Big Beer Rules of Thumb?

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:09 pm

I'm putting together a recipe for a Russian Imperial Stout that will probably weigh in around 1.120. Does anyone here have practical experience trying to make a beer that big? If so, any lessons learned that you're willing to pass along would be greatly appreciated (and possibly earn you a bottle of The Grand Inquisitor in 6-8 months).

Thanks,
Lee

brownbeard · Post by **brownbeard** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:31 pm

Make a big starter. Start your yeast starter a week in advance, and step it up a few times. It would be nice if the starter was active when you pitched it. If you have the ability to add oxygen to the wort, that would be helpful too. Creating enough yeast, and giving it a good environment to work will be your biggest hurdle. With a little planning, you should find it no more difficult than any other beer.

DrPaulsen · Post by **DrPaulsen** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:37 pm

brownbeard wrote:Make a big starter. Start your yeast starter a week in advance, and step it up a few times. It would be nice if the starter was active when you pitched it. If you have the ability to add oxygen to the wort, that would be helpful too. Creating enough yeast, and giving it a good environment to work will be your biggest hurdle. With a little planning, you should find it no more difficult than any other beer.

Thanks for the tips. I have a 5 gallon "starter" of WLP051 sitting in a secondary full of Fat Chance Amber Ale right now. Since it's about a month old, I'll take your advice and re-energize the yeast on my stirplate a few days in advance. I also have a diffusion stone and an O2 bottle, so I should be able to add some O2 back in after the 120 minute boil.

jjbuck · Post by **jjbuck** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:40 pm

I bottled a big stout (OG 1.095-7) in April. I made sure of a protein rest. I used a lot of dark crystal, 1 lb. I have a tremendous head on tthe kegged beer. The new kegged beer is a little sweeter than I'd like but tastes mighty good. I'm hoping the aged bottles will be a bit dryer. Your welcome to come over and try one. We could compare recipes.
JBuck
Marion

Mr T · Post by **Mr T** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:44 pm

Big T luvs Big Beers… I’m getting ready to brew an imperial stout and Braggot this weekend as well so that I can keep myself warm come January.

If you don’t mind the extra work I would recommend brewing it in two batches. The idea is you brew roughly 3-4 gallons with your hop additions, etc. Keeping in mind your lower boil volume will slightly affect your IBU efficiency. But what you do is thin this to a lower OG say 1.060, let it ferment out then pour in a second addition of concentrated wort in the primary to bring your OG back up again and final volume. That is if your concerned about your yeast coughing out on the high OG, this will keep your yeast rockin steady on a lower OG at all times.

Although since I partially use DME or LME for all my big beers this is much more practical in my situation as I can just warm up some DME and throw it in the primary after the first addition bottoms out. Its like a whole 20-30 minutes of extra work, including cleanup.

If you follow the above philosophy its just like brewing any other ale and if you are successful in that realm, then you should do just fine brewing the imp. Stout. And if not, there are lots of tips we can send you! J

From: DrPaulsen [mailto:brew-recipes@crbeernuts.org]
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 2:10 PM
To: brew-recipes@crbeernuts.org
Subject: Big Beer Rules of Thumb?

I'm putting together a recipe for a Russian Imperial Stout that will probably weigh in around 1.120. Does anyone here have practical experience trying to make a beer that big? If so, any lessons learned that you're willing to pass along would be greatly appreciated (and possibly earn you a bottle of The Grand Inquisitor in 6-8 months).

Thanks,
Lee

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Lower Case T · Post by **Lower Case T** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:23 pm

By big beers do you mean 40's? Cause if so, I see your point.

On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 2:47 PM, Mr T <brew-recipes@crbeernuts.org (brew-recipes@crbeernuts.org)> wrote:

Big T luvs Big Beers… I’m getting ready to brew an imperial stout and Braggot this weekend as well so that I can keep myself warm come January.

If you don’t mind the extra work I would recommend brewing it in two batches. The idea is you brew roughly 3-4 gallons with your hop additions, etc. Keeping in mind your lower boil volume will slightly affect your IBU efficiency. But what you do is thin this to a lower OG say 1.060, let it ferment out then pour in a second addition of concentrated wort in the primary to bring your OG back up again and final volume. That is if your concerned about your yeast coughing out on the high OG, this will keep your yeast rockin steady on a lower OG at all times.

