Something that I did with my RIS last year that worked great is that rather than brew one batch with a huge grain bill, and crappy efficiency… I brewed two batches of beer with “big” grain bills.
I brewed the exact same grain bill twice.
16lbs total in each grain bill.
First mash, I ran off 4 gallons into my boil kettle and started boiling. I ran an additional 3 gallons off into a 5 gallon bucket.
While I boiled the first 4 gallons down, I did a second mash. Ran another 4 gallons into the already boiling wort. Ran another 3 gallons off into a 5 gallon bucket.
I use the 2 sets of first runnings to boil into a 1.120 wort for the RIS. I used the second runnings collected in buckets to pour into a second pot and boil - used the second runnings to basically make a black lager… used German Lager X yeast. I added pound or two of Pilsner DME… but ended up with about a 1.050 second wort. The second runnings Black lager was spectacular.
I got MUCH better efficiency out of doing 2 mashes than I ever would have gotten out of one.
Don’t get me wrong, it was an ass-kicker of a brew day. But, I ended up with about 7 gallons of really good RIS and I ended up with 5 gallons of a wonderful black lager.
I brewed a RIS last spring but I kind of missed the mark. The recipe from BCS was my base, it was more Porter like than Stout. Just didn’t have enough roast kick to it or the rich dark intense character. I would like to try again come spring. I’ll be keeping an eye on this thread.
One final question before I brew this today… Office 365 is choking on Brun Water v1_16 and not allowing me to select a water profile. Can someone (HoosierBrew, maybe?) give me the ppm values for a RIS. The recipe I am using, HoosierBrew posted on the first page.
I used Black Balanced in Brunwater, mashed @ 5.6 pH.
EDIT - Sorry for misreading your question. I used : 67.1 ppm SO4, 58.8 ppm Cl2 (60 ppm Ca total), with with 5.63 g baking soda in the mash to raise pH to 5.6. And it was a 5.5 gallon batch by the way.
Thanks HoosierBrew. I ended up guessing a bit on the levels and got close to what you just posted so all is good. Brew day went smoothly. Had the mash efficiency set at 60% for the recipe and hit 59% so not too bad, prediction-wise. Pitched a boatload of freshly harvested, 3rd-generation WY1450 this morning after 90 seconds of mix-stir @ 65 F. Should be rocking and rolling when I get home from work based on the previous pitch of this yeast.
Just a quick update on this one. OG was 1.095 and five weeks later FG was 1.015 (about 10 days at 65F and the remainder was a slow rise into the low 70s). Bottled it up and letting it ride till next winter (I will open one at around 6 months just because). I’ve never brewed a RIS before so I was expecting the worst from the hydrometer sample (hot, alcoholic, syrupy, etc) but it was not offenseive at all as is. My wife’s quote after tasting the hydrometer sample, “damn… I am excited for that.” For sure a bit hot but not overwhelming and in no way cloyingly sweet. Really looking forward to how this changes over the next 10 months before I gift it to friends.
Thanks again for all the help on this HooiserBrew. I envision this being a yearly tradition from now on.
Brew an amber and give that away. Cellar the RIS ;D
In all seriousness, make as much of this beer as you can. We made one on our 14-gallon system in 2014, and I gave a ton away, but now wish I had more. We brewed Jamil’s recipe, had 1/3 of it ‘naked’, 1/3 aged on bourbon oak spirals, and the other 1/3 aged on grand-marnier oak spirals.
I thought I would give an update to this RIS I’m aging for holiday presents to my beer drinking friends/family next winter. I basically followed all of Hoosierbrew’s suggestions to a T. I stuck a 12 oz bottle in the fridge for a few days and gave it a go last night. It’s 5 months in the bottle at this point.
Aroma: Big burst of dark fruit and a subtle hint of coffee and dark chocolate. No hop aroma.
Appearance: Pours an inch of deep tan head that dissipates to a thin ring after a few sips. Very edge of the glass is brilliant copper/red and the rest is jet black. The beer is clear as I’d expect from an aged bottle with WY1450.
Flavor: Again, dark fruits dominate with a nice balance of roast/coffee and an undertone of dark chocolate. Bitterness is moderate and clean which balances the slightly sweet maltiness well. No cloying sweetness or syrupiness.
Mouthfeel: Extremely full bodied and velvet smooth. Warming from alcohol is subtle and welcome with everything else going on in the beer. Carbonation is medium-low.
This did not drink like a 10.5% beer at all. I’m not sure there’s anything I’d change on this recipe - maybe a touch more bitterness in the baseline is all I can think. I enjoyed this immensely even in early June. Can’t wait to crack one when it’s appropriately cold outside and has been sitting for another 6 months. I think the recipients of this are going to be quite pleased (hoping to squirrel away at least a few for myself and my wife to enjoy once a year).
Thanks again to Hoosierbrew for all the tips/help with the recipe and execution. Next year I’m going to try another variant - maybe something that balances more toward the roast coffee and dark chocolate end of the spectrum rather than the dark fruit end.