RIScommune

Post by **brahn** » Fri May 09, 2008 4:28 pm

The lower efficiency is pretty normal on bigger beers, at least for me. Are you already adding sugar to the beer? That would be a great way to make up for the lost gravity ... some turbinado, muscovado, candi, or hit up Pete for some crazy kind of honey tonight at the sanity check.

spkrtoy · Post by **spkrtoy** » Fri May 09, 2008 4:33 pm

Pete's not coming by tonight, and I do have some plain C & H sugar!

bwarbiany · Post by **bwarbiany** » Tue May 13, 2008 10:59 am

How does this look for a recipe for the bourbon barrel RIS? It's loosely based on the recipe from Brent's 2007 RIS, but I made a few changes (most notably the hops, for which I'm using 6 oz of Columbus that were previously used for dry-hopping my IPA, and thus de-rating them to 50% the original bittering capacity*)...

What do you think, will this 10 gallons (recipe based on 10.5 gal) be a worthwhile addition to the barrel?

Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 7.32 %
30.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 73.17 %
3.00 lb Chocolate (350.0 SRM) Grain 7.32 %
3.00 lb Roast Barley (450.0 SRM) Grain 7.32 %
2.00 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 4.88 %
3.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (90 min) Hops 51.8 IBU
2.00 oz Nugget [13.00 %] (90 min) Hops 32.1 IBU
4 Pkgs SafAle American Ale (DCL Yeast #S-05) Yeast-Ale

Should start around 1.107, and I think with S-05, it should attenuate just fine. 84 IBU, nearly 70 SRM.

* For the Columbus hops, its the first time I've re-used dry hops as bittering hops. My "de-rating" is a loose rule of thumb, but given that we're brewing 10 gallons out of 60, if I'm off 20 IBU either way, it will only make a 3-4 IBU difference to the final beer. If anyone is uncomfortable with the re-use of hops in this manner, speak now or forever hold your peace.

Post by **brahn** » Tue May 13, 2008 11:15 am

I think it sounds good. Should be nice and roasty and the special b should add some nice flavor. I am interested to see how the experiment with reusing the dry hops works out. You are using a little more roast and less crystal by % and that may make it turn out a little too roasty, but this is good time to experiment with that since it will only make up 10/60 G in the barrel.

bwarbiany · Post by **bwarbiany** » Tue May 13, 2008 11:27 am

I took out the crystal, as a 1.107 beer will probably finish sweet enough as it is. I've always thought, as well, that a bourbon barrel beer tends to pick up an almost "sweet" flavor from the bourbon, so I wanted to let that shine through (which is also why I didn't add any aroma/flavor hops, just bittering).

I'm not sure about the Special B. Something just clicked in my head and the little voice told me "use some special B!"... So we'll see

BrewMasterBrad · Post by **BrewMasterBrad** » Tue May 13, 2008 11:38 am

Here's my recipe.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: BC RIS
Brewer: Brad Nixon
Asst Brewer:
Style: Imperial Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.25 gal
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.081 SG
Estimated Color: 43.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 63.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
14 lbs Maris Otter - 2007 BC Group Buy (2.6 SRM) Grain 82.35 %
1 lbs Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 5.88 %
1 lbs Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 5.88 %
8.0 oz Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 2.94 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.94 %
1.50 oz Galena [13.40 %] (60 min) Hops 58.2 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [4.50 %] (10 min) Hops 4.7 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [4.50 %] (1 min) (First Wort Hops 0.6 IBU
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
2.20 gm Wyeast Nutrient Blend (Boil 10.0 min) Misc

Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 17.00 lb
----------------------------
My Mash
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
90 min Step Add 24.00 qt of water at 164.6 F 154.0 F

Notes:
------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

kevinham · Post by **kevinham** » Tue May 13, 2008 12:20 pm

Anyone need a brew bitch? Or have a way of doing another batch at the same time? I really want to get in on this RIS. Otherwise looks like I might have to do an extract....

bwarbiany · Post by **bwarbiany** » Tue May 13, 2008 12:42 pm

kevinham wrote:Anyone need a brew bitch? Or have a way of doing another batch at the same time? I really want to get in on this RIS. Otherwise looks like I might have to do an extract....