Although since I partially use DME or LME for all my big beers this is much more practical in my situation as I can just warm up some DME and throw it in the primary after the first addition bottoms out. Its like a whole 20-30 minutes of extra work, including cleanup.

If you follow the above philosophy its just like brewing any other ale and if you are successful in that realm, then you should do just fine brewing the imp. Stout. And if not, there are lots of tips we can send you! J

From: DrPaulsen [mailto:brew-recipes@crbeernuts.org (brew-recipes@crbeernuts.org)]
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 2:10 PM
To: brew-recipes@crbeernuts.org (brew-recipes@crbeernuts.org)
Subject: Big Beer Rules of Thumb?

I'm putting together a recipe for a Russian Imperial Stout that will probably weigh in around 1.120. Does anyone here have practical experience trying to make a beer that big? If so, any lessons learned that you're willing to pass along would be greatly appreciated (and possibly earn you a bottle of The Grand Inquisitor in 6-8 months).

Thanks,
Lee

mrT (big T)
VP nut

--
Prost!
Travis Scheidecker
Head Brewer
Third Base Brewery
500 Blairs Ferry Rd NE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
Tel. 319-378-9090 Fax: 319-378-9697
www.thirdbasebrewery.com

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tompb · Post by **tompb** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 3:56 pm

What yeast are you using? I made a 1.092 porter with US-05. It did ok carbonating until I bumped it up with bourbon. I don't usually use dry yeast, but that was what the recipe called for.

Is it an all grain? If so that will be a lot of grain for a keggle at 10 gallons.

And yup, a 40 of Colt 45 is a big beer Big T.

BaronVonHawkeye · Post by **BaronVonHawkeye** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 7:10 pm

I used a 2L starter for my Double IPA (1.118 OG) and besides the primary fermentation taking almost three weeks, everything seemed fine. I would recommend a blowoff tube or prepare to clean out your brew closet. I would aerate the heck of it and then aerate it some more.

Mr T · Post by **Mr T** » Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:08 pm

Yeah, the high gravity Olde English is real mans beer!

From: tompb [mailto:brew-recipes@crbeernuts.org]
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 4:57 PM
To: brew-recipes@crbeernuts.org
Subject: Re: Big Beer Rules of Thumb?

What yeast are you using? I made a 1.092 porter with US-05. It did ok carbonating until I bumped it up with bourbon. I don't usually use dry yeast, but that was what the recipe called for.

Is it an all grain? If so that will be a lot of grain for a keggle at 10 gallons.

And yup, a 40 of Colt 45 is a big beer Big T.

Runamok Brewing

Jesus must have been a yeast. Who else could turn water into wine?

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BrewHound · Post by **BrewHound** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 10:58 am

I think you are going to have trouble getting that high of a ABV out of the yeast strain you are using. The size of the starter and the airation of the wort does impact yeast ability, however, only to a point.

After a certain point yeast strain tolerance will limit the ability of the yeast to continue the fermintation. From what I have found briefly the tolerance of White Labs "WLP051" Strain is about 12%. Starting at about 1.120 and bring it down to (estimated) 1.012 yeilds about 13.5%. So my guess is you are going to end up a little on the sweet side using this strain. The 12% is also under optimal condition, so I think that would even be hard to achieve using this yeast strain.

What you could do is use the WLP051 @ 70 degrees (I am assuming you are using this strain for the fruity tones, the higer temp will help bring those out). Then have a rehydrated starter of a champane yeast (Red Star Carveer, is typically what I use) to put on top after the WLP051 dies off. With the low flavors and esters put of by the champane yeast, this should give you what you are looking for in a big beer. This would give you the flavors and esters from the WLP051 and the dryness (assuming you are shooting for a dryer beer) from the Champane yeast you want in an imperial stout.

This is my thoughts on it anyway, hope it helps, of course you make some damn fine beer boss, so just keep doing what ya do'in!

Cedar Rapids Brewing Society