Russian Imperial Stout (For Advanced Brewers) Recipe

By
Joe Postma
Joe Postma
Joe Postma is an experienced homebrewer with a passion for craft beer.  He guided beginners through the basics of homebrewing through a series of features in the Serious Eats “Homebrewing” column and developed craft beer recipes for homebrewers of every skill level.  
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Updated August 09, 2018
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This is an all-grain recipe designed for advanced homebrewers. If your mash tun is not large enough to hold all 21 pounds of grain, you can substitute light dry malt extract for a portion of the 2-row malt. Use a ratio of 0.65 pounds of dry extract for each pound of malt removed. The malt extract should be added after the sparge as the wort is heating to a boil.

I recommend a minimum of 3 weeks in secondary fermentation before bottling or kegging to allow the flavors to meld and the harsher alcohol flavors to subside. If you're not in a hurry, 6 weeks of aging seems to be about perfect time.

Recipe Details

Russian Imperial Stout (For Advanced Brewers) Recipe

Active 5 to 7 hrs
Total 0 mins
Makes 5 gallons

Ingredients

  • 17 pounds 2-row pale malt
  • 1 pound chocolate malt
  • 1 pound roasted barley
  • 1 pound flaked oats
  • 0.5 pounds black patent malt
  • 0.5 pounds Crystal 120 malt
  • 2 ounces Galena hops - 90 minutes
  • 1 ounce Northern Brewer Hops - 30 minutes
  • 1 ounce Northern Brewer Hops - 10 minutes
  • 2 to 3 Liter starter Dry English Ale yeast, either White Labs WLP007 or Wyeast 1098

Directions

  1. Mash-in the 21 pounds of grain to 154°F using 5.75 gallons of water at about 167°F (1.1 quarts of water per pound). Stir for 2 minutes to prevent balls of grain from clumping together, creating a consistent mash.

  2. Cover the mash, only uncovering to briefly stir every 20 minutes. Heat 4.25 gallons of sparge water to about 185°F.

  3. After mashing for 60 minutes, mash-out and sparge. You should have 7 to 7.5 gallons in the kettle. Add 2 ounces of Magnum hops and bring to boil.

  4. After boiling for 60 minutes, add 1 ounce Northern Brewer hops.

  5. After a total of 80 minutes, add 1 ounce Northern Brewer hops.

  6. After 90 minutes remove from heat and chill using a wort chiller to 60°F. Transfer to a carboy and take a gravity reading.

  7. Ferment at 60° to 65°F for 3 weeks. Transfer to a secondary carboy and age in a cool dark place for another 3 to 6 weeks.

  8. Bottle or keg for a medium low level of carbonation.

Special equipment

8 gallon kettle (or bigger), homebrewing equipment setup with mashtun

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