Rasputin’s Betrothed – Brewing 14 Feb 2015 (Russian Imperial Stout).

So I’ve had an idea to make a RIS and age it for a bit in a barrel previously housed some Kellermeister Wild Witch, but before I get up to seeing if I can’t come to some agreement with Markus that I better get in a bit of practice making them. So kicked off with a kit based recipe as follows:

1x 1.7kg Coopers Lager
1x 1.7kg Coopers Dark Ale
1x 1.7kg Coopers Stout
1x 1.5kg Coopers Dark Malt Extract (Syrup)

Topped it out to 20L total volume.

OG: 1.112 (Shooting for 1.026 FG will see how we go in a few days @ 10.5%).

UPDATE: Gravity at 21/Feb: 1.038 after 7 days. Krausen has collapsed decanted the beer into a different fermenter will see how it is in 12 days time, with a plan to bottle in 14 days, if day 12/13 show activity stopped in the 1.022/1.025 range.

Bottled on 3/April @ 1.036 FG. For an alcohol content of: 11.38%. It’s very green (taste, colour is black!) and hugely bitter at the moment, but there is some very interesting sarsparilla/liqorice/toffee/coffee aciton going on. Will be interesting to see how this develops over time.

This one will require some aging (3 months) before trying and should be capable of ageing like a wine, will see if I can’t stretch it out for for 10 years.

I eventually hope to move on to full all grain in the future.