As I said on the other thread, if you have time Saturday morning, we've can help you brew a 5-gallon all-grain batch completely in parallel with our 10-gallon batch.

kevinham · Post by **kevinham** » Tue May 13, 2008 10:39 pm

OK guys, here is my first ever AG recipe (pretty gnarly beer for a first try I think). It needs some work I know, so help me out. I am using 2-row on purpose. The late hop addition I am still debating, and I don't know about molasses. I want to do something a little different than everyone, but still good tasting haha. I will be using some yeast nutrient, and Bruery house yeast. I might add some chocolate or coffee or something, but we will see, I just need to figure out the grain/hop bill soon to give to Tyler.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: BrewCommune Barrel-Aged RIS Collaboration
Brewer: Kevin Hammons
Style: Russian Imperial Stout

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.25 gal
Boil Size: 6.01 gal (note: I don't know this yet)
Estimated OG: 1.106 SG
Estimated Color: 59.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 67.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 % (note: I don't know this either)
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
16.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 76.19 %
1.50 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 7.14 %
1.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.76 %
1.00 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 4.76 %
0.50 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 2.38 %
1.00 lb Molasses (80.0 SRM) Sugar 4.76 %
2.00 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 62.6 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 4.5 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (1 min) (First Wort Hops 0.6 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 min) Misc

Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 20.00 lb

Rezzin · Post by **Rezzin** » Tue May 13, 2008 11:52 pm

My only recommendation is to scale your efficiency down to maybe 65% as a starter. The higher the grain bill, the lower your efficiency typically. You could keep it the same and just add a little sugar to boost the gravity a little if you aren't too far off (recommended by Brent, thanks!). I think the only prerequisite was that the beer not be lower than 9% ABV. I forgot to scale my efficiency and came in a lot lower than I targeted (1.084 instead of 1.100) so I added 3/4# of sugar 5 days later which should have boosted me to 1.090 or so.

Since it's your first go at an AG, I say keep it the same and see how your session turns out. Take good notes. Don't worry if you don't hit your numbers right on the first time around - as long as they are in the ballpark, you'll be just fine.

I personally lose about 1.5g during a 60m boil in my keggle with a good boil.

Good luck on your first AG batch! Welcome to the Dark Side Kevin

Post by **brahn** » Wed May 14, 2008 12:20 am

I think it sounds really good Kevin. I'd agree with Rezzin, you'll probably get lower than 75% efficiency. I'd probably expect to lose more than 3/4 gallon between boil off and dead space in the kettle, but that really depends on the system. Molasses should be great, and I think that yeast will work really well in a RIS.

kevinham · Post by **kevinham** » Wed May 14, 2008 7:47 am

Cool, I am surprised I didn't get hammered on my first try. I will change the efficiency to 65% and tweak it a little in BeerSmith based on that. Like I said I had no idea, that was the default in BeerSmith so I left it. Obviously there is no way to know my efficiency if I have never done it before. I just wanted to see if the ratios of the ingredients sounded good. Thanks for the help guys!

bwarbiany · Post by **bwarbiany** » Wed May 14, 2008 12:01 pm

I mentioned this to kevin... We used the false bottom from our 10-gallon mash tun for our 15-gallon tun, so right now we can't do his batch with him without either doing them sequentially (which we may not have time for) or borrowing someone else's mash tun.

If anyone has a tun capable of holding his 20 pounds of grain that they'd be willing to let him borrow, it'd be much appreciated.

lars · Post by **lars** » Wed May 14, 2008 12:04 pm

I think my ICE cube cooler mash tun is still in working order. You are welcome to borrow it if you want.

kevinham · Post by **kevinham** » Wed May 14, 2008 12:23 pm

Thanks for the offers guys, I think I have it under control for now. I will let you know if I need anything. Thanks a TON for all the help though.