.

RIS III

Batch size: 5 gallons
Projected OG: 1.118
Projected SRM: 65.2
Projected IBU: 68.0
Boil time: 120 minutes
Brewhouse efficiency: 70.5%

Grains/Fermentables
79.2% - 19 lb Malteurop 2-row
12.5% - 3 lb Crisp Brown malt
8.3% - 2 lb Crisp Roasted Barley
1 lb Turbinado sugar (5 days into primary)

Hops
1 oz Phoenix (10.2%) (120 min)
1 oz Columbus (14.5%) (120 min)
1 oz Sterling (7.0%) (15 min)

Yeast
2 pkg US-05, rehydrated

Extras
1 tsp Yeast nutrient (10 min)
1 vial Clarity Ferm (post chilling, pre yeast)

Water additions
15 qts distilled water (mash #1)
1 g Epsom salts (mash #2)
1 g Salt (mash #2)
1 g Baking soda (mash #2)
1 g Chalk (mash #2)

Brewday: 30 November 2013

Reiterated mash
Mash #1 (12 lb 2-row): 150F for 20 minutes
Volume: 7.5 gallons
Run off to secondary pots; hold at 150F
Mash #2 (remainder of grist): Mash #1 liquor @ 145F for 90 minutes - dropped to 141F
pH: 5.0
Draw off & boil 1 gallon, add back to raise mash temp to 154F for 15 minutes
    Only raised it to 145F; drew off 2 more gallons & boiled, reaching 156F
Mashout - draw off & boil 2.5 gallons, add back to raise mash temp to 168F for 5 minutes
Pre-boil volume: 7.5 gallons
Pre-boil SG: 19.8P (1.083)

Aerated for 1 hour prior to pitching yeast, then again 6 hours after pitching.
Fermented in swamp cooler at 61F.
SNA: added additional 1 tsp yeast nutrient (boiled & cooled) at 24 hours, then 48 hours  into active fermentation.

After active fermentation slowed, pulled from swamp cooler & brought to 65F ambient to continue working. Agitated daily to keep yeast in suspension.

Secondary: 31 December 2013
SG: 1.032
Bulk age for at least 2 months.

Dry hop: 12 April 2014
Accidentally used the 2 oz EKG intended for the Burton ale. Will give it a week or so, then bottle.

Bottled: 23 April 2014
FG: 1.032
ABV: 11.3%
Bottled with 3.5 oz table sugar and rehydrated champagne yeast